{"id":96534,"date":"2025-08-26T06:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T06:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96534\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T06:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T06:50:09","slug":"gold-coast-honours-late-cricket-legend-andrew-roy-symonds-with-oval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96534\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold Coast honours late cricket legend Andrew ‘Roy’ Symonds with oval"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City of Gold Coast has paid tribute to late cricketing legend Andrew “Roy” Symonds, naming an oval in honour of the Test and One-Day International star.<\/p>\n

Robina’s Cheltenham Park will be named after Symonds, whose cricket career started on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

The all-rounder and father of two died in a single-vehicle crash near Townsville in 2022, at age 46.<\/p>\n

“Andrew was an Australian cricket legend, he was a Queensland icon and, for many, he was a Gold Coast hero”, councillor Dan Doran said.<\/p>\n

“When you played cricket with Andrew Symonds, you all walked a little taller, you were all a little braver.”<\/p>\n

Symonds played 170 matches for the Gold Coast Dolphins as a premiership player and was a life member.<\/p>\n

“He contributed in many other ways to the club \u2026 appearing at fundraisers, mentoring, donating, playing and advocating \u2026 he was a fierce advocate for the Gold Coast,” Cr Doran said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Gold Coast Dolphins Cricket Club left a tribute for Andrew Symonds in 2022. (Supplied: Gold Coast Dolphins Cricket Club)<\/p>\n

Played ‘like a demon’<\/p>\n

Symonds represented Australia in 26 Test matches and 198 One-Day Internationals as a powerful batsman and crafty bowler.<\/p>\n

He was also renowned as a larrikin on and off the field, notably for his encounter with a streaker at the Gabba in 2008<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Andrew Symonds knocks over a streaker who ran onto the field in Brisbane in March 2008. (Getty Images: Ezra Shaw)<\/p>\n

But prior to his decorated professional career, Symonds made a lasting impact on community cricket.<\/p>\n

He moved from Charters Towers to the Gold Coast in 1988, where he played for the Palm Beach Currumbin Junior Cricket Club.<\/p>\n

Symonds made his under-19s debut in Queensland Premier Cricket with the Gold Coast Dolphins in 1993 when he hit a legendary double century.<\/p>\n

\"men<\/p>\n

Andrew Symonds (centre) celebrates a win with the Gold Coast Dolphins in the early 90s. (Supplied: Gold Coast Dolphins)<\/p>\n

Gold Coast District Cricket Club life member Jeff Pfaff, who knew Symonds, said his feats were still talked about at local clubs.<\/p>\n

“Andrew was a tall, skinny, 15-year-old kid who could hit the ball out of sight and field like a demon and bowl whatever he wanted to,” Mr Pfaff said.<\/p>\n

“We got this preview before the rest of the world got it seven or eight years later, by the time he made it through the ranks and started to play international cricket.<\/p>\n

“We’d see things happen on TV and say, ‘Oh, we’ve seen that before.'”<\/p>\n

After retiring, Symonds became a founding member of the Gold Coast District Cricket Club, mentoring young players, helping fundraise and promoting the local sport.<\/p>\n

\"cricket<\/p>\n

Andrew Symonds played with the Gold Coast Dolphins during the 1993 season. (Supplied: Gold Coast Dolphins)<\/p>\n

Mr Pfaff said the oval named after Symonds was where junior players “start their careers” in cricket \u2014 just like he did.<\/p>\n

“It will be able to inspire young cricketers on the Gold Coast to follow his footsteps,” he said.<\/p>\n

“He was a great teammate to have, he was a guy who never felt the game was lost.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Gold Coast has paid tribute to late cricketing legend Andrew “Roy” Symonds, naming an oval…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[19522,64,63,70955,740,70954,2485,70953,70952,70956,85,70951],"class_list":{"0":"post-96534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-andrew-symonds","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-cheltenham-park","12":"tag-cricket","13":"tag-dan-doran","14":"tag-gold-coast","15":"tag-honour","16":"tag-how-did-andrew-symonds-die","17":"tag-robina","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-when-did-andrew-symond-die"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}