Dave Waight was possibly the finest all-round cricket/rugby player seen at WHS. Only Doug Gardner would seem likely to have been his equal.
Louis Parperis - Orwell 63-70: As I have said before, I was fortunate enough to play in the 1st XV with both Jim Cottrell and Dave Waight and can testify to their enormous individual skill as players and what today is referred to as their game management. Jim was much more powerful physically than Dave and, in my opinion, although incredibly modest he exuded an aura of invincibility that affected and inspired those around him. Although Dave was slight of build, however, he lacked nothing in terms of courage and never gave an inch to those trying to intimidate him physically as was the case in his first game in the 1st XV when we played against a club side at Harwich & Dovercourt who were out to do as much damage to us as they could. The ‘fat lads’ like me, Viv Beresford and John Morri gave him as much protection as we could, but Dave earned the respect of everyone in the team that day for the way he stood up for himself and the team. |
