Page 183 - Demo

181It could be argued that the wide-brimmed hat worn by schoolchildren today is a direct result of this cricket hat %u2013 that%u2019s right, no hat, no play is Greg%u2019s fault, kids. In the 1970s and 1980s, the most wanted cricketrelated item was a Gray-Nicolls scoop cricket bat. They were wielded by all the popular cricketers of the day, including Australian captain Greg Chappell. Sadly, despite being made in Australia, this upmarket hero of backyard cricket was an English design %u2013 one we%u2019d dearly like to take credit for.However, one locally born cricket innovation was the brainchild of Greg Chappell: the widebrimmed hat that he debuted in 1981. Until that moment, our cricketers wore either the baggy green cap, a small terry towelling hat or nothing. For the pale-faced Chappell, who was constantly getting skin cancers cut out of his face, none of these options suited. Greg took the then-radical step of wearing a rigid, wide-brimmed hat to protect his face and neck from the sun on those long days out in the field against the mighty West Indies. For a nation that was still smothering itself in baby oil and loved the baggy green, it took a bit of getting used to, but as other players began to wear them%u00a0 and junior cricketers wanted to emulate their heroes, the hats took o%u00a0 like a bouncer in%u00a0the nets. The Greg Chappell Hat, or versions of it, became one of the most worn types of hats on the field and helped usher in wider acceptance of sun protection, not just in sport but in everyday life. In fact, it could be argued that the wide-brimmed hat worn by schoolchildren today is a direct result of this cricket hat %u2013 that%u2019s right, no hat, no play is Greg%u2019s fault, kids. These days, it might just look like a cream hat from Bunnings with two eyelets and a bloke called Greg%u2019s name on the side, but back in the day it was all a young kid playing cricket with a tennis ball in the street wanted %u2013 well, that and a%u00a0 Gray-Nicolls scoop, of course.YEAR 1981DESIGNER Greg ChappellMANUFACTURER Albion