Grow takes a look at what those in business and industry do when they are not working – what drives them at home and away from the office, shop or factory floor. Silvio Marinelli is a Cranbourne accountant who is as familiar with a cricket bat as he is with a calculator. Narelle Coulter spoke to the sports fanatic.
Summer 1978: as the hot afternoon sun beats down a group of up to 15 boys gather to play cricket in the bowl of a court outside young Silvio Marinelli’s Cranbourne home.
The game stretches on into the evening, over after over to the cries of “Howzat?” and “Not out!”.
Silivo’s Italian immigrant parents are somewhat perplexed by their son’s obsession with this strange game but are glad that it has allowed him to make new friends.
Nearly 40 years later Silvio’s parents still live in the same Cranbourne house.
And Silvio, who is a partner and director of Cranbourne firm, Highview Accounting, is still as passionate as ever about cricket.
He laughs as he remembers the Cranbourne where he grew up, a scuffed cricket ball or footy was never far from reach.
“Oh geez. It was pretty quite in 1978,” he said.
“It was very much a small country town. There were two service stations in the main street. Wasn’t a lot around. I used to be able to walk in a straight line to primary school. Cranbourne Park was north of Cranbourne in 1978, now there is a whole suburb called Cranbourne North.
“It was predominantly dirt roads, open drains, very much a country town. To go to Dandenong was 45-minute journey. It was an event. You had to pack a lunch.”
He looks back fondly to his boyhood obsession with cricket, following his heroes Lillee, Chappell and Thomson, the superstars of Kerry Packer’s audacious assault on the traditional world of cricket.
“Basically the bowl of the court was our sports arena. It was footy during winter and cricket during summer,” Silvio remembered.
“The (games) were pretty serious, absolutely. I remember a few broken windows, bumps and bruises and scrapes. You spent all your time outdoors until your mum called you for dinner and you’d still get a couple of overs in,” he said, laughing.
“We were always playing footy and cricket at lunchtime and recess. You’d scoff down your lunch and get into it.”
From an ethnic background, the Marinelli kids weren’t really encouraged to play sport. Despite their parent’s ambivalence, Silvio’s brother played Aussie Rules and his sister was a runner.
“I sort of bucked the trend a bit, especially with cricket. It was basically 10 Australians and me from an Italian background. There were certainly no other kids like that.”
He remembers World Series Cricket being bought to life on the family’s first colour Rank Arena TV.
“I remember World Series Cricket as a kid. I was five or six years old at the time and that was my introduction to cricket.
“You had the best of the best. I understood it was Australia against the best players. That’s probably where my fascination with cricket started, World Series Cricket.“
He pauses for a moment when asked what it is that so fascinates him about cricket.
“From a playing point of view, for a team sport, it is still very individualist. When a bowler is bowling to a batsman, he has the field to help him, but ultimately it’s one on one but still within a team environment.
“It’s quite a unique sport. I’ve always found that a real challenge when I was batting or bowling. That one on one within a team aspect. I’ve always found that quite fascinating.“
“I loved the older players, Greg Chappell and David Hookes were like my heroes. Dennis Lillee and Thommo (Jeff Thomson) were my heroes as a kid. I loved when those guys were playing.“
Silvio’s own playing career started as a junior at the Cranbourne Cricket Club. He then played school cricket for St John’s and then senior cricket at Devon Meadows before returning to Cranbourne.
A Life Member of Cranbourne Cricket Club, Silvio played in one of the club’s two turf one premierships, served as president and still sponsors the club.
He was immensely proud when the club won the turf one flag last year.
Silvio played in the club’s first turf one flag and was proud to watch close mate Peter Kelly’s son, Cameron, help Cranbourne to victory. Peter was captain and Silvio his vice-captain in that historic first turf one win.
“Peter was my first real friend at the cricket club. He was the person that I met and became close with. There’s a lot of guys I played with their fathers and at the end of my career played with their sons. I played with Peter and with Cameron as a kid.“
Cricket has given him life-long friendships, as well as a host of loyal customers. Nine out of 10 players in that original turf one winning team are clients of Highview.
“Hence why we still sponsor the club because they’ve been so good to me. You’ve got to give back to the club,” Silvio said.
One of Silvio’s proudest achievements was founding the All Abilities Competition with team-mate Shaun Petrie.
Fifteen years ago the club was struggling for volunteers. So Shaun and president Silvio decided to invite anyone who loved cricket to join the club, no matter what their physical ability with the bat or ball.
“Most people involved in the club play, so who is left cutting the oranges, running the canteen, scoring? Thinking outside the square, you don’t need to be able-bodied to be a scorer. So we thought maybe we can get some disabled people who love the game just as much as we love it but can’t play because of their disabilities – there’s no reason why they can’t be involved in the club.
“It was really just about making the club all-encompassing. When we took over running the club we had an open policy – anyone who turned up got a game no matter what ability you were, if you paid your fees you played. From a team perspective we went from seven teams to I think at our peak we had 24 teams. So we just opened the door to everyone.”
Silvio’s other great passion is Highview Accounting.
The business started as a small practice in Devon Meadows in 1990. Silvio worked for Highview before buying into the business when he was just 28.
Now based in Cranbourne, Mornington and Prahran, the partners took on five new staff last year and the Cranbourne office moved to bigger premises in Codrington Street at the end of March, which has the capacity to accommodate 50 staff.
HIghview is also expanding to include insurance and legal advice.
“Legislation has been pretty good to us; GST, super changes, capital gains, being in the right spot at the right time. The growth in this area is insane.
“But you’ve also got to position yourself and do things well.”
As Cranbourne has grown, so has Highview Accounting.
“We’ve tried to stay at the forefront of technology. We’ve been a cloud-based business for over four years now. I don’t think you can ever go fully paperless but we’ve been semi-paperless for probably five years.“
Silvio’s office is adorned with sporting memorabilia. In pride of place is a cricket bat signed by the 2011-’12 Bushrangers.
Richmond Football Club is his other great passion. When his dad first came to Australia he settled in Richmond.
A framed team of the century jumper adorns one wall. He once played golf with Richmond legend Matthew Richardson.
“He was okay, actually he was pretty good. Unfortunately, he got paired up with us.”
Silvio’s wife Vicki is an equally passionate sports fan. They met playing indoor cricket.
“We are both very passionate about sport. I talk to some mates – they have to battle for the remote to watch sport – but not in our household. We watch the women’s footy, the women’s basketball, women’s cricket.”
On Silvio’s bucket list is a trip to see The Ashes played in England and a tour of the West Indies. He hopes one of the two will co-incide with his 50th birthday in five years.
And he hasn’t ruled out a return to cricket.
“I might return to cricket to play with my godsons. One plays for Pearcedale, the other for Carlisle Park Vikings. I don’t like my chances of getting them to Cranbourne. I might have to defect.
“I love sport and I love this local community. So the Cranbourne Cricket Club sort of provided an outlet for both of those things. It’s Cranbourne and it’s cricket.”
