John Goodman, a cricket scorer and administrator whose “only family was cricket”, has sadly passed away but will never be forgotten for his contributions to his club.

At the Lord’s Pavilion cricket ground, a flag was flown at half-mast as a mark of respect for John and his loyalty at the Chipperfield Clarendon Cricket Club for over 52 years.

John, aged 75, from Sarratt, centred his life around cricket. For over 63 years, the cricket enthusiast has played an active role in scoring over 3,000 matches at 500 grounds with a detailed record kept for many of the matches so that he could keep track of each match he participated in.

He sadly passed away in hospital on November 12.

While he is known for his work in keeping scores, at 15 John toyed with the idea of playing for Chipperfield. His love for cricket may be strong, but his skills could not match up to his passion, so he instead decided to ‘retire’ and instead followed his calling in scoring.

Some of the grounds he scored for includes Lords, Kowloon in Hong Kong and John Paul Getty’s Wormsley.

In pursuing his passion, John prioritised cricket over romances and women. While he did dabble with the idea, he felt that a relationship would only hold him back from his true love, cricket.

Watford Observer:

Chipperfield Cricket Club in 2006

Until his deathbed, John never married nor had children, but that did not mean he did not have a “family”.

Warren Gregory, the active chair of Chipperfield Clarendon, only knew John from his later years in life, but believes it is a great shame to hear of his passing. He said: “Cricket was his family. He lived and breathed it. If he was not scoring, he was at least in administration.”

Cricket was John’s livelihood but him acting as scorer and past president are not the only accomplishments within his life.

He worked in administration for the British Rail as railways and trains was an occurrent interest of his. Sometimes his two worlds would collide during an away match as he would often travel there via train just so that he could make sure he has seen every railway station across the UK.

Before becoming the club president, he served over 30 years as club secretary for Chipperfield.

When the Australian Crusaders toured in England, John also took the opportunity to score these matches, which also led to him meeting the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Great Park.

Other accomplishments include holding the role of fixture secretary for the Thames Valley league since 1997. He also served 18 years as a football fixture secretary in the West Herts Saturday League.

His impact in Chipperfield and cricket enthusiasts will not be forgotten, and even his presence in Sarratt had a positive impact to the community as he helped monitor footpath conditions to Three Rivers District Council during his many walks.

He even organised annual Christmas lunch for the elderly to give back to the community.

Talking on behalf of the club, Mr Gregory said: “While it is out of season, everyone has only positive things to say looking back at John. He was part of the furniture at the club.

“There’s a large wound at the cricket club since he was the glue that kept us together.

“Truly, he was the one constant that stayed at Chipperfield.”