I first met Andy Gemmell in a cosy pub called the Compton Arms, which is in an Islington lane in north London. Like many in the pub, Andy was interested in sport; he could talk about it all night, or at least until the guv’nor called time.
Andy went to rock concerts or football matches like other patrons from the pub, only more often. He was a volunteer at the Islington branch of Britain’s Labour Party. Besides having a bit more substance to his opinions than the other drinkers, the main difference between Andy and the rest was that Andy was blind.
Andy, who is 54, is in Australia on a long holiday during which he’s going to the cricket and the races, and catching up with friends he met through the Compton. He flew into town on the morning of the Melbourne Cup, and, after a quick spruce-up, was off to Flemington to see the race that stops an antipodean nation. It was his fourth trip to Flemington.
On the eve of the First Test, Andy flew from Melbourne to Brisbane. He went to four days of the Test and had a good time, even if the English team was disappointing, and the Queenslanders slightly coarse.
For the Second Test, Andy flew to Adelaide with a bunch of Melbourne friends, all of whom have connections that stretch back to the Compton. Andy loves Adelaide, and the Adelaide Test. He says the crowd at the Adelaide Oval is more intimate than other grounds, and much like Trent Bridge, in Nottingham.
Andy made his first Ashes jaunt to Australia in 1982–83, when he was a member of a tour group. In 1998–99 he completed his first full Ashes tour of Australia; that is, he went to every Test. He long ago stopped travelling to Australia as part of a tour group, but that’s only because he feels safe.
His one problem in Australia is Melbourne trams careering down the middle of the street, which he never has to contend with in any other cricketing city. Nevertheless, Melbourne is his home base during the Ashes.
"I just feel at home here," he says. "It’s comfortable; it’s all right."
Andy says he’s always been entranced by sport. His interest began during the English cricket team’s tour of Australia in 1958–59, when he was six. The patter on BBC Radio’s Test Match Special made him want