New City Cricket Club and Riverina cricket lose top coach Tony Scammell

He lost a short battle with cancer on Tuesday, aged 76.

"He's our spiritual leader, he means everything to our club, he's our heart and soul," New City president Chris Green offered.

Tony is a life member of the Phoenix and Cricket Albury-Wodonga Hall of Famer.

"He gave his life to cricket and was a wonderful servant of the game," CAW chairperson Michael Erdeljac said.

Tony's love for the sport started as a 13-year-old in 1957-58, with his playing and coaching career spanning 64 seasons.

He was an aggressive left-hand batsman, who captained Albury and Border Cricket Association at under 21 level and also represented Wodonga District at Melbourne's Country Week.

But it was his coaching, whether at New City or junior representative teams, which stood out.

"He had a great passion for teaching kids, he had a way of teaching not only cricket, but life lessons," Green explained.

"I remember the first time I met him, he said, 'I coach kids, I don't coach parents'."

Tony's son Brett admits his father was a straight shooter, who didn't suffer fools.

"He would say to people, 'what can I do to make you better'? 'How can I help you become a better player and person'? It wasn't about him, it was always about you," he revealed.

Tony coached thousands of youngsters, including current Australian assistant coach and former Test all-rounder Andrew McDonald and ex-NSW captain Dominic Thornely.

He served more than a decade as Murray Cricket Council director of coaching, streamlining the approach to NSW representative cricket, and was also a long-time Riverina coach, with the under 16 Riverina cricket competition named the Colston-Scammell Shield.

"The zone would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to a great Riverina personality for all his hard work and dedication," Riverina administrator David Nichols said.

The family shared a wonderful moment three weeks ago when Brett received New City life membership.

"Dad was in the hospital at the time and when I told him he gave the thumbs up and said, 'that's awesome', he couldn't have been prouder," Brett suggested.

Father and son are New City's only second-generation life members, with the pair also playing a host of games together.

"I remember one game at Kelly Park we were 4-5 when dad and I started batting together," Brett chuckled.

"They thought they had us, but we started sprinting quick singles, it was just a nod and we were off, it was like telepathy, we ran them ragged."

Tony understood the impact of the sport and would take youngsters from Belvoir Special School for training once a year.

"He'd wear his little NSW tracksuit and I'd tell the kids what's been named after him and how he was a really good cricketer, they even talk about it now, he was very generous with his time," teacher Lisa Green enthused.

Tony loved to make youngsters feel special.

"My absolute favourite memory of Tony is at the end of every season, he would bat against the kids and they'd line up against the old bloke and there'd be a few short ones, but he still had that determination," Chris Green laughed.

And New City was just as important to Tony.

"When he was about 60, dad's health started to become an issue and after the club merged with East Albury around two decades ago, we then decided to get the club back as a single entity around 2007," Brett offered.

"Prior to that dad had no club, he'd finished up at Riverina and he seemed a little bit lost, but the return of the club kept him going."

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Tony is survived by wife Rhonda and children Linda, Donna, Brett, Mark and families.

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