Alex Reese
Chairman of Cricket Live Foundation
The first one was a few years ago now, when I went through my first proper break-up. Mike rang me relentlessly over the course of a two week period when things were quite rough just to see how I was getting on. One piece of advice I treasured was “if you get kicked out, you can come and live above the garage”. He took me out for dinner on a number of these nights, alternating between Misceo and Chopsticks, just to talk and take my mind off things. At the end of one of these dinners, he handed me his credit card and said “take this for as long as you need, and just try and make yourself feel happy again. Take yourself to Sydney for the weekend if you need to”. Who else would do something like that other than Mike?
The second moment was a bit more recent, when we went to Sri Lanka together in 2019. We arrived on the early morning flight, getting to the hotel at about 2am. I was shattered and just wanted to go to my room to sleep. Mike on the other hand was on another planet — going around the hotel foyer talking to every hotel staff, asking them about their job, talking about cricket and even giving them an Annual Report each. We eventually got to bed and woke up for breakfast quite early. I went downstairs to find Mike sitting in the foyer (jacket and tie on) on his cell phone. We were staying at a hotel which looked out over a man-made lake in Colombo, which was a lovely sight. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was trying to get hold of Lianne Dalziel (mayor of Christchurch), to tell her to get the council to replicate this man-made lake in the red zone of Christchurch so we can start to host rowing, sailing and all sorts of water sports in the central city! He’d only been in Sri Lanka for five and a half hours!
Richard Cowles
Editor of the Annual Report
I met Mike on his 50th birthday in 1987 when he picked Pete and I up from school. I think we were supposed to be doing homework and then I discovered a trove of cricket videos upstairs: Botham’s Ashes, Australia in the Caribbean — all highly exotic stuff. I had spent the past year with my head buried in Men in White and was astonished that Mr Dormer was in fact good friends with its author, DO Neely. So that was the start of a great friendship with the family, firmly centred on cricket, playing alongside Ben in my last two years and including two tours to Australia which were fantastic. Mike was ever- present, organising and encouraging (when he wasn’t crashing the tour van) and always urging ‘keepers to get up to the stumps. “DON’T worry about byes!” still echoes loudly in my head whenever I don the gloves.
Ofisa (Junior) Tonu'u
Dual rugby (All Blacks, Samoa) and cricket (Samoa) international
In life you come across people that you just meet and instantly connect with. I had this experience with this man Mike Dormer who is the Godfather of The Willows Cricket Club. Like in every sports club, there is that person or people who are the custodians of a club. They know the history and share with you the etiquette of the club and sport, in this case The Willows.
An example of this is when I came off the pitch after fielding and I changed my helmet for my cap and I put my cap on backwards. Mike came up to me and said “Young man please wear your cap properly, this is a cricket game not baseball”. All I could say was “Yes, sir”. Thereafter, we bonded like a couple of old mates that hadn’t seen each other for years. Mike would continue to share stories and tips on wicketkeeping which I’ve taken away and made notes on. He even gave me a book “Keeping Secrets” which is a good read.
I will miss you and our chats especially the advice on wicketkeeping. Thank you for your service to the game of cricket which we both love and thank you for your friendship. The tie you gave me will have a special place and will always remind me of a couple of wicketkeepers giggling about stumpings in The Willows pavilion.
Will Burrett
Ex-NZRU rugby referee
Sometimes in life you meet people who have a profound influence on your pathway, for all the right reasons. Dad introduced me to Mike Dormer in 2002. Mike was the founder of the most incredible youth development cricket club, The Willows. I became a member in 2003. In 2004, Mike had heard of my head injury in rugby and single handedly inspired me to get out and blow the whistle to remain in the game and “because I’m mates with Paddy (O’Brien, 27 Test international rugby referee) and they need good decisive refs coming through the system ... but no pink boots!”
Mike followed my journey through reffing, always sharing the key milestones through my 11 years, that culminated in him joining me for my first division debut in Ruatoria in 2011. “I’ve had to get on and off two flights to get here so it better be a good performance”.
Mike was quite simply the most genuine, kind, selfless and distinguished human I’ve ever met. An incredible innings and legacy, Mike. Honoured to have had your guidance and friendship.
Jim Stringleman
Willows Match Manager
When my time comes and the umpire says ‘out’ I will await Mike’s call to join the Lord’s team in my tie and jacket, with socks up and shoes polished, hat on the right way, no earrings and be prepared to bat where I am told. I won’t back chat the umpire and say it was a bad decision that put me there. I will just thank him for the chance to be there with him again, playing in the V!