In 1936, Mabel Cashmore was part of the US-Canada tour by the national team, costing each player 215 pounds. On the way over, many of the team were so seasick that fitness training onboard was impossible.
According to reports of the time, athletic and skilled Mabel Cashmore was one of the superstar forwards of her time, first selected to the national team in 1925.
But it was the duration of her international career that put her among the elite few with national selections extending until 1937. Only Evelyn Tazewell (SA), Tori Wicks (NSW) and Connie Charlesworth (Tas) had more extensive careers in that era.
In 1936, Mabel Cashmore joined the Australian team’s tour to Canada and the US where the standard of the Australians’ play was noted as having substantially improved.
As a play-making forward, Cashmore was prominent and influential in Australia winning 16 of their 19 touring games.
The trip cost each player 215 pounds. Mabel Cashmore stayed on in the US for a fortnight longer and sailed home on The Niagara. On the way over, many of her teammates were overtaken with seasickness so much so that fitness training onboard was impossible.
The Hockeyroo No. 15 was also a contributor off-field, holding positions in the SA state hockey association, writing newspaper articles on women’s hockey, and in the 1940s and 1950s coaching SA schoolgirl teams.
Mabel Cashmore was also the founding vice-president (1953) of the South Australian Women’s Amateur Sports Council and helped May Mills develop the SA Women’s Memorial Playing Fields at St Marys.
