It was a co-worker at the famous Australian manufacturer RM Williams who first aroused Margaret’s interest to play softball.
How do people find their way into their sport? The paths taken are many and varied.
Was it an older sister or brother? Was it a PE teacher recognising your talent? Did your friends play? Did you see the sport live one day, inspiring you or your parents?
In Margaret Laing’s case, it was a co-worker at that famous Australian manufacturer, RM Williams, who stimulated her interest.
It was in the very first softball season that a baseballer called Bob Brown, who was helping the birth of this new sport for women, and who across the desks at work, coaxed her to the softball diamond.
Such was her natural skill that Margaret Laing was selected in the first Open State representative side in 1948, and then also chosen in the first State team to contest the first Australian carnival in Melbourne.
That was despite players having to play their Saturday and weeknight games on rough and uneven surfaces in the centre of Victoria Racecourse.
Margaret Laing was forced to withdraw from the 1950 State team heading to Sydney for the Australian Carnival, but from there she turned her attention to umpiring.
Just three years later, she – along with two other South Australians – passed the first Australian Softball Theoretical Examination. A year later, she became the first South Australian to gain her AA (All-Australian) Umpire’s Classification.
Over the next 20 years, this young woman officiated at the Australian Softball Championships with expertise and fairness.
Margaret Laing reached the pinnacle of her umpiring career in 1965. She gained international status when she joined an elite group of umpires to officiate at the first World Softball Championships held in Melbourne in February of that year.
South Australia has honoured her by naming the Association’s Under 16 Girls’ Best Player Award. Life membership was conferred in 1975, and Margaret Laing was inducted into Softball SA’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
