PSA50: Heather McKay: Respect That Transcended The Sexes

By RJ Mitchell

Widely recognised by her peers, and indeed backed up by a peerless set of career statistics that will surely never be bested, Heather McKay’s status as the greatest female squash player of all time should be in no doubt.

While Nicol David and now Nour El Sherbini, whose domination of the current golden age of women’s squash glows brighter with every passing year, all have their supporters, when it comes to the subjective chatter over who is the dominant force of the eras – Heather is indeed ‘The Real McKay.’

Yet while the glorious testimonials of those that played and were beaten by her during her 19-year unbeaten run, which amassed 16 British Opens and the first two World Championships, remain undiminished, to get a true sense of the Australian’s greatness, we must examine how her greatness transcended the sexes.

For two of Heather’s greatest supporters and firmest admirers are none other than Jonah Barrington – father of the professional game, and the dominant British Open champion as Heather’s own reign over ‘The Wimbledon of Squash’ entered its second decade – and the greatest male Australian squash player of them all, the sport’s first professional male World Champion and the man who knocked Barrington off his perch – Geoff Hunt.

Jonah: A Tale Of The Unexpected:

For Jonah first impressions last, and as he recalled his first meeting with Heather at his renowned subterranean Lansdowne Club training base, Mr Squash for once was left wrong-footed: “Heather was almost a legendary player when I first saw her at the Lansdowne Club, when she came in well, to be honest, I don’t know what I was expecting!” admitted Jonah.

The six-time British Open champion continued: “But I suppose I was expecting someone who looked outwardly a lot stronger but Heather was a relatively slight lady, not that tall really, and when she materialised she was also very quietly spoken.

“Then she got onto the court and started striking a ball in a way that most men couldn’t do with these tiny headed wooden rackets of the 70s.

“Really the first thing I heard, 30 yards away from the Bruce court, was a ball being struck in such a way that I remember thinking: ‘That’s the purest ball striking I’ve ever heard!’

“So Heather was just practising on her own and drilling the ball and it was robotically clean and measured. Just so exact and clinical.

“So for the players of the day against Heather it was a question of: ‘Can I possibly get one point or maybe two?’

“Heather then went through to the quarter-finals of the first championship I watched her compete in and didn’t lose a point.

“She didn’t make unforced errors – she was just remorseless.”

When it came to an analysis of Heather’s game there is in fact no one better qualified, or exacting than Barrington, and the squash immortal reflected: “The only thing I would say, if I was being really severe, was that Heather didn’t have a top end touch game but now at a distance I ask myself: ‘What was I looking at?’ Apart from the fact that the opponent could barely get out of the back of the court!

“Heather also had a world class boast and she just drove every match – the opposition was not in contention.

“I don’t know what it must have been like for her rivals coming onto the court but I could only imagine the gallows were imminent.”

The Female Jahangir:

For Heather’s fellow Antipodean great Geoff Hunt, who along with Heather completed a double Aussie triumph when they both won the inaugural World Championships in 1976, an amazing comparison with the game’s greatest male champion Jahangir Khan springs to mind.

“Heather wasn’t a big volleyer but she put the pressure on, if anything she was the equivalent in the women’s game to Jahangir in the men’s,” said Hunt.

“She just hit the ball relentlessly hard and straight and that just broke the opposition down. Heather was also a very good competitor, who trained extremely hard. There was Dot Deacon and Marion Jackman who took some games off Heather but she never lost and her record at the British was incredible.

“I didn’t train with her but I saw Heather play a few times as she came to Melbourne to play our local Victorian players. She would also come to Victoria to play the men but she was top league standard in the men, so she was just dominant in the women.

“My sister, Patricia, who was No.1 for Victoria and was a decent player, played Heather in the Victorian Championship and she got two points off her and she had to earn them and Pat was proud of them.”

When Geoff became Director of Squash at the Australian Institute of Sport in 1985 he soon enlisted Heather to join him, and as well as coach she’d play against future legends and multiple World and British Open champions like Sarah Fitz-Gerald, Michelle Martin, Robyn Lambourne and Danielle Drady.

As Geoff recalled, even in her mid-40s Heather gave them no quarter: “Heather would give them hell and they found her really tough to play.

“She was a slight lady but she gave them no quarter and would almost push them out the way to hit the ball. She was such a tough competitor.

“Obviously the standard has improved enormously over the years and the Egyptian girls can do it all now but the point is Heather was supreme and she just overpowered everyone.

“The women’s game is at its highest level now and it’s hard to compare eras as you don’t know what would happen if Heather played now, but I have absolutely no doubt that Heather would have lifted her game accordingly.”

Perhaps it’s fitting to end this ode to the women’s game’s greatest champion with an anecdote and when it comes to these there is no one better than professional squash’s founding father.

Recalling the night Heather made an arrogant male adversary call it a day, Jonah Barrington shared with a chuckle: “I recall watching Heather practising and there was one particular session she had with a guy who Nasrullah (Khan, Jonah’s coach) put in. So this fellow thought he was playing a woman, which he was, but he had no idea of just what woman he was playing!

“Naturally the opponent was quite cocky, and if I recall he may have been at Sandhurst, which didn’t give him the right to be cocky, but he certainly was.

“The poor sod didn’t get the message in the knock-up, and he should have done as Heather was striking the ball exquisitely, but after about five minutes you could see the gathering desperation on his face regarding what was happening to him and the disaster set to unfold.

“The concept that his squash was being taken apart by this woman was clearly beyond him and I’m not sure he actually scored, and he was never seen again at the Lansdowne.

“But Nasrullah, who had a wicked sense of humour, thought this was hilarious and we all laughed long.”

So how would Heather fare in this current golden era of women’s squash: “So many of the great players of the past would have adapted to what was required, been motivated to do what was necessary to fulfil from their talent into today’s game,” said Barrington.

“Obviously so many would, but not all, yet those that did would be driven by their obsession for the game and their sheer quality and talent. But Heather would not have been at any disadvantage today in this respect and that is all I can say.”   

Surely a fitting summation.