Newcomb & District Cricket Club appeals for help after third grade forced to forfeit through lack of numbers
A GCA club is appealing to its past players to return to the field after forfeiting a round 1 match, with the future of the club under threat.
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NEWCOMB & District officials are fearing for the future of the cricket club after the Dinos were forced to forfeit their third-grade match in the opening round of the season.
The GCA4 club, who celebrated its 50th year of competition last week, has dwindled from five teams in the years before Covid to just three sides in the 2022-23 season, with just five players confirming their availability for a round 1 match against Lethbridge.
Club secretary Troy Whitworth said the club was struggling to recruit and retain talent across the board.
“We’ve had five or six new players come to the club, but on the other side we’ve lost about the same so we’ve pretty much broken even,” he said.
“Blokes between 25 and 35 years old don’t want to play cricket anymore, they want to live their life and enter the workforce, rather than using cricket as a stress relief from work.
“Five years ago we had five sides, we were a strong club and we played relatively consistent finals, and now we can’t even fill three sides.
“We’re not at a crisis point yet, but we’re near a crisis point, we need to do something.”
The Dino’s first-grade side beat Meredith at the weekend, bowling out the Rams for 74 before chasing the runs down in 12.3 overs and winning by nine wickets.
The clubs’ second grade side lost against Meredith, bowled out for 92 trying to chase down 168 while the third-grade team could not field a full side.
Whitworth made a plea to former players and fans of the club on its Facebook page, imploring people to get back involved and support the club, saying he did “not want us to become extinct”.
Whitworth said the club was “treading water”, with promotion from the GCA4 division one method to helping recruitment.
“We can’t get many players in, playing division four is not a selling point,” he said.
“Our first goal as a club needs to be to get promotion, that will definitely help us get new players in and improve the quality and the depth a bit.
“Realistically speaking, we are not really in that club championship conversation yet.”
Whitworth has spent more than 30 years playing, captaining and volunteering at the club he calls home.
He said people worked hard behind the scenes, and those loyal fans of Newcomb & District cricket did not deserve to watch the club struggle and potentially fold.
“I’m one of the worst cricketers you’ve seen running around, but I love this place, it is my home,” he said.
“Newcomb is not a really young area, out at Armstrong Creek or Torquay the development is better and younger families are there, so it’s hard for us to recruit juniors like they do.
“We can’t keep trying to recruit 45 year olds to be ring-ins each week, we need to get our junior numbers up as well as that 25-35 year old range.”
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Originally published as Newcomb & District Cricket Club appeals for help after third grade forced to forfeit through lack of numbers
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