Rastrick
OSSETT brewery
tour 87mm x 124mm.pdf
1
19/06/2019
13:14
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Our aim is to establish ourselves
in the top flight of the Huddersfield
League but to do this in a sustainable
way through a long term investment
in junior cricket, but holding on to
our talented youngsters and keeping
them motivated to play the game can
be very difficult indeed. We invest
in an overseas professional, who
has had a massive impact on the
quality of our side and hopefully his
experience will have a positive effect
on the other players.
At the other end of our sporting
scale, we field an Evening League
XI called ’The Rastrick Gentlemen
Spoofers’ who are a collection of
mature athletes who play very
much for social reasons, rather than
to improve their game. Whilst the
Spoofers are possibly the worst
cricket team currently active in any
league (and I say that as one of the
players!) they represent how the
game can still be hugely enjoyable,
even when you are past your peak or
never had a peak in the first place.
Junior cricket is a massive priority
for the club. We have over fifty junior
cricketers and we try our best to create
a safe and inclusive environment and
hopefully help them develop a bond
50 Issue 50
with the game and with the club.
One of the key challenges is keeping
our young cricketers interested in the
game, once other distractions start to
tempt them away. We field a Sunday
XI in the Halifax League and the
main purpose is to allow our Juniors
the opportunity to transition into
open age cricket without feeling any
unnecessary pressure.
The Sunday League offers a
decent standard of cricket but
crucially it is an environment that
allows youngsters to feel comfortable
and many of them hit the ground
running once they realise that they
are much better than they thought
they were. We have an excellent
Sunday Captain, who prioritises the
development of the younger players
and ensures that they all get a decent
opportunity and from this, the
youngsters can move into the more
competitive Saturday cricket with
much more confidence.
We are keen to position ourselves
as a community club and break
down some of the perceptions
that cricket clubs are ‘members
only’ organisations. One of our big
opportunities is to work out how
we can get better engagement with
local people who don’t use the club
or maybe even think that they are not
allowed. Our brand needs to be more
about being a community social club
rather than limiting our appeal to
cricket lovers only.
The challenges over the next few
years will be around adapting to the
changes in society - I grew up in the
days of phoning landlines to check
if people could play and the final
team selections were communicated
exclusively through the medium of
the notice board. However, we need
to adapt to changing trends, embrace
social media and try and work out
how to prevent young cricketers
getting lost to their many other
distractions.
It’s going to be a difficult period
for many clubs trying to balance the
desire to preserve our much loved
cricketing heritage with the need
to think differently about how we
engage with the future to keep club
cricket relevant.
Article provided by Chairman Paul
Shaw