Eglinton Hammerheads: Starting a Community Cricket Club from Scratch

A lot of us get out in the park and play on a Saturday or a Sunday. But do we actually know what goes behind making a great community cricket club? And do you ever think how your club started? We're going to go through all that today with Chris, Stan, and Kev from the Eglinton Hammerheads, a club that's only one season into their journey. We're going to hear about how the club started, what that took, and how much effort goes into getting something like a community cricket club off the ground. This is Episode 2 of the ClubStats Community Cricket Podcast. Eglinton Cricket Club, the Hammerheads up in the northern suburbs of Perth. To start with, just to make things complex, we've got three members of the club to talk about its genesis, how it started—because it mustn't be easy, Chris, to start up a cricket club.

No, not at all. Especially when you start from nothing and have nowhere to go, nowhere to be, and have to make it work.

Yeah, unbelievable. Right. So, just to start off, introduce yourselves, what you do at the club, your roles, and maybe a little bit of a mini background on your cricketing experience up to this point in time.

I'll go first. I'm Chris. I'm one of the founding members. First season, I was the club secretary. Now Vice President. I started playing cricket when I was a kid. And then once I had children, I took a 20-year gap.

Wow.

I don't even think MyCricket was out then! I think it was my last season or second last season when it came out when I actually recorded stats for Carine. Then the kids were older and we started playing for Yanchep, and now we're at Eglinton.

Awesome. What's really interesting in my cricketing background, I managed to convince the wife that cricket was always going to happen no matter if we had kids or not. So I was lucky enough that she was good with that. I even planned my kids' births outside the cricket season so I could still play, and it worked beautifully! But it's a hard thing with kids playing cricket, isn't it?

Yeah, I had a big chunk of time in mining as well and it just didn't work.

Yeah, absolutely. You've got to dedicate some time to play cricket, right? Awesome. Well, well done there. We'll get back to you as a founding member and how you did that. But Kev, maybe a bit about yourself.

Right. Well, I'm Kevin and I'm also a founding member. Last season when we started, I was the Treasurer. It's not really my ideal thing, but this year I'm sort of Chairman of Selectors slash with a bit of coaching, bit of training and things like that. That's probably where my skills lie. I've also played cricket all my life. I'm from a big cricket family in the UK.

And I've lived here and New Zealand. I had one season in New Zealand and I moved here. Like I said, playing cricket has always been part of my life. Something was missing, so I needed that social connection where you meet people and things like that. So we started playing at Yanchep together. That's where I met all these guys, and it sort of moved from there.

So you came over relatively recently?

No, I've been here 15 years, so I've been playing for 12 of them. Cricket is in my blood. I've got a big family who plays, so I was always going to play cricket somewhere. And like you, kids and cricket come hand in hand.

And then Stan, yourself?

Yes, hi. Much similar line as Chris. I played as a kid over in New Zealand until I left New Zealand. Then I had about a 20-year break from cricket until the Yanchep startup. So I started playing cricket up at Yanchep. With the club, I was a founding member of Eglinton and basically on the committee last year when it started. Getting a bit long in the tooth now, so I don't play as much as I should, but trying to balance everything with life and whatnot. But I enjoy hanging around with the boys, getting down to training and things like that.

You would have nearly been a founding member of Yanchep too, wouldn't you?

Yeah, I was... long time ago now, 2006 from memory.

That's kind of interesting. So there's a theme here, right? All at Yanchep, and Eglinton has sort of been born from that, which makes sense. For people listening at home, Chris, just explain where Eglinton is with regards to Perth and the city, give a bit of context and proximity because that's important to the story of this club.

Yeah. So everybody probably knows where Yanchep and Two Rocks are. Eglinton is sort of 10 to 12 minutes south of Yanchep, sits in its own little hub. New development, new housing. Our President was one of the people involved in starting the junior club, and that's pretty much where we looked at the senior club because the junior club had already been running for six or seven years.

By the time we started, we sort of looked at it: well, the kids are only 11 and 12 now, but when they're 14 and 15, they need to have somewhere to go.

It speaks to the demographic situation there as well. Obviously a young suburb, filling the gap down to Joondalup. When I first came to Perth as a kid, the freeway used to stop at Currambine. You've got a link to Yanchep—how did the link happen to try and start a new club? Can you dive into that a little bit?

This thing sort of came out of nowhere. We're not getting any younger, so the actual chance to still be involved in cricket and do something different had a big appeal to me personally. And also leaving a bit of a legacy if it works.

With Eglinton, you've just opened up that whole area—all these new players who are now playing cricket that weren't playing, particularly on a Saturday afternoon. Plus the kids' side, which is exciting, especially in another two to three years when these kids are of age to play senior cricket. It will be good to see them come along and nurture them into the senior ranks.

Trying to tap into the young kids playing. Creating that pathway so they don't drift away to Quinns, Joondalup, or stop playing. It's about the bonds that get formed. Leaving a legacy is pretty important, so I completely get that.

Personally, I'm always going to need somewhere where I can go and have a beer and watch a bit of cricket. From the very start, it was going to be done properly, honest, and transparent so everyone could see what was going on. I want to be able to walk down there when I'm not playing anymore and have a beer and watch community cricket. That's a major thing for me.

And see all the plaques on the wall with your name at the top! Banter is great. The catchment area is significant, and this club has only gone through one season so far, entering your second season.

Yeah, entering our second season. But we founded the club playing T20 in an Indian league just so we could start.

An amazing opportunity to take advantage of a huge, untapped catchment. I use the analogy of Whitfords Districts Cricket Club in the WA suburban turf—they commanded a massive northern corridor and won almost everything from the late 90s to mid 2000s, building a powerhouse culture. I see parallels to where you could be in 5, 10, 15 years.

It takes a lot of work. Whitfords didn't happen overnight—they built their programs, including strong girls' programs. The area is growing so much the possibilities are endless, but we've got to take it one season at a time to get our feet firmly on the ground.

We've got to crawl before we walk, but also have everything in place so that if we have to run before we walk, we can!

How do you actually start a club? Where do you go? How does that work?

You get six mates together and a few beers, and you go sit in a garage and go, "We should build our own!" It started from a conversation and a few beers in Corgi's garage to a phone call made to our President to say, "Hey, do you want to be part of this?" because he is on the executive at the NSCCA (North Suburban Community Cricket Association).

He is the head of umpires / umpire advisor. So we knew we had a bit of a way into NSCCA and tapped into his skillset to put us in the right direction of what we needed.

Does that take a year or two?

It should have taken a couple of years, but from lack of sleep, we did it faster! Knowing what we wanted, every document, account, submission—we learned along the way.

Looking at ClubStats, you had 46 players last season! How did you work that out?

The NSCCA required a minimum of two teams, with our first team in a minimum of C Grade.

C Grade is a good standard for a first season. We did a season in a T20 comp, advertised on Facebook, word of mouth, mates. We got 12 or 13 players from T20 and the rest was word of mouth and Facebook posts.

On the business side, you can't go to someone and ask for money if there's nothing to see. The founding members put in small personal amounts from day one to buy our domain, pay registration fees, and start.

Running a club involves grounds, markings, equipment, balls—balls are so expensive these days. Someone has to do all that and pay for it.

It costs a hell of a lot in running costs per year. Without sponsorship, you just don't last.

My business network opened up that road for me. Because I'd worked with these companies for 10+ years, they said, "Yeah, no worries, we'll help you get started."

They are the only reason we're here. Without capital, you can't do anything.

How was it being a new club in the competition? Did you cop flak from other clubs?

Not at all! Every time they came to a brand new ground and brand new pavilion, they were amazed. We had no negatives from any club. Off the field, there were beers after the game, match teas, and full support.

Other clubs even hit us up for pre-season social games. We put a big spread on for match teas for both teams to create a great atmosphere.

How did you go on the field last season?

We snagged a few wins! Kudos to the Indian community—we got a lot of Indian players who transitioned from T20 to Saturday cricket and bought into it really well. C Grade competed better than expected.

Your first win was in Round 6, plus a draw, and G Grade came good towards the end of the season with consecutive wins!

It took time for people to get to know each other and work out batting and bowling roles. Now that the first year is out of the way, we'll improve again.

Last season a couple of us tried to do everything and weren't sleeping. This season we have social media teams, events teams, a new Secretary (Jay) taking the load off me, and a new Treasurer taking the load off Kev.

The Secretary position is the engine room of the club—that person does everything the club needs.

Have you seen an increase in recruitment numbers?

We've attracted quality cricketers! Social media is pretty much how we do it, thanks to Jay sorting Facebook posts and professional content.

Your social media branding and color scheme stand out massively. Why were the Hammerheads chosen?

The junior club was already Eglinton Hammerheads Juniors. We adopted their logo and name. But senior and junior committees are kept completely separate to avoid conflict, while preserving the natural pathway for kids.

What are your thoughts on community cricket and the future for the Hammerheads?

Community cricket is great for leaving the stresses of life behind, playing the game you love with mates, and enjoying a few beers. In the future, I want to see us expand our senior sides and bring juniors into senior cricket.

For me, community cricket is a safe hub where kids and families can belong. As for the future, I want to see us win more games—I think our C Grade side has a great chance of making finals this year!

It's about having that team camaraderie and seeing everything you created come to life. We went from a garage conversation to a functioning club with 40+ members. In 5 years, we're targeting 3 to 4 senior teams with the growth in the northern corridor.

Well done to Chris, Kev, and Stan for keeping the spirit of community cricket alive. Thanks for listening to the ClubStats Community Cricket Podcast. For more information on bringing your club history online, head to clubstats.cricket.