THE decline of cricket in the Shoalhaven worries Glenn Brandon.
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The sport helped mould the Berry-Shoalhaven Heads stalwart as a person and given him both long term memories and many lifelong friends.
He would hate to see others missing out on playing this fantastic game.
As a passionate cricket player, he does have an opinion on the state of Shoalhaven cricket at the moment.
He knows player numbers are down and something needs to done now, rather than later to fix it.
“I am a big believer you need to be strong at the top and the rest flows from there,” Brandon said
However, he thinks some other people don’t share his view.
“They would rather win in lower grades and think this will be a benefit but I am not seeing that at the moment,” he said.
“So we are back to a six-team first-grade competition and I believe the competition is the weakest its been in a long time.”
In winter we played footy and in summer we played cricket - that is what you just did
- Glenn Brandon
He added other competitions like Illawarra and South Coast taking local players hurts the Shoalhaven competition.
“We don’t even have an under 16s competition and our juniors are playing in other competitions – so why aren’t they playing here,” he asked.
“Last year, the competition with eight teams was really strong which was a better number than now.
“There is still a decent number of fair cricketers around.”
Cricket at a grassroots level does have its issues Brandon said.
He does not know if the situation with the under 16s is due to time constraints, too much rep cricket or competition from other sports.
The solution to fix the problem evades him but he thinks not having an under 16s competition is a big issue because they are the next crop of grade players the association needs to come up the ranks.
He wants the competition to survive and urges people with children to just give cricket a go.
“Give it a go and come and see if they enjoy it,” he said.
“It’s an outdoor sport and you will get a bat and a bowl and you will get to learn all the skills.
“You will play a team sport, you will learn a lot about yourself and learn things like self-discipline.”
The cricket tragic said the sport offers both girls and boys lots of opportunities.
While the current issues surrounding Australian cricket cannot be blamed for Shoalhaven cricket not having under 16s competition and a decline in numbers, Glenn said the there was ‘a bit of a bad smell around the sport at the moment in general’, which might be turning people away.
We are back to a six-team first-grade competition and I believe the competition is the weakest its been in a long time.
- Glenn Brandon
Glenn’s first match in the Shoalhaven was when he was a young lad.
He still smiles when he thinks about his first game of cricket.
“I got out for a duck – I don’t remember who it was against but it was at Shoalhaven Heads,” he said about his first match.
He was about eight-years-of-age when he made his debut in the local under 10s competition for his beloved Magpies.
“Cricket has just always been around ever since I was a little kid,” he said.
His older brother Matthew also played some cricket.
Glenn ended up being a bowler but does not remember his first wicket in the juniors.
“I do, however, remember just loving it [bowling] and getting people out,” he said.
“I still enjoy that the most.”
Playing sport was the thing to do when Glenn was growing up.
“In winter, we played footy and in summer we played cricket – that is what you just did,” he said.
He loves when the cricket season comes around after the long wait over winter.
Glenn hates to miss out on his cricket.
“If it’s raining on a Saturday morning, I still get the shits even now as a 35-year-old,” he said
“That is the first thing I do every Saturday – look out the window to see if it’s raining.”
Glenn said cricket was a character building sport.
“Not much comes easy in cricket and I think that is a good thing,” he said.
“You have to work to take every wicket and you have to work hard for as a team – nothing comes easy.”
He added you get a reward for effort when playing cricket.
Glenn also loves that as a 35-year-old he can still play cricket whereas other sports may not give him such an opportunity.
He will continue playing for as long as he can.
“I spoke to Bill Moffatt the other day, who is 73-years-of-age but he said to me with a wink that ‘you are never retired Brando’,” he said
He may not play first grade next season but cricket will be a consistent thing in the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, he added Cricket Australia made a huge mistake by agreeing to put a series of one-day and T20 matches only on pay television.
More exposure rather than more money is better for the sport, according to this cricket tragic.
All sport needs juniors coming up the ranks and tomorrow we speak to the president of the Shoalhaven District Cricket Junior Association Brett Mark to get his views on the current state of play.We also talk to a few junior players and ask why they love cricket?
