By Marcus Uhe
An extraordinary general committee meeting in mid-March will determine the future of where Beaconsfield Cricket Club will play its cricket in the coming years, with the possibility of returning to the Casey Cardinia Cricket Association, formerly the West Gippsland Cricket Association, on the cards.
Beaconsfield moved to the Dandenong District Cricket Association (DDCA) for the 2015/16 season, climbing the ranks to Turf 1 after winning the Turf 2 premiership in 2022/23, in its first season under captain-coach Mark Cooper.
While the season begun brightly with a win in the club’s first fully-completed game against Narre South in round four, and competitive showings against strong sides, the toll of playing in the DDCA’s highest standard on a young side and small committee has weighed heavily on volunteers and contributors.
Speaking on the DDCA Radio Show on Casey Radio, Cooper said the club undertook a review in order to determine the club’s next steps.
“We got thrown into Turf 1 this year and on limited resources, volunteers and budget, we gave it a crack,” Cooper said on Saturday morning.
“But coming towards the end of the season, we sat down and said ‘what’s our vision for the next three to five years, what does that look like?’.
“That meant we had a bit of a review, similar to Berwick last year, a pulse check of where the club is at, what people are thinking, where do you want the club to go, etc.
“That’s driven some conversations around, is Turf 1 the right fit for us as a club, moving forward?
“That was unanimous that across the board that juniors, seniors, life members, that Turf was a really good aspect to the club.
“Now it’s about exploring those and what it’s going to look like for the future for Beaconsfield.”
Where other well-established clubs in Turf 1 are able to draw on supporters and spectators to contribute with tasks such as scoring, Beaconsfield’s base is considerably smaller by comparison.
“The committee has explained to me that this is the smallest committee that they’ve ever ran on, and that’s been over a long period of time, so that’s been a real challenge for them,” Cooper said.
“I guess Beaconsfield is a bit different to some of the other clubs nearby when you look at Officer or Berwick, either side, they’re quite large clubs and we’re a medium-sized club.
“We, if you look at our age demographic, from 25-35, we’ve lost that generation, and they’re probably the dads that play that back-seat role, not driving them everywhere but definitely there to support and offer a hand, score, or do something like that, because they’re probably getting towards the end of their working career.
“We don’t have that as a club and that’s a real challenge for us.”
Beaconsfield Cricket Club president Brad Miles was contacted for comment.
