A look into the History of Belmont District Cricket Club
Belmont District Cricket Club Association was admitted to the NDCA competition in the 1944-45 season following a delegation to the association led by Pat Cahill.
Residential status dictated what club a player as able to play with in those days and did indeed until the early 1960’s. Much controversy was aroused by the boundary committee decision to include in Belmonts residential area part of what is now Highfields qualifying Reg Beattie for the new Club. Reg was a former Sheffield Shield batsman and has been one of the premier batsmen in the competition for more than 20 years.
Information concerning the clubs’ early years has been very difficult to obtain due to the lack of records prior to the 1959-60 season with the exception of the statistics for the 1951-52 and 1952-53 seasons. NDCA records only list players who score so many runs or take so many wickets. It wasn’t until the late 1950s where it was indicated to which club a player belongs to. This lack of information has resulted in some omissions in the averages prior to the 1959-60 season and particularly of the clubs first final one by third grade in 1945-46, where no district records were available that season which as the end of World War II.
More important than the players statistics is the lack of information regarding the executive and committee members in those early years. Success on the field can only be achieved when the clubs are well administered off the field. The club must be extremely fortunate to have an abundance of competent and dedicated committee members during its existence and their efforts have contributed significantly to the Cubs on field achievements. The
contributions of these people are acknowledged by the preceding photograph and those of the current committee details life members and listing of the clubs’ executive officers from the 1956- 60 season onwards.
Belmont Sportsman's Club has also made a significant contribution to the club success providing a yearly grant enabling BDCC to provide inexpensive cricket to its players and also to employ professional players employing professional players has two advantages to the club
It lifts the standard play in the 1st grade side and
Makes available to the lower grade players talented an experienced players to point out the correct flaws in their technique.
The Sporties also contributed greatly to the sporting bodies of (cricket, rugby league and baseball) by employing full-time groundsman named Russell & Neal Allen Sharp, allowing them to play and practise under best conditions available.
-Taken from BDCC Annual Report.