happyhawk wrote:You are all spot on. Unfortunately country sport and more so summer sport is dying a slow death.
At Gilbert Valley we have only had Normy come down from the Stanley comp and he has even said how difficult it was to leave a club that he knew wasnt in a great position numbers wise. Many of the better players in the Stanley would do well in the Barossa comp, the issue at the moment by the sounds is depth of talent and just numbers in general. We have tried pretty hard to get players from both Auburn and Clare over several years, unfortunately many of the better cricketers are older guys who have a family and are near the end of their cricketing days. Many guys will hang on as they dont want to see their clubs die, but in honesty this is just delaying the inevitable. The Barossa comp, in my opinion, would be the best regional cricket comp in the state by a long way. 6 senior grades with an average of 8 teams per comp, junior numbers are high with a similar amount of grades as the seniors. Junior cricketers can play in the Barossa in the morning and play for a district club in the afternoon with a short drive from the Barossa/Gawler to Adelaide. The turf wickets are better than many grade decks and the comp is run by an excellent committee in a very professional manner.
If the Stanley comp was to disband it would be silly not to go south into the Barossa comp. Families are then closer to Adelaide once the game is complete if they have functions etc to attend to. Lets be honest who wants to play cricket north of Clare if you dont live up that way.
Great post mate
I do think most clubs would struggle to field sides in two day comps
I can honestly say I don't think there was a single week of the season that we went into a game unchanged whether it was from, harvest, vintage, work commitments, wedding season, etc never mind the odd injury