HISTORY OF THE FORMATION OF PENSHURST WEST YOUTH CLUB
The Beginning
In 1965 the Sportsmaster of Penshurst West Primary School, Mr. Charlie Owens, had an idea of entering teams into the St. George Rugby League Junior Competition. Circulars were sent to parents, and many embraced the idea. They told their friends and four teams were formed with players coming mainly from Penshurst West PS, but also other scools in the area as well. Regular meeting of parents & Office Bearers of the new Rugby League Club were held and it was at one of these meetings that Mr. Ray Bowmer said, "Now we have started Rugby League, why not enter cricket teams". The Committee agreed and so the cricket section of the Club was formed. Most of the sport at that time was rub by registered clubs and so it was decided to form Penshurst West Youth Club and incorporate the two sports.
The Organising
Realising that we had to act quickly as teams had to be nominated for the cricket competition in early August, a Committee was formed. The secretary was Ray Bowmer who was a real man of action and noted for “getting the job done”. Application and registration forms were printed (at the printing company where Ray worked), and handed out to all of the Rugby League players, as well as at Penshurst West Public School.
The Club at that stage did not have any money and no cricket equipment. This was a major problem as you can imagine. Penshurst West differed to most other Clubs in that they did not have a registered Club to donate money to them to buy gear. In those days players used to only turn up in whites with no playing gear. All equipment was supplied by the Club, bats, pads etc, even protectors were communal!!!!
Jim Mitchell from Jim Mitchells Sports store at Hurstville (Club Central now stands on this site) was approached about supplying the equipment. Jim was sympathetic to the plight of our newly formed Club and relied on the honesty of the Executive and agreed to supply all equipment for the seven teams, interest free, provided he was reimbursed by the end of the season, which was April 1966. The Executive gave this assurance. Various fundraising activities were undertaken including raffles, and the money owing was paid well within the time stipulated. This repayment of the debt was the first step in building the integrity of the Club.
Now we had the equipment, we could organise practice. There was only time to have practice sessions on the two Saturdays before the competition started.
The First Day
While many of the team Managers had played cricket, none of us had any experience in managing a junior boy’s cricket team. Some players were signed up on their name only, sight unseen and this was to cause confusion a little later. The St. George CA gave the Club some leeway on registrations as it was our first year. Charlie Owens also assisted in organising the players to be registered.
On the first day we arranged to meet at the top of Olds Park, where the netball courts are currently, at 7:30am. It was organised chaos. There were only 2-3 cars per team to take to take 12-13 boys, a cricket kit and mat to the ground which were all in the Rockdale and Kogarah area. Luckily the seat belt laws of today were not in existence!!! A parent with a ute was highly valued as you could fit most of the team in the back section!!! Boys were being dropped off and the cars were driving off as soon as the boys hopped out. Managers were asking players their name to identify if they were in their team. As mentioned before, a number of players were signed up sight unseen.
I noticed a little 8 year old sitting on the fence by himself, so I asked him his name. He replied, “Steve McDonald”. I quickly checked my list and he was on it. He continued to be in my team for the next 8 years – all the effort now seemed worthwhile.
Eventually all boys arrived, all equipment arrived for each team and cars were overflowing. Penshurst West Youth Club cricket was underway
Fund Raising
During that first year the Youth Club saw the need to raise money for all Codes so we could survive. A strategy was devised whereby the Club would become a registered charity so they could buy all sporting equipment without the sales tax that was applicable at the time.
Apart from fees charged by the individual Codes which was used for the running of expenses of that Code, all other fund raising was done on a Club basis with all sport types participating and the money allocated as required. As most families had children playing in two sports e.g. Cricket & Rugby League or a daughter in Netball, this arrangement worked very well. Raffles were held but the main fund raising events were Rugby League Doubles, 100 & 200 Clubs.
Rugby League Doubles
During the Rugby League season first tryscorer doubles (on the match of the round) were printed by Aitkins Printery at Belmore. Ruth Yates would drive over on a Wednesday to pick up the tickets required. There were 169 tickets set (13 players x 13 players in those days – no 17 man squads) and she would pick up between 15-20 sets. Junior Club members would then sit down on Wednesday afternoon after school, fold, then staple the tickets and sort into bundles for the volunteer sellers. Most of the sellers would sell to family & friends or at their place of work. This was a real money source over the winter season.
100 and 200 Clubs
As mentioned earlier, the Club was registered as a charity (mainly through the work of Ian Hamilton). The registration was possible by offering free sporting participation to families who were in financial difficulties. This meant the Club could purchase motor vehicles Tax Free.
The 100 Club consisted of 100 members being able to purchase a number between 00 and 99 for 20 weeks. If their number matched the last two numbers of the first lottery drawn each week, a minor prize was won which was equivalent to the amount one ticket cost for the 20 weeks. On the twentieth week if your number matched the last two numbers in the lottery you won the motor car.!!!!
The 200 Club was a variation of the 100 Club whereby 200 people were allocated numbers between 000 and 999. This competition lasted for 10 weeks and the car was won on the 10th week by the holder of the last three numbers of the lottery ticket.
The Decision
In 1965 there were two senior associations in the St. George area, namely the St. George CA and the Georges River Penshurst DCA (GRPDCA). However, only the St. George CA had a junior competition and the GRPDCA played on the wickets controlled by Hurstville Council. They payed hiring fees to the council for the use of these wickets and decided to start their own junior competition to encourage more teams in the whole of the St. George area. When this competition started in the 1967/68 season we were still playing in the St. George CA. At the end of the 1968/69 season we had to decide whether to stay with St. George or transfer to the newly formed GRPDCA boy’s competition.
One of stalwarts of our Club was Lyle Stubbings, a magistrate and advisor to our younger players, suggested we have a general meeting to decide what would be the best Association for our Club. At the commencement of the meeting all agreed to abide by any decision that was made at the meeting.
The meeting was held a Lyles’ house in Wattle St.
The mains points discussed were:
1. Convenience of playing in our local area
2. More opportunities for our boys to play in representative teams
3. A greater input into the running of the competition
The result was almost unanimous to change to GRPDCA.
Many parents became involved in the administration of GRPDCA as well as being involved in Rep team duties including Maurice Ross and myself. Later we were both elected as Life Members of GRPDCA. Many others have followed this tradition including current GRPDCA President & Life Member, Jeff Evans.