Club Focus – Bromley CC and the Growth of Girl’s Cricket

In the recreational sphere, we have a growing network of Schools, Clubs and Coaching Companies delivering cricket to Women & Girls across the County. In the second edition of our ‘Clubs in Focus’ series, Helen Fagg, our Women & Girls’ Community Cricket Officer, caught up with Andrew Caswall (Chairman of Bromley CC) about the growth of girl’s cricket at the club, why they started it and the benefits it brings.

Who was involved in the initial decisions and actions to start a girl’s section at Bromley CC and what were the main reasons for doing so?

It all started on a bit of a whim. We were driving down to cricket tour in July 2017, listening to the final moments of England Women’s World Cup Final win by 9 runs over India. We just asked ourselves the question, “Why do we not have a girl’s section?”.

It was not, however, until after we attended a Kent Women’s Club Cricket seminar at the County Ground, Beckenham and the end of the 2018 season that we tasked ourselves to launch an all-girls section for our 200th anniversary in 2020.

Which initiatives or actions have the club taken, which have shown the biggest increase in girls signing up as members?

Our first initiative was during our winter 2018/19 coaching programme. We introduced “Bring your sister for free”, which saw around 20 girls try cricket for the first time. We followed this up by introducing free membership for girls for the summer coaching programme of 2019, as well as free attendance at our summer cricket camps.

The take up for the summer coaching was slow, but by the time the camps started in July we were beginning to see a momentum shift. By the end of August, we had delivered 284 days of free coaching (1,420 hours) to 112 girls and had around 100 girls signed up as members, all be it for free. The trick was now to try and keep them!

What are the main benefits you have seen to the club of having a girl’s section?

As a multi sports club, we have benefited from cross selling across the 3 sports; cricket, squash and tennis. A number of our current girls were already members of another section of the club and a number who joined for cricket have subsequently joined the squash or tennis sections.

The club has  also benefited socially from an additional 70 or so junior members and the 140 parents they subsequently bring with them.

How many girls do you currently have as members of Bromley Cricket Club and in which age groups?

We currently have 68 girls in the following age groups…

Under 15 Girls: 5

Under 13 Girls: 28

Under 11 Girls: 19

Under 9 Girls: 16

How often do they train and do they train/play together or integrated with the boys?

In 2020 we ran a ‘girls only’ softball cricket session on Sundays from July through to September. In addition we ran an ‘Introduction to Hardball’ session on a Monday alongside the under 11 Boys, although the girls were still in their own separate group.

For the winter programme from October to December and January through to March, girls aged 10 to 14 have an all-girls session, whilst the Under 9’s, due to hall availability, are for now, training together with the boys.

Do you have any females throughout the club in positions of responsibility and do you think that this is important for a cricket club? (i.e. coaches/umpires/scorers/ground-staff/committee etc.)

As a multi sports club, we do have females in position of responsibility, but not currently on the cricket committee. This is something we are currently looking to rectify, having had a fantastic response from the parents for requests to assist and we hope this will be rectified by the new year.

In terms of coaches we currently have 2 female qualified ECB level 2 coaches, in addition to a female coaching assistant and 2 female young leaders, meaning that we are predominately staffed with
females at the girls coaching sessions.

What do you feel will be the main benefits of having an international women’s standard cricketer such as Tash Farrant involved with the girls at the club?

We are hoping that Tash, apart from developing as many of our girls as she can to county standard, will be able to assist both our retention and recruitment strategies; strategies that have to work if we are going to take the girls section to the next level.

What are the main barriers the club have faced, and continue to face, to female cricket development and how have you overcome some of these barriers?

The main barrier the club faces and continues to face is lack of facilities and the lack of space. Bromley Cricket Club only has one square and adding a further five girl’s teams on top of the seventeen boys teams (Under 9 to Development) is a serious challenge.

We have managed to hire a number of pitches from other clubs and continue to look at joint-venture opportunities with local schools, that will not only alleviate the capacity issues in the summer, but also for the winter programme.

What would you say are the key focusses for sustainability when it comes to running a successful cricket club?

To sustain a successful cricket club involves having several plates spinning at any one time but we have concentrated on retention, recruitment, having a defined player pathway and embracing change. Retention and recruitment are fairly self-explanatory. Retention is the best form of recruitment. If we had kept one in four of the members who have stopped playing in the last 5 years, we would be running at least one more side on a Saturday. The defined Player Pathway not only offers inclusion, it allows members to understand what part of the puzzle they fit into, sets goals and keeps people playing.

If we cannot deliver on the pathway, then we will need to make radical changes to ensure that we are able to do so. If we fail to embrace change, recreational cricket is in for a torrid time where sadly not everyone will survive.

Do you have any further ambition for female cricket development at Bromley CC in the next five years?

Absolutely. We have a five-year plan in place and after year one we are 6 months ahead of where we expected to be.

We cannot however, afford to be complacent. Our biggest challenges with regard to facilities and available space are in front of us, but the plan four years down the road from here is to have a fully functional and sustainable women’s and girls’ section at Bromley Cricket Club.

Answers by Andrew Caswall (Bromley CC Chairman)