Gerald Lynch
After 75 years of existence, the Sunshine United Cricket Club had 11 girls take the field on March 1 in a historic one-off game against local rivals Sunshine Heights.
Club president Paul Cini said that it was time for the club to follow suit with the evolving world of women’s sports and after pushing for years to have a female program at the club, they got themselves off the mark.
“This is the first time the club fielded an all-girls team in a competitive match,” he said. “As the president of the club I am elated that we were able to launch this event this season.
“At the beginning of last season, the club made a concerted effort to recruit budding junior cricketers to the club with a real emphasis on promoting the game to girls.
“We set ourselves a goal to have a stand-alone girls team within a five year period. Whilst we have had numerous girls involved in our junior program for the past 20 years, they have always played in boys teams.
“We would find that once they reached the age of around 14 or 15, they would lose interest due to the heightened intensity and we would lose them to the game.”
Mr Cini said they will look to continue to improve and promote the level of female participation in cricket across the community and eventually field a side in the Western Region Junior Cricket Association, with sights set on a senior women’s side in the long-term future.
He said there has been a large jump in female sport participation seen recently, marking an exciting trend with one third of participants in their Woolworths Blast program now girls.
“The success of the Australian female national team and the Matildas soccer team has provided a real desire for girls to get involved in sport.”
