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 Welcome to the Home of ON-SIDE CRICKET LIMITED (OSCL) |
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(Throughout this website, the term 'recreational cricket' is used as the all-encompassing definition of community, village, social, 'grass-roots', league and non-league, women's, inner-city/urban, disabled, blind/ partially-sighted, deaf/hearing impaired and all other forms of non-professional , multi-racial, cricket played throughout Great Britain).
Throughout Great Britain there are more than 2,300,000 active participants - players, officials, volunteers, committee members plus their families - of both sexes, all ages and all abilities, representing approximately 8,897 community cricket clubs of all types and sizes, who play, or are actively involved in cricket each year!
Thus, the role that cricket clubs play in their local community should not be under-valued or under-estimated.
They are the bed-rock of competitive cricket across the entire spectrum of the recreational game from local
junior 'grass-roots' and senior league levels to national tournaments. They provide the organisation,
coaching facilities, and opportunities for young players - particularly those from state schools
that have sold off their playing fields for housing or commercial development - to enable them to
play a wide range of competitive cricket whilst, at the same time, nurturing their talents, fitness and life skills
in a structured and supportive environment. Even, conceivably, developing them as potential, genuinely
'home-grown', international players of the future! Membership of their local cricket club junior/youth section can help these young players overcome problems associated with the current widespread lack of local authority-organised youth clubs and out-of-school activities facilities; lack of local job opportunities; 'couch-potato' and computer-games life-styles; low personal boredom thresholds; and low levels of physical activity, fitness and intellectual challenges - the main causes of the current exponential increase in youth obesity, Type 2 diabetes, gang culture, under-age binge-drinking, drug abuse and violent street crime.
Apart from the intellectual, health and social benefits that participation
in cricket can bring,
representing their local cricket club will help to develop team-player skills; self-confidence, self-esteem, a sense
of personal achievement, sense of community and peer-group respect.In addition, for those schools - sadly, now almost exclusively Public, Private and Church schools - that do include cricket in their sports curriculum, their playing season finishes during the first week of July - some three months earlier than the nationally recognised cricket season. By joining their local club, these young cricketers are able to continue playing throughout the summer - often at more competitive and challenging levels and in a much wider variety of matches - not only at weekends, but also during the week.
There is very real scope and opportunity for significantly increasing participation in recreational cricket at all levels throughout Great Britain; not only for youngsters in the 14-18 years age group, but also for young adults of 19-21 AND 'older' players from 21 to 60+!
However, in order to successfully accommodate and retain these extra numbers and encourage this wider participation in recreational cricket requires major investments in its infrastructure and coaching standards; e.g. in the preparation and maintenance of Clubs' squares and grounds; in the upgrading of existing playing surfaces (including professionally-laid outdoor artificial pitches); in the availability of more grounds; in the provision of more comprehensive indoor and outdoor coaching and development facilities; and in the refurbishment or rebuilding of existing practice facilities, pavilions, changing, shower and car parking facilities. IT IS WITH THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF HELPING AND SUPPORTING RECREATIONAL CRICKET CLUBS TO OBTAIN THESE FACILITIES AND RECRUIT NEW PLAYERS THAT ON-SIDE CRICKET LIMITED HAS BEEN FOUNDED (About us)
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