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 Welcome to the Home of ON-SIDE CRICKET LIMITED (OSCL) |
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(Throughout this website, the term 'community cricket' is used as the all-encompassing definition of recreational, village, social, 'grass-roots', league and non-league, women's, inner-city/urban, disabled, blind and partially-sighted, 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 of both sexes and all ages - players, officials, volunteers, committee members, plus their families - representing approximately 8,897 community cricket clubs of all types and sizes, who are 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 provide not only the foundation for competition across the entire spectrum of the game from local
junior 'grass-roots' and senior league levels to national tournaments, but also 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 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 community cricket club junior/youth section can help these young players to overcome problems associated with the current widespread lack of local authority-organised youth clubs and out-of-school activities facilities; with '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 increasing youth obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Apart from the intellectual, health and social benefits that participation in cricket can bring, playing for their
local cricket club will help to develop a young person's self-confidence, self-esteem and sense
of personal achievement and, at the same time, stimulate parental interest and new peer-group respect; the
lack of which are the main contributing factors in the current exponential increase in today's culture of youth
gangs, binge-drinking, drug abuse and violent street crime. 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.
Throughout Great Britain there is very real scope and opportunity for greatly increasing participation in community cricket at all levels and amongst ALL age groups; i.e. not only for youngsters in the 14-18 years age group and young adults of 19-21, but also for older players from 21 to 60 - and beyond!
However, to successfully accommodate and retain these extra numbers and encourage greater participation in
community cricket requires major investments in its infrastructure and standards; e.g. in
the preparation and maintenance of Clubs' grounds; in the upgrading of existing playing surfaces; in the provision
of additional grounds and new playing surfaces, including professionally-laid artificial pitches;
in the provision of new - or the refurbishment or extension of existing - pavilions, changing and shower
facilities; and in improved car parking facilities. Local Authorities, particularly, please note!
IT IS WITH THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF HELPING AND SUPPORTING COMMUNITY CRICKET CLUBS TO OBTAIN THESE FACILITIES AND RECRUIT NEW YOUNGER PLAYERS THAT ON-SIDE CRICKET LIMITED HAS BEEN FOUNDED (About us)
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