Former first XI batsman Michael Swartz has empathised with Avendale Cricket Club’s recent challenges, ahead of the 2019-20 Western Province Cricket Association first division B.
Avendale Cricket Club have been relegated on the back of a poor 2018-19 WPCA first division A campaign. They were also defeated by Strandfontein Cricket Club in the Ama20 Competition first division A final earlier this year – and have since lost several personnel to other clubs.
Seamer Jody Lawrence, for example, has joined Durbanville Cricket Club in the premier league – and batsman Shane Dixon has returned to Wynberg Cricket Club in the first division D. Avendale Cricket Club, too, are hiring a new head coach.
What Swartz said
“After watching Strandfontein Cricket Club decimate Avendale Cricket Club in the Ama20 Competition first division A final at Newlands a few months ago, Strandfontein’s victory made me think about the ingredients to the success they’ve achieved,” Swartz stated in a heartfelt message on social media.
“I realised during the final, while Strandfontein’s juniors annoyed us Avendale supporters, as they banged away on the advertising boards after each run their victorious first team scored, that the real success wasn’t the trophies won or promotion achieved, it was the number of junior cricketers present at Newlands that evening. It was refreshing to see.
‘Avendale Cricket Club’s season went from bad to nightmare’
“Avendale’s season went from bad to nightmare, after the tears rolled on the day of relegation and the disappointment of losing the Ama20 Competition final, when a large percentage of first team players were supposedly on their way out.
“This mini calamity (obviously) got members of the club worked up as those remaining attempt to salvage and rebuild for the upcoming season. Losing key players is not what a cricket club needs going into a new season, especially after relegation.
‘Experiencing a shock’
“Since then it has been great to see senior figures at the club rally together in order to begin the rebuilding process. Most community cricket clubs lack this characteristic, which often results in clubs failing to bounce back after experiencing a shock – the magnitude of which Avendale has experienced. I’m confident that despite the bleed, that the quality of leadership Avendale possess will see the club through this testing period ahead.
“I write this piece because the blessing stemming from the space that Avendale currently occupy has allowed the opportunity to reflect on its existence, its history and its philosophy. It is to this cause that I wish to contribute.
“Over the last decade I don’t think there has been a player who has been at the forefront of Avendale’s charge through the leagues more than I have, as a player and a leader. I mention this because embracing the charge for the highest honour in club cricket – becoming a premier league cricket club, was the single and absolute mission we were on.
‘Protects itself from allowing money to buy its success’
“The surge, through perseverance and steadily adding small building blocks season after season, brought the desired results. For a community cricket club, with a philosophy that protects itself from allowing money to buy its success, the results over the last decade have been pretty impressive.
“But, as I also reflect on Avendale’s current fortunes, I’ve been challenged to ask myself if the blood, sweat and tears have been worth it? For me, the answer is no. No, because I’ve realised that what we’ve been chasing all along as a community cricket club was and is, nothing. The nothingness I argue is the pursuit of playing premier league cricket for Avendale – and is due to it being at the expense of our junior cricket teams.
‘Premier league cricket means absolutely nothing if…’
“Subconsciously, it was the reason I got annoyed at the Strandfontein juniors, because I knew Avendale didn’t have the junior cricketers to compete against theirs. For me, it is the real crisis Avendale cricket club faces.
“Premier league cricket means absolutely nothing if it does not serve as a platform for your own cricketers to play at the highest amateur level. All we were chasing was status, a status that the community of Kewtown doesn’t give a damn about. A status that made us sacrifice our junior structures, season after season, which was our real purpose in the community. A purpose to use sport as a mechanism to help uplift kids with bucket-loads of talent.
‘We have not paid senior players to play’
“I do believe this sacrifice was unintentional, but in hindsight, the demise of our junior structures stared us in the face season after season. Instead, we chased a prize (there is actually no worthwhile prize) and a status that we could never sustain if achieved and that did not align with Avendale’s cricket philosophy.
“A philosophy built in the trenches by the late Bert Ericsson, embracing its community through being its number one priority. It is the essence of our cricket and sporting philosophy and the reason we have not paid senior players to play cricket for Avendale Cricket Club. Dare I say, Avendale risks becoming disconnected from its community.
“I do, however, think this is an exciting time to re-energise and re-prioritise. A positive outcome since the recent AGM is the addition of new executive members to the existing leadership. The big challenge facing the leadership team is to ask themselves if they are going to continue chasing an empty pot of gold? Are they going to invest in senior players that will turn their back on the club in a blink of an eye – at the expense of junior structures, again?
“I believe the current ‘crisis’ has allowed the incoming leadership an opportunity to free itself from the burden of competing for a hollow prize and rather swim upstream.
“The amount of time, energy, stress and frustration leaders of this club has endured is remarkable. It is time they redirect that energy and chase a more meaningful prize. The prize of creating the most sort after junior structure this side of Table Mountain. It is very possible; the main ingredients are there – kids in abundance. All they want to do is play. The beauty is, this vision will result in Avendale producing high-quality players again, making a real difference in their lives, no matter how small, the investment will never be lost.”
- Read Swartz’s full statement here.
