Pāpāmoa Cricket Club win ND Club of the Year

Where it all began: Mark Divehall (foreground) with Don Warner, then Western BOP cricket manager, and committee member Paul Dunn. Photo / George Novak

Established less than six years ago, Pāpāmoa Cricket Club has won the Northern Districts Cricket Association Club of the Year award.

Based at Alice Johnson Oval, teams from the club first played in the 2018-19 season when it fielded 12 school-age sides, including a women’s team, along with three senior men’s sides.

President Mark Divehall says winning the award is a proud moment not only for the club, but also for the Pāpāmoa community.

“Being a really young club - just five years in operation - to be nominated and then win an award and be recognised at that sort of level for the work that a small group of people, initially, put in, pretty exciting.

“I think between us, Albion and our club will be among the biggest clubs in the Bay of Plenty, if not Northern Districts, in terms of numbers of teams playing the game.

“It’s pretty exciting that we have been able to achieve that in such a short frame of time and obviously, with the benefit of having a pretty good place to be based, a pretty good climate, a fast-growing, diverse community that we have been able to tap into - it’s grown into something that certainly didn’t exist in the nature it does today.

“To supply [cricket] from age 4 through to premier cricket as well as avenues for females to play the game is pretty awesome.”

The club has its roots in a belief that establishing a club in Pāpāmoa was the way to attract players to the game and retain them.

Mark was one of a handful of players coming to the end of their top-level careers, who saw that youngsters from Pāpāmoa were more likely to play the game if, however good Mt Maunganui Cricket Club was, they didn’t have to travel to the Mount to play.

“We took a step back and said, ‘What do we think cricket would look like if we did something different’.”

At the time he had two young children.

“If they were ever going to play cricket, it was highly unlikely they would get down to the Mount to play, so we said, ‘Let’s give it a crack and see what happens’.

Pāpāmoa Cricket Club president Mark Divehall with the ND Club of the Year award. Photo / Bruce Lim

“A few people in the community got on that bandwagon and we grew from there.”

An amalgamation of existing school teams meant there were 12-14 teams in the first season.

“It peaked a couple of years back at 20 now it’s sitting comfortably in that 17, 18, 19 team range.”

He says the facilities at Alice Johnson Oval have contributed significantly.

“Hopefully in the next 12 months, we’ll have a nice brand spanking new cricket pavilion overlooking that oval. We are well down the track with the design process with that with funding secured, which is great.”

This season the club has had a fulltime coach, something Mark hopes will be continued.

“We are going to provide more opportunities in the off-season for our community as far as cricket training goes.”

Financial prudence has been instrumental in the success.

“Our committee has always been very fiscally responsible so we are in a very strong financial position and that’s enabled us to be able to keep on offering more back to our members.”

The citation for the club stated: “Both male and female players are catered for in a family-inclusive environment, while the committee prioritises gender balance and diverse skillsets to represent a whole-of-community perspective and provides strong professional experiences. Along with running social competitions, which includes a full female adult side, Papamoa CC provides cricketing opportunities across the community.

“As a financially sound organisation, Papamoa CC has been able to remove cost barriers by providing enough clothing and equipment for players to ensure that money is not a barrier to participation and has managed to maintain fees at the same level for junior and youth cricket since 2018. Papamoa CC prioritises opportunities to support volunteers with coach support sessions and game leader sessions to best ensure great game experiences for all. An exciting and continually growing club, Papamoa are the worthy winners of this year’s award.”