"Apart from the booze and bit of cash, unless you're an avid fan of Glenavy Cricket Club, the stuff is absolutely worthless. But it means quite a lot to us," a club spokesman told the Herald.
News of the break-in soon travelled along the club's bush telegraph.
There had been a spate of petty thefts in the area recently. A few days earlier, Glenavy School's two pet rabbits were purloined, along with gardening tools, bicycle and sports gear.
Fisherman had reported rods taken while out on the river while others had firewood stolen in the night.
The clubmen soon had their suspicions of just who was behind the raid and decided to do something about it.
"Glenavy's not a very big place," the spokesman said.
Several senior team members got together on Tuesday evening to knock on the door of a suspect house in the township.
They filmed their confrontation, "to show that we were acting lawfully", the club spokesman said.
While the man who answered the door wouldn't allow them into the property, another man showed up and let them in.
They soon discovered boxes of their alcohol. The cricket bat and one stereo was also recovered, the club says.
Police were soon called.
But the invaluable scorebooks and cricket gear bag were not recovered.
"We can go and buy another box of beer but stealing stuff like dusty old scorebooks really p***** us off," the spokesman said.
The club says it's had a "bloody great" response from the local community over their actions.
Responses on their Facebook page describe them as "absolute legends" and praised their actions as a "bloody good job".
Police, however, took a dim view of the vigilante justice.
Sergeant Kevin Reynolds said police had been called on Tuesday morning about the Glenavy Cricket Club burglary.
That afternoon, officers visited the clubhouse and carried out a scene examination, including taking fingerprints.
They were "following strong lines of enquiry for locating the offenders" when the club members took matters into their own hands.
"They arrived at a property and located the stolen items, however the alleged offenders no longer live at that property and the current tenant was subjected to accusations," Reynolds said.
"Thankfully, the tenant of the property was cooperative and the situation didn't escalate.
"Police attended and returned the stolen items to the rightful owners.
"We are continuing to make enquiries to locate the people responsible for the burglary."
Police say they discourage members of the public from taking matters into their own hands as they could place themselves and members of the public at risk.
"It is lucky that in this instance things did not get out of hand," Reynolds added.
"Vigilante action such as this can harm police investigations and police would hate to see actions such as these hinder or prevent a prosecution against an offender.
"Police encourage anyone who has concerns about potential offending to contact us and allow our staff to follow up using the correct processes."
