In 1866, Wednesday 29th of August, the following advertisement appeared in The Mercury newspaper.
GRETNA GREEN CRICKET CLUB – All persons who feel interested in the said club are requested to attended at the Gretna Green Store on the 8th of September at 7 o’clock pm. Signed THOMAS SAVINGS.
This ad was to appear twice more and while it is not known who attended or what was discussed, what is believed is that the ad started the Gretna Cricket Club.
Gretna is located 20km from New Norfolk in the Derwent Valley with the ground itself just 400 metres from the post office and the Gretna Green Hotel which is one of the club’s major sponsors.
The club played its first games in the late 1800’s in the MacQuarie Plains Cricket Association and the first concrete wicket was laid in 1903, but premierships brought ambition and Gretna joined the Upper Derwent Cricket Association in after World War 1.
Three straight flags in 1932-33, 33-34 and 34-35 brought more ambition and the club joined the Central Association and started playing against clubs like New Norfolk, Claremont, Cadburys and Old Beach with a premiership in 1938-39.
The last season before WW2 saw Gretna achieve the rare feat of winning the premiership and going through the season undefeated. The club went into recess during the war years and reformed in the brand new Derwent Valley Cricket Association after the war, a competition it would stay in for more than 60 years. For a large chunk of that time, Gretna would have two sides.
Premierships seemed to come in clusters with back-to-back wins in 1952-53 and 53-54 over Bushy Park who, both times, had gone through the season unbeaten.
Club historian Wade Gleeson has spent countless hours voluntarily researching the club and recorded that in the 1965-65 season, the club was graced with football royalty yet to be discovered playing a season. Gleeson said arguably Hawthorn Football Club’s greatest full forward Peter Hudson averaged 14.66 with the bat and 14 with the ball including 4 for 20 from four eight ball overs just before starting a football career that yielded 727 goals from 129 VFL games.
28 Premierships in all including five on the trot against bitter rival New Norfolk from season 2003-04 to 2007-08, sees Gretna as one of the more successful clubs around the state.
Gretna joined the Southern Cricket Association in 2008-09 with Gretna I playing in Division One and Gretna II playing in Division Three. Gleeson said the change from the DVCA to SCA has been a great change for Gretna.
“We have had many new teams to play and the option of more grades to play has also helped,” Gleeson said.
“We also still get to play against the other teams from the old DVCA, as they have also joined the SCA.
“The SCA is in a strong position and with so many clubs now affiliated, the future looks really bright.
Gleeson also works tirelessly as the club Game Development Officer and has helped the club develop a reputation as a good place for young cricketers.
“We have five kids from Bothwell at the moment and they travel 50-odd kilometres just to get to training at Gretna,” Gleeson said.
“We really appreciate how far the parents have to come, it’s these kind of people that keep cricket alive in the country.”
Gleeson believes that being in the country helps in recruiting and retention of players.
“People in the country love to catch up and a cricket club is a really great outlet for this to happen and I believe it’s what you make of the situation that determines the outcome,” he said.
“We have had great family traditions where many father and sons and even grandfathers have all played with the club.
“For instance in the 2006-07 premiership team therewere seven players that had their fathers play at the club before them.
“As far as the juniors go we are in a great location as we have five schools with in a 50km radius which is a really big plus.”
Gleeson said there is a history of people being involved for long periods of time showing that the club is somewhere that people do not want to leave.
To that end, Gretna’s greatest player was Les Cunningham, an all-rounder who recorded no fewer than 50 centuries in playing career that lasted more than five decades.
Cunningham’s line is now in its fourth generation with his son and grandson playing and his great grandson just entering the juniors.
The future for Gretna looks bright with player numbers burgeoning.
“I think the formation of the junior teams since 2010-11 has really assured our future,’ Gleeson said.
Gretna have joined the Cricket Tasmania Youth League in recent years which Gleeson asserts is will have a positive impact on the club’s long term survival.
“We had a total of 37 juniors last season with one Under 13 team and one Under 15 team.
“This season we now have 40 juniors consisting of two Under 13 teams and one Under 15 team and for the 2012-13 season we are already planning for an Under 17 team.
“We also have played a role with the Milo in2CRICKET program which is run by the Glenora District High School.
“Last season there was just under twenty Milo cricketers and this season the number has increased to 30.
“As a club we think if we can keep the Milo program running and introduce an Under 17's team, we can have a great flow on of players from junior level through to senior level, also currently having two senior teams and have done for most of the clubs history.”