Ulster Grasshoppers come under the spotlight
David Holmes (News Letter)
Last Friday I took a trip across to The Lawn to watch the Ireland Under 19 side play a warm up match in preparation for their forthcoming World Cup tournament in Australia. Obviously such games are vital in terms of preparation, but in all honesty I was more interested in their opposition the Grasshoppers.
Who or what I hear you ask are the Grasshoppers? Questions I was asking myself. I can tell you that they have no clubhouse or ground; they do have a committee, a President and a Chairman. I knew from a conversation that I had a week previously with the current Chairman Alan Waite, that there was an ambitious tour to South Africa planned in 2013.
As I walked up towards the Roy Harrison Pavilion, Alan beckoned me over to his car, opened a briefcase and produced a dossier worthy of any Government minister , containing a tour itinerary; history of the Grasshoppers; details of all matches played, performance statistics and tour reports on previous ventures. Now I’m thinking I don’t have enough space here to do this justice.
Alan suggested I should talk to John Elder the current President for more background information, so as play unfolded I sat and had a history lesson, beginning with how they came about:
“In 1981 Graham Crothers invited a few of us round for drinks and set out a vision of a touring side that would broaden the horizons of those who went from both a social and cricketing dimension. That first party had a mix of the likes Dermott Montieth, Stephen Warke, Simon Corlett, already Irish internationals and good club players such as David Napier and Philip Billingsley.
Back then we styled ourselves as the Ulster Cricket Society, but that sounded a bit stuffy so we changed the name to The Grasshoppers. Those were the days when there were no such things as tours; no-one went abroad, not even Ireland.
We have also tried to ensure that good young cricketers could benefit from the experience, perhaps guys that could not afford it but with funding we thought we could open their eyes to the world and also provide them with social contacts.
Now the world has changed and moved on, there is a full Irish youth set up; going abroad is no longer a novelty. Look at these guys here today preparing for a World Cup in Australia, back in the 1980’s and even into the 1990’s this would have been unthinkable. In 1995 an 18 year old Kyle McCallan toured Zimbabwe with us.”
When you look at the matches that have been played and perhaps even more importantly the venues they have been played in, you realise that these guys have a pretty serious track record. Back in 1989 what was described as a round the world tour taking in Los Angeles, Fiji, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore, indeed it is any cricketer’s dream.
Three tours to Zimbabwe on the best grounds, coordinated with help from Graeme Hick’s father John, matches at test grounds in South Africa, West Indies and India, contacts with people like Peter McDermott in the New Zealand cricket board and the itinerary for 2013 looks like it might just top the lot.
The Grasshoppers have around 100 members and down the years have raised funds through the likes of race nights and tour brochures, John even recalled taking Northern Ireland Tourist Board brochures to Zimbabwe in 1990 in return for sponsorship.
The Grasshoppers always seem to have been blessed with a dedicated committee and Chairmen who have continued the evangelical work, Graham Crothers, John Elder, Simon Corlett, Sam Beckett, Colin Barclay, Andy Clement, through to the current incumbent Alan Waite.
Waite is by a long way also the Grasshoppers most “capped” player scoring over 1500 runs including an unbeaten century against St. Georges College in Buenos Aires in 2001, so what are his thoughts and memories:
“The Grasshoppers has been a big part of my life for the last twenty odd years. When I first toured with the Grasshoppers in 1987 I had never even flown before. Yes I had “toured” but that consisted mostly of the Larne Stranraer ferry and a car journey.
In Zimbabwe we were billeted in farms and only stayed in hotels on the first and last nights. We played at a variety of country clubs and entertainment was laid on each night, so it was very much late nights and early mornings and an expectation that at the same time you would produce a high standard of cricket.
I remember we played against a talented 15 year old called Andy Flower and people like Davy Houghton and international umpire Russell Tiffin. On that tour we played 12 50 over games in three weeks, I think I played 11 of the games and it took my body about a month to recover.”
So where do the Grasshoppers fit in the modern game:
“Undoubtedly times have changed and there are so many opportunities now for the younger players, but at the highest level now it is a vast commitment and some very good players for a variety of reasons are not willing to make the time sacrifices for work reasons or whatever.
We feel we have a set-up that offers good cricketers the ability to tour maybe ever two or three years, to make friends and even to renew friendships over time. It will also provide them the chance to test themselves against a higher standard perhaps than they would encounter locally and who knows some late developers may even go on to higher things.
If I look at the touring party we have put together for next year it will be one of the youngest, fittest and most mobile that we have ever had.
I believe we can continue to play a positive role in the future of Irish cricket and I am delighted that we are helping today in some small way to give the Ireland U19’s a competitive work out against some good standard local players.”
So what can the prospective tourist expect in 2013; well the party will be captained by Peter Shields the most successful NCU captain in the current era. At 32 very much the elder statesman of the touring party; his words not mine!
In another new development the party will have a coach, Gavin Rodgers, successful with North Down, but now another test of his skills; can he pull together a disparate group of players from a number of clubs and weld them into a team in a short space of time. On Friday’s evidence the answer to that is yes.
An impressive itinerary has been put together by ex South African international Rudi Bryson, himself no stranger to cricket in the NCU, eight matches in 17 days, including some of South Africa’s finest test grounds. Off the field; trips to Kruger Park, Robbin Island and the Stellenbosch winery.
So for a playing party that includes the likes of James Hall, Lee Nelson, Peter Eakin and Charles Beverland, I think this ticks all the boxes of the Grasshopper ethos that “young cricketers will benefit socially as well as broadening their cricketing knowledge.”