Sport
Champion revival
Greg Gliddon
02Apr08
VICTORIOUS: (from left) Sandy Gillam, Emma Vivian, Sandy Bugg, Jo To and Fiona Parvin from the Clifton Hill/Collingwood Women's cricket team. Picture: DERRICK DEN HOLLANDER. S39ME972
EVERY team that wins a premiership has a special story to tell.
But few teams cruise through a season like the players from Clifton Hill-Collingwood have done.
The champions of the Victorian Women's Cricket Association's One-Day Cup will no doubt see 2007-08 as a season of mixed emotions.
Ultimately, though, it was as satisfying as seasons come.
The team, based at McDonnell Park in Northcote, won the premiership when it defeated Kingston Heath 2-1 in the best-of-three Grand Final series.
But the fact it was able to field a side at all was a miracle.
"We actually had to forfeit the first two games of the season because we didn't have any players," Clifton Hill-Collingwood coach and club president Sandy Gillam said.
"We've been around 80 years, but we've struggled to survive and this was basically it.
"We were down to seven players and we sat down and had a meeting to discuss whether we'd bother to continue.
"We thought we'd give it one more go and so we coaxed some of our older players out of retirement just to field a side.
"Most weeks we only played with eight or nine."
After forfeiting the first two games, the small group of players committed themselves each week. From that point, the wins kept coming
The club lost two more matches in the home-and-away season and finished as minor premier.
"Once we were able to field a side we were able to get on a great run," Gillam said.
Gillam hopes the premiership success convinces new players to join the club next season.
"The area around Northcote, Fairfield and Alphington is becoming a boom area with a lot of young people and families moving in.
"We'd love to be able to attract some more players so some of us older ones can step back a bit. Hopefully we are able to eventually guarantee our future," she said.
