Cricket re-emerges in Dufferin County after first being played over 160 years ago
A sport that was popular in Dufferin County 160 years ago but dwindled over the decades is making a strong comeback.
Cricket, a bat-and-ball game that gained popularity in 16th century England, was played in Dufferin County through the 1800s and early to mid-1900s, with the earliest reference to the sport made in the Orangeville Sun in 1861. The game re-emerged in the region from the early 1970s to the 1980s but later tapered. It was only in the last few years that cricket action returned to the area in full swing.
The modern Shelburne Cricket Club (SCC) started with just seven players in 2019 and has grown to approximately 280 today. They play weekly games on a make-shift cricket pitch in Shelburne’s KTH Park from May to September.
“We started it because of the diversity of residents who were coming and residing in Dufferin County,” said Ahsen Siddiqui, SCC founder. “We had soccer, we had rugby, we had lacrosse, but we didn’t have the world’s most watched game after soccer – which is cricket.”
Siddiqui said people from Pakistan, India, U.K, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, the Caribbean, and other countries who moved to Dufferin County were looking for a way to play cricket several years back. But at the time, nothing was available. The closest cricket club would have been in Brampton, Ont. – a nearly one-hour drive away from Shelburne.
The local interest from people who moved to Shelburne and Siddiqui’s passion for playing and promoting cricket led to the SCC’s creation five years ago.
“It’s a mix of people that come together and play the game which they love,” said Siddiqui. “That was the main essence of cricket in Dufferin County and Shelburne, especially. Then suddenly, it just became bigger and bigger and bigger.”
Roughly 90 per cent of SCC players are from Dufferin County and 70 per cent come from Shelburne alone. The rest reside in Wellington County, Simcoe County and Grey County.
Four men’s teams compete in the SCC’s local league, the Shelburne Gladiators, Shelburne Knights, Shelburne Warriors and Shelburne Samurais.
There are also two women’s teams, the Shelburne Valkyrie and Shelburne Angels.
The original Shelburne Cricket Club was founded in 1893 but slowly faded over the years due to a lack of interest.
Siddiqui said the SCC is built to last, and he’ll work to ensure it doesn’t fade away as it did in the past.
There’s a history of cricket being played south of Shelburne from the early 1970s into the 1980s through the Orangeville Cricket Club. Peter and Rose Eldson co-founded and operated the club while it was active, with most matches being played on high school grounds. The club had about 20 members, who were mostly English. Players were also from India, Jamaica and Pakistan.
The Orangeville Cricket Club merged with the York Cricket Club, based out of York University’s Glendon Campus, in the 1980s.
While cricket gained popularity in England in the 1600s, it is believed that the sport was played long before by Normans and Anglo-Saxons. It started as a sport for children, but by 1611, adults were playing the game. A Sussex court involving two men charged with playing cricket instead of attending church on Easter Sunday confirms this.
Cricket gained popularity in England but is now commonly played in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. The sport was introduced to many countries around the world through colonization in the 1700s and 1800s.
When cricket first gained popularity in England, English aristocrats decreed that it shall be played in a gentlemanly manner. This meant players had to be polite and professional, maintain their temper, not cheat, not taunting and not engage in bodyline bowling.
Siddiqui said the SCC is continuing this tradition of “displaying best behaviour,” as professionalism is a core value for the club.
When the SCC first started, there was some pushback from the public, but the majority of Dufferin County residents got behind it, according to Siddiqui.
“They were only one or two or three people, but the whole community of Dufferin County, the whole community of Shelburne – they supported us,” he said.
The SCC doesn’t just play cricket – the not-for-profit also runs a soccer league from June to August.
“As part of our membership fee, if you’re playing cricket, in order to build your fitness or team bonding, we created four soccer teams for our members,” said Siddiqui.
While cricket requires physical athleticism, it is also very much a mental sport, said Siddiqui.
“It’s not only physical, for how hard you will hit and how hard you run between the wickets, you need to also predict the ball, what’s going to be bowled to you next,” he noted.
The SCC does not currently have a proper facility to play cricket. The Town of Shelburne allows the club to play at a baseball diamond in KTH Park, where a cricket pitch is placed in the middle. Cricket requires a large field for play, in an oval shape, that runs 60 metres in each direction, so the SCC plays a modified version of the game with the space that they have.
Ahsen said the SCC has been pushing for a multi-use sports facility to be built in Shelburne where cricket and other sports can be played. He said this would support the club’s future growth and quality of play.
At the SCC, games take place on Saturday and Sunday every week from May to September.
An awards banquet is held at the end of each season.
After that, a premium tournament called the Dufferin County Cup is played from September to October, consisting of the best players from Orangeville, Amaranth, Mono and Shelburne. The teams are divided based on what town the players are located in.
When looking at plans for SCC’s future, Ahsen said the club is planning on building a strong local team called the Shelburne Stars. Out of the 280 some SCC players, the top 20 will be chosen to join the team.
Siddiqui hopes they will be able t o compete in more competitive leagues, such as KT20 and GT20, which are elite cricket divisions in Ontario.
He said part of the reason why it’s important to build a strong local team is because cricket will become an official Olympic sport for the 2028 games in Los Angeles.
The SCC promotes cricket to students of the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) to foster the next generation of professional players.
“We partnered to teach cricket and try to build a local team inside schools to play and compete with each different school,” Ahesen explained. “From there, they will join our league and we will polish them to be part of a [Shelburne] Stars team.”
Through the Shelburne Stars and SCC, Siddiqui said young players could build a professional career in cricket and get scholarships for post-secondary education.
He said he encourages anyone with an interest in cricket to join the SCC and give it a try.
“Cricket is for everyone,” he said. “It is not based on the ability and skills you have… we give the opportunity to everyone to come and play.”