Poloc Cricket Club
Encyclopedia
Poloc Cricket Club is a cricket club based at Pollok Country Park
in south Glasgow
, Scotland
.
The club has approximately 220 members who participating in cricket, tennis and winter golf. The club's "Shawholm" ground encompasses the cricket oval, three all-weather tennis courts, and the world's only six-hole golf course approved by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
. The clubhouse also hosts pool
, table tennis
, darts
and poker
tournaments in the winter months.
Poloc Cricket Club's two principal senior cricket teams play under the names "Poloc" and "Shawholm". Poloc play in the Cricket Scotland
organised Cricket Scotland League whilst Shawholm play in the Western District Cricket Union's ("WDCU") West Cricket Scotland Reserve League. A Midweek XI play more social matches versus other local clubs' equivalent sides, and the Sunday XI competes in the WDCU Sunday League.
A pavilion
was acquired by the club from the now-defunct Pollokshields Athletic Club, also located on Pollok Estates, and the building was moved to Shawholm on rollers. In the same year, the main avenue from Pollokshaws Road to Pollok House was opened, running past the north side of the ground in what is now Pollok Park. This avenue still provides the approach to Shawholm with the River Cart
to the left.
The club's winter golf
section was formed in 1889, with bowls
, putting and archery
being added in the years following.
Full tenancy of the current 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) site was granted to the club in 1888 by Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet who continued to be involved in Poloc's affairs until his death in 1956.
In 1908 the Pollokshaws Working Lads Club decided to form a football team from amongst their ranks. Sir John Stirling Maxwell also allotted that club an area of land on the estate, rent-free. The footballers, to show their appreciation, took the name of Pollok Juniors FC, (later Pollok F.C.
) and Sir John became their first Honorary President. The ground allocated became known as Haggs Park and was adjacent to Poloc Cricket Club; in fact, the different spellings of the two names "Pollok" and "Poloc" were adopted at this time, deliberately, to avoid confusion.
Membership at Poloc reached a peak of 600 in the late 1940s.
Shawholm also played host to Scotland versus the MCC in June 1965 in a three-day match played between the 23rd and 25th. Subsequent Scotland international matches staged at the ground included versus Ireland in 1978 . and Sri Lanka in 1979 .
Scotland's first televised cricket match also took place at Shawholm on 7 May 1955 when West of Scotland Cricket Club
were Poloc's visitors. Poloc batted first making 110 for 9. In reply, West made 120 for 6.
The ground was invited to host three internationals as part of the 2006 ECC
European Championships. The matches (The Netherlands versus Italy
, Jersey
versus Germany
and The Netherlands versus Denmark
) saw white ball/black sightscreen cricket at Shawholm for the first time.
The club also hosts the Scottish club Twenty20 Finals Day , first played for in 2008.
The Initiative also organises an annual inter-Primary Schools Festival day at Shawholm. In addition, the club, under the umbrella of the Initiative and in partnership with the WDJCU, regularly hosts "Kwik Cricket" festivals.
In addition to the work in local schools, the club's Community Coaching Initiative also works with other community groups in providing sports coaching in and around the club's locality.
The Initiative was granted charitable status in early 2007 and is registered with the OSCR under number SC037774. The registered body itself is CCI Glasgow Limited, a private company limited by guarantee and registered in Scotland under number SC315322.
Founded in 1889, the Golf Section takes over the autumn and winter months. The course – "Wee Poloc" – is a unique challenge, with medals and other club competitions every fortnight throughout the season.
building.
Scottish Cup, winners: 1984;
Scottish Cup, runners-up: 1985, 1994;
Scottish Plate, winners: 2005;
SCU Trophy, winners: 2000;
SCU Trophy, runners-up: 1999;
SNCL, South Division, winners: 2004;
SNCL, Division Two, runners-up: 2000;
WDCU Championship, winners: 1928, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1964, 1981, 1983, 1985;
Rowan Cup, winners: 1926, 1957, 1981, 1983, 2004, 2007;
Rowan Cup, runners-up: 1976;
West League Cup, runners-up: 2006;
WDCU 2nd division, winners: 1914, 1928, 1950, 1964, 1969, 1971, 1981, 1983;
WDCU 3rd division, winners: 1952;
Glasgow Cup, winners: 2003;
Strathclyde League 2nd division, winners: 2008, 2009;
Glasgow & District Cricket League, winners: 1931;
John Haig Trophy Scottish Division, winners: 1982;
ECB Cockspur Cup Scottish Region, winners: 2007.
Junior
Scottish Cup (under 15), winners: 2009;
WDJCU Junior League (under 18), winners: 1972, 1977, 1982, 2008, 2010;
WDJCU Minors League (under 15), winners: 1973, 1974, 1979, 2007;
WDJCU "B" League (under 15B), winners: 2007, 2008;
WDJCU Mini-Minors League (under 12/13), winners: 1984, 2005, 2007;
WDJCU "B" League (under 13B), winners: 2009;
WDJCU Mini-Mini-Minors League (under 11), winners: 2007;
Frank Smith Tropy (under 16/17/18), winners: 1975, 1984;
Frank Smith Tropy (under 16/17/18), runners-up: 2004, 2007, 2009;
WDJCU Indoor Competition (under 19), winners: 1988.
http://www.cricketscotland.com
http://www.wdcu-cricket.net
Pollok Country Park
Pollok Country Park is a large country park located in Pollok, south Glasgow. Prior to the building of the M77 motorway it was the largest urban green space in Europe. In 2007 it was named the best park in Britain...
in south Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The club has approximately 220 members who participating in cricket, tennis and winter golf. The club's "Shawholm" ground encompasses the cricket oval, three all-weather tennis courts, and the world's only six-hole golf course approved by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest and most prestigious golf clubs in the world . It is based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, and is regarded as the worldwide "Home of Golf"...
. The clubhouse also hosts pool
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
, table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
, darts
Darts
Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
and poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
tournaments in the winter months.
Poloc Cricket Club's two principal senior cricket teams play under the names "Poloc" and "Shawholm". Poloc play in the Cricket Scotland
Cricket Scotland
Cricket Scotland, formerly known as the Scottish Cricket Union, is the governing body of the sport of cricket in Scotland. The body is based at the National Cricket Academy, Edinburgh....
organised Cricket Scotland League whilst Shawholm play in the Western District Cricket Union's ("WDCU") West Cricket Scotland Reserve League. A Midweek XI play more social matches versus other local clubs' equivalent sides, and the Sunday XI competes in the WDCU Sunday League.
History
Founded in 1878, Poloc Cricket Club spent its first season on the site of the old Pollokshaws Race Course and in 1880 moved to its current location at Shawholm.A pavilion
Cricket pavilion
A cricket pavilion is a pavilion at a cricket ground. It is the main building within which the players usually change in dressing rooms and which is the main location for watching the cricket match for members and others...
was acquired by the club from the now-defunct Pollokshields Athletic Club, also located on Pollok Estates, and the building was moved to Shawholm on rollers. In the same year, the main avenue from Pollokshaws Road to Pollok House was opened, running past the north side of the ground in what is now Pollok Park. This avenue still provides the approach to Shawholm with the River Cart
River Cart
The River Cart is a tributary of the River Clyde, Scotland, which it joins from the west roughly midway between the towns of Erskine and Renfrew....
to the left.
The club's winter golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
section was formed in 1889, with bowls
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
, putting and archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
being added in the years following.
Full tenancy of the current 6 acres (24,281.2 m²) site was granted to the club in 1888 by Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet who continued to be involved in Poloc's affairs until his death in 1956.
In 1908 the Pollokshaws Working Lads Club decided to form a football team from amongst their ranks. Sir John Stirling Maxwell also allotted that club an area of land on the estate, rent-free. The footballers, to show their appreciation, took the name of Pollok Juniors FC, (later Pollok F.C.
Pollok F.C.
Pollok Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Newlands in the southside of the city of Glasgow. They are one of the biggest football clubs operating in Scottish Junior football, regularly attracting crowds of around 550, more than many clubs in the third division and even some in the...
) and Sir John became their first Honorary President. The ground allocated became known as Haggs Park and was adjacent to Poloc Cricket Club; in fact, the different spellings of the two names "Pollok" and "Poloc" were adopted at this time, deliberately, to avoid confusion.
Membership at Poloc reached a peak of 600 in the late 1940s.
Historic moments
The earliest match hosted by the club that is, arguably, of historic interest was the game between a West of Scotland select team and the Australian Imperial Forces as part of the latter's tour of England in 1919 .Shawholm also played host to Scotland versus the MCC in June 1965 in a three-day match played between the 23rd and 25th. Subsequent Scotland international matches staged at the ground included versus Ireland in 1978 . and Sri Lanka in 1979 .
Scotland's first televised cricket match also took place at Shawholm on 7 May 1955 when West of Scotland Cricket Club
West of Scotland Cricket Club
The West of Scotland Cricket Club is a large cricket club based in Glasgow, Scotland. Their ground is Hamilton Crescent located in the Partick area of Glasgow's West End...
were Poloc's visitors. Poloc batted first making 110 for 9. In reply, West made 120 for 6.
The ground was invited to host three internationals as part of the 2006 ECC
ECC
-Companies:* ECC , Education through Communication for the Community, a Japanese company* Electric Car Corporation plc, a British adapter and seller of electric cars* English China Clays, an English company-Education:...
European Championships. The matches (The Netherlands versus Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
versus Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and The Netherlands versus Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
) saw white ball/black sightscreen cricket at Shawholm for the first time.
The club also hosts the Scottish club Twenty20 Finals Day , first played for in 2008.
Junior cricket
Poloc runs junior cricket teams at seven age-group levels: under 10, 11, 13, 13B, 15, 15B and 18 and compete in West District Junior Cricket Union- ("WDJCU") as well as Cricket Scotland-organised competitions. Under 10 players predominantly compete in "Kwik Cricket" competitions. The club's junior sides won the WDCJU Under 11, 13 and 15 leagues in 2007, and were beaten finalists in the Under 18 Frank Smith Trophy. 2008 saw the Under 18s league champions, the Under 15s unbeaten and the Poloc Academy Strathclyde League winners, whilst 2009 saw a league championship for the Under 13Bs, another Frank Smith Trophy Final appearance and the Under 15s winning the Scottish Cup. 2010 brought the Under 18 league trophy to the club, and appearances at both the Under 18 Scottish Cup, and Under 18 Frank Smith Trophy, Finals Days.The Community Coaching Initiative
Poloc Cricket Club has been providing cricket coaching in its local community under the auspices of the "Community Coaching Initiative" since 2002. Working with Glasgow and East Renfrewshire Council, coaching is provided to local Primary and Secondary Schools.The Initiative also organises an annual inter-Primary Schools Festival day at Shawholm. In addition, the club, under the umbrella of the Initiative and in partnership with the WDJCU, regularly hosts "Kwik Cricket" festivals.
In addition to the work in local schools, the club's Community Coaching Initiative also works with other community groups in providing sports coaching in and around the club's locality.
The Initiative was granted charitable status in early 2007 and is registered with the OSCR under number SC037774. The registered body itself is CCI Glasgow Limited, a private company limited by guarantee and registered in Scotland under number SC315322.
Golf
Poloc Cricket Club also plays host to the UK’s only R&A-recognised six-hole golf course.Founded in 1889, the Golf Section takes over the autumn and winter months. The course – "Wee Poloc" – is a unique challenge, with medals and other club competitions every fortnight throughout the season.
Tennis
Poloc Cricket Club has three all-weather tennis courts, adjacent to the clubhouseGentlemen's club
A gentlemen's club is a members-only private club of a type originally set up by and for British upper class men in the eighteenth century, and popularised by English upper-middle class men and women in the late nineteenth century. Today, some are more open about the gender and social status of...
building.
Club honours
SeniorScottish Cup, winners: 1984;
Scottish Cup, runners-up: 1985, 1994;
Scottish Plate, winners: 2005;
SCU Trophy, winners: 2000;
SCU Trophy, runners-up: 1999;
SNCL, South Division, winners: 2004;
SNCL, Division Two, runners-up: 2000;
WDCU Championship, winners: 1928, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1964, 1981, 1983, 1985;
Rowan Cup, winners: 1926, 1957, 1981, 1983, 2004, 2007;
Rowan Cup, runners-up: 1976;
West League Cup, runners-up: 2006;
WDCU 2nd division, winners: 1914, 1928, 1950, 1964, 1969, 1971, 1981, 1983;
WDCU 3rd division, winners: 1952;
Glasgow Cup, winners: 2003;
Strathclyde League 2nd division, winners: 2008, 2009;
Glasgow & District Cricket League, winners: 1931;
John Haig Trophy Scottish Division, winners: 1982;
ECB Cockspur Cup Scottish Region, winners: 2007.
Junior
Scottish Cup (under 15), winners: 2009;
WDJCU Junior League (under 18), winners: 1972, 1977, 1982, 2008, 2010;
WDJCU Minors League (under 15), winners: 1973, 1974, 1979, 2007;
WDJCU "B" League (under 15B), winners: 2007, 2008;
WDJCU Mini-Minors League (under 12/13), winners: 1984, 2005, 2007;
WDJCU "B" League (under 13B), winners: 2009;
WDJCU Mini-Mini-Minors League (under 11), winners: 2007;
Frank Smith Tropy (under 16/17/18), winners: 1975, 1984;
Frank Smith Tropy (under 16/17/18), runners-up: 2004, 2007, 2009;
WDJCU Indoor Competition (under 19), winners: 1988.
Sources
http://www.poloc.comhttp://www.cricketscotland.com
http://www.wdcu-cricket.net