Fantasy fulfilled as Bogie Panthers roar into WDCA

AFTER decades of inactivity Strathbogie has a dedicated cricket club once again, following the Bogie Panthers’ inclusion in the Wangaratta and District Cricket Association. The pet project of president Brad James, 25, the club was voted in as the 14th member club of the WDCA at last week’s annual general meeting by a landslide, 23-3. James has dreamt of bringing cricket back to Strathbogie for some time, and was overjoyed by the association’s acceptance of his proposal. “I had faith in myself and backing myself and the boys, but seeing those hands go up was just unreal,” he said. “I began playing cricket in Violet Town in an under 15s side in the Benalla league, I played right through until I was 18 then started working, and that was the end of my cricket career but it’s been reignited. “I don’t think the Strathbogie club has been active for 25, 30 years - my old man and his mates, they all played up there as a collective and had it all going up there. “Things came to the worse and the club folded, and it never got picked up again until now. “The idea was always a fantasy, something we just dreamt about. “I went up to the clubrooms there at Strathbogie and I saw they were renovating the clubrooms themselves, and something just sparked in me – why not just try and get something together and make it happen? “I didn’t really expect something to take off at the start, then I started talking to people and getting certain ideas and support off people. “It was unbelievable – just a bit of talk between mates came to fruition.” With his application accepted and the season fast approaching, now the real administrative work of assembling a functional club begins. “I’m having a few more meetings with a couple of higher ups and just seeing how we go about starting it up,” James said. “Preparation of the ground itself and getting them and the pitch up to scratch, getting uniforms organised, fees, bank accounts, all that sort of stuff has to be organised to get the team where it needs to be. “I’ve organised a few meetings with Wayne (Cooper, WDCA secretary) and Peter (Brear, Cricket Victoria cricket manager North East Country) so I’ll be chatting with them to see how to go about everything.” The Panthers will look to field a side in C grade in their first season in the WDCA, and James said his side didn’t mind a bit of driving around the vast geographic region the association covers. “Most of us live up in the hills so we’re not too worried about driving to Myrtleford or driving up the freeway to other places,” he said. “It’s somewhere different every week, it’s not the same group every week. “The only other option we had was joining a Shepparton league which wasn’t too appealing to us. “For a few of the older blokes who have families, it’s something they can make a day out of for their family and go somewhere nice, to a lot nicer grounds than what would be in Shepparton and make something out of the day.”