Establishing the Club - 1950-51 to 1955-56

GAINS: Laurie Cooper, Joe Leahy, Beau Richardson, Roos Ridley, John Carr, Alan Thorncraft, Vic Snell & P Morse

In post WWII Armidale, up in the rarefied air of the NSW Northern Tablelands, young men not only played their part in booming babies but a small number of passionate cricketers also gave their vital spark to the creation of the Waratahs Cricket Club.

Sired by the same young men who formed the Armidale City Rugby Club (hence the same patriotic NSW colours and emblems), its mother was the Richardson's Cricket Club and her players were also carry overs. The Richardson's mob had played for many years in the Armidale A and A-Reserve competitions and had their share of representative cricketers play for New England in the Tablelands First XI. The majority of their players were employees of JJ Richardson's Store, standing prominently on the corner of Beardy & Dangar street in the very heart of the Armidale CBD. For a reason unknown - some have suggested internal division on the way the club was being run, others that employees who played cricket were dwindling - in the winter of 1950, The New England Association was informed that Richardsons Cricket Club was no more but a new team would stand in it's place, the Waratahs Cricket Club.

So it was that on the 16th September, 1950, on the first day of the 1950-51 season, the Waratahs Club made its debut in A-Reserve Grade against High School (which in those days meant Armidale HS) at Racecourse 1. In those days, the Racecourse grounds were used every week, often just bare concrete strips but occasionally for the "flash clubs", coir matting would be available to be pegged out over the concrete and held in place with piston valves.

The first Waratahs side was made up from the following twelve: S Blake, Laurie Cooper, John Carr, J Hocking, Joe Leahy, Vic Snell, D Nott, Ross Ridley, Beau Richardson, John Ridley, N Logan & A Kerwin. It's likely that Logan and Kerwin either played just that game or perhaps didn't show up, as there is no mention of them again. Unfortunately, we have no record of their performance, for during that first season, Waratahs must have seldom submitted its books to the Armidale Express. This was never an ongoing problem again until the last few dark years of her history, when absence from the newspaper accounts were death groans signalling ending.

The match for which we have a playing record happened just two weeks later when a similar line up (minus Carr but plus Jeff Witherden) defeated a Railway side at Racecourse 3 which included five Laskers ... either fettlers or grog ran in that family! Railways were all out for 67, with Snell, Cooper, Richardson & Leahy sharing the wickets. In reply, on the second Saturday, Waratahs won handsomely, scoring 123, with John Ridley top the scores with 29 to follow his 3 catches on the first day.

More early wins followed and by November their form and their playing personnel (which included players such as Ross Ridley and Vic Snell who had worn the green cap for New England) saw the NECA promote them to the A-Grade competition - a place the club held for more than nearly forty five years - and their first game would be against Easts at the Sportsground. What an auspicious and portentous way to begin.

Their second game was against Uralla. At that time, Easts and Uralla were the hot sides and they faced both in quick succession. There is no record of the result of the Easts game but against Uralla they pulled off an exciting win in a low scoring game. Uralla made only 62, with former rep players Vic Snell, Alan Thorncraft and Laurie Cooper routing them. Waratahs reply of 91 may not have been much, but it was enough.

The Express noted "the success of Waratahs - a former junior team - against A Grade teams of long standing indicates a heightening of the standards in Armidale which augers well for the future of the game in the district."

Perhaps there is enough in that comment to believe they beat Easts too!

There are very few records of match scores for the remainder of 50-51 but an article reporting the semi-finals of 17/2/51 tells us that Waratahs lost their match to Uralla. Over the years, Uralla would often pip Waratahs in big games. Disappointing but still, to start the season in a lower grade and finish it in an A Grade semi-final was a fair effort for a fledgling club.