ACTIONS TO SUPPORT THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN'S & YOUTH CRICKET (SEPT 2025)

Following the Club Day Event last February (which was attended by over 80 people from circa 30 member clubs), the Cricket Leinster Board has been considering the feedback received and reflecting on our core strategic objectives to have a sustainable youth cricket (boys and girls) programme in-place at all member clubs by end 2027.

Clubs will be aware that Cricket Leinster is also targeting a material growth in adult female cricket participation over the same time period.

With these core objectives in mind, the Board has identified and agreed a series of actions/initiatives aimed at facilitating achievement of this goal across the club cricket community.

The actions/initiatives are outlined at a high level in the attached 2-page document and cover:

- Training supports for Coaching Kids (5-11 years).
- Supports for the adoption of the Smash-It programme at club level.
- Action on registration fees for new youth and women players.
- A fee waiver for entry level teams into women's competitions.
- Modifications to our competition & affiliation fee structure to incentivise the establishment and sustainment of youth & women's teams.
- Introduction of an Open teams capacity cap to facilitate clubs in allocating material capacity for youth and women’s teams to participate on an equitable basis.

This is not the totality of what will be required to fully realise our shared goals however it will be an important step forward as we increasingly prioritise the quality and inclusiveness of our club cricket.

It is in the interest of all member clubs to achieve a holistic level of participation (Open, Women's, Youth) in order to ensure the club's long-term sustainability.

There will be a briefing on these actions/initiatives at the CL Autumn Meeting in November which will include some time for Q&A.

Please take the time to read this document and then discuss within your own club how you can best seize this opportunity.

And remember, we have a dedicated team of development staff who are available to support your club on next steps - which can be found here