‘WE CAN BE A VERY SUCCESSFUL CLUB’

Interviewer: Ian Hodgson

Interviewee: Phil Hargreaves

Link with the club: Supporter

I became a supporter when…Jack, my eldest son, got interested in cricket and wanted to play for Broad Oak. He couldn’t play at the time because he was only eight years old but the following year he played for the under-13s. With Andrew Roebuck and his son Charlie we wanted a club where they could both play together, so Broad Oak was the obvious choice.

Most memorable match would be...watching Jack playing for the under-11s at Meltham where they batted in pairs and each pair would have four overs each and Jack scored 71 without being out. It's probably a record that still stands today. I've only been watching the seniors for the past few years with my children.

The team I watch each week…really depends on what team Jack is playing for and I’ll go and watch him play.

Best innings you've seen...would be when I've watched Charlie (Roebuck) play. It wasn't for Broad Oak but he hit over 100 which was very good to watch.

Any other sports you’ve followed…I've always being an avid Huddersfield Town FC supporter and have had a season ticket for over 20 years. Then things happened there that I didn't agree with and since then many Saturday afternoons have been filled with watching Broad Oak.

Off-field activities…I get involved mainly with fundraising events with the bands which we have once a month. We have them outside on a trailer so I'm heavily involved in arranging them.

Funny moments…Well, there has been sledging almost every game, which you can hear around the ground when you walk around, but there's not a particular funny moment or piece of sledging that I can remember.

The club means…everything, not only for me but also for the whole community. It’s a club that’s going forward and a club that needs people to come in and support it, not just in the summer months, but the winter months as well. It’s very difficult for the club to survive in the winter, but we do need people to come in. People don't realise we are a business as well as a cricket club and we are open all year round so we need to survive in the winter to keep going.

Future of the club…We were very unlucky last season to miss out on the play-offs to Clayton West. I do see that with the players we've got at this club we can be a very successful club with a very successful team. With the players we've got coming through the ranks I do expect to be playing in the Premiership.

Looking forward to the season? Certainly, I like my Saturday afternoons and I look forward to getting drunk on Saturday evenings which I'm sure everybody else will have told you about.

Any embarrassing stories about club members? Probably too many to mention but there aren't any that spring to mind.