MUGCC History

A brief history by Donald Baulch:

The idea of forming a cricket club was born in 1990 when a handful of cricket loving friends came together from all over the country to study in Melbourne. All had played with various clubs but, since moving to the city had little interest in joining an established club.

At the time, the Chisholm Institute of Technology was merging with Monash University (Clayton). With the merger, Craig Robinson recognised that this new Caulfield Campus of Monash University did not have a cricket club affiliated under the University’s Sports & Recreation Clubs. Craig negotiated with MONSU to form a club to represent the university campus and the Monash Gryphons Cricket Club was born.

The club first played competitively in the season of 1990-91, with a solitary side in the J Grade competition of the City of Morabbin Cricket Association. The club finished it’s first season bowing out in the semi-finals with grand visions for the future. Since then we moved into the top grades of the competition and won a couple of premiership flags on the way. But, although the club’s dream was to be competitive, it never lost sight of the true love of the game and the ideal of playing in good spirit.

In the early years the club comprised of a solid core of 8-10 members, growing every year. By season 1991-92 member numbers had grown to fill two sides, and soon after a third. In the season of 1992-93, the Monash Gryphons Cricket Club won its first Premiership.

Our members soon realised the potential of forming a women’s XI which first played in the season of 1994-95 in the Victorian Women’s Cricket Association. They won their first Premiership in the season of 2000-01. The competition is played on both turf and hard wickets.

The Monash Gryphons Cricket Club now has a new vision for the future. The club recognises the need to play on turf wickets and has changed to the Mercantile League competition. The Monash Gryphons Cricket Club had played in this competition through the seasons of 1994-96, winning successive premierships in the "C" and "B" Grades. This strength has been recognised by the League with our teams competing in the "A" and "A Reserve" Grades in 2001-02.

As in the club’s formative years, new members come from all over the state, and all over the world, to further their education. Their love for the game of cricket and being a long way from home has drawn them to join the Monash Gryphons Cricket Club, where a warm welcome is extended to all new players.

At the club's 18th AGM in April 2008, the club's name was changed to include the word University, in recoginition of the sponsorship provided by the University via Monash Sport.

In Season 2008/09 the Monash University Gryphons CC, amalgamated with the Hawthorn-Monash University Women's teams, and entered the VWCA Premier Firsts.