Club History
Carrickfergus Cricket Club, established in 1868, was one of the founder member clubs of the Northern Cricket Union in 1887 and remains one of the oldest surviving clubs in Ireland.
Despite this longevity and pedigree, the Club has had a comparatively difficult history having, unbelievably, led a nomadic existence for more than 100 years.
It was not until the mid-1980's that a visionary and immensely hard-working committee began to realise the full potential of the Club with a sound and aggressive business and development plan which resulted in the opening of our original Middle Road facilities in 1988.
The committee, however, did not rest on its laurels and soon sought to build on these solid foundations.
With our own modern facilities in a rapidly expanding part of the town, the tremendous support shown by our growing social membership, (which has been in evidence ever since), meant that funds were soon available for further development and, in 1993, the club was proud to have (none other than!) Sir Garfield Sobers open its new two-storey extension with purpose-built changing facilities and a substantially enlarged lounge bar with viewing balcony.
A recently completed ground refurbishment programme has included a pitch extension at the 'Knockagh End' and a top-quality double-berth practice installation as well as further improvements to our drainage.
Most recently, the Club has completed another ambitious extension programme to the clubhouse and playing facilities.
Approximately £250,000 of investment has seen a sizable extension to the upstairs lounge bar and catering facilities, improvement and enlargement of changing facilities, and provision of storage for ground maintenance equipment.
A sound underpinning business plan has ensured that, even with this substantial recent investment, the Club's financial position remains strong, thanks in the main to the continued and greatly appreciated support of our membership and sponsors. As a result, the committee already have one eye on the continuing development of our facilities.
After an extraordinary year in 2014 in which the club claimed no fewer than 7 Trophies, our First XI were promoted to the highest level in the NCU - the Premier League. The 2nd XI and 4th XI also gained promotions from their respective leagues. We are currently the Cricket Ireland 2014 Club of the Year and have been nominated for the prestigious Belfast Telegraph Sports Awards “Team of the Year”