It was in the winter of '96 that several factors combined to bring about 
the formation of Rockdale Salvation Army Cricket Club. 

There was the coming of age of several key players (ie they were now too old to play juniors), 
there was the low world oil prices (ie they all mostly had their own cars and 
didn’t need mum and dad to drive them around) 
and lastly Australia had an abundant number of form players to choose from 
(ie they finally realised the boyhood dream of playing for Australia was rapidly fading!). 

In other words it was simply that a group of mates of all abilities wanted to play together in a comp. 
The key number of players came from Rockdale Salvation Army (hence the name)
 and was entered into the NSW Churches Competition ‘C’ Grade for the 1996-97 year.

Our first game was against St. Lukes Concord at 
Edwards Park on Saturday 7th September. 

St. Lukes won the toss and Rockdale's batting 
was to be tested for the first time. 

3 hours later we declared at 1 for 247 and the clubs first 
superstar was born. Lee Gallagher scored an impressive 179 
and Alan George remained 32 not out. 

St Lukes were then dismissed for 68 and 31 
with Filip Miller taking 6/20 for the match. 

This was a bowling display that would set Fil up to be the most 
potent and successful bowler in the clubs current history. 

Other first year highlights included:

Lee Gallagher grabbing the 
clubs first ‘5 for’ in round 3 
against Camden Churches. 

Round 7 against Bankstown Baptist 
saw the club amass 324 runs, 
a total that remains unbroken. 

In round 8, Fil Miller took 
our first ‘6 For’. 

Our first loss was in round 2 against 
Bankstown Baptist, 
176 defeated by 205.

Lee Gallagher smashed many records with his 209 off 109 balls 
in a one-dayer against St Luke's Concord C3 in round 4, 
a score that remains our teams highest individual score. 

Fil Miller claimed the clubs best bowling figures of 
8/30 in round 12 against St. James, Croydon. This effort has yet to be bettered.  

This season we made our first finals appearance. 
We defeated Old Toongabbie Uniting 161 to 119 in the Semi 
and met Blacktown Reformed in the ‘C’ Grade final. 

As new players joined and the remainder tried to deal with their new responsibilities 
the club failed to win a game all year, picking up the solitary Tie only. 

We won 11 from 14 games and again made the finals. 

However disaster was to strike in round 14 when the lynchpin of our bowling attack, Fil Miller, 
tore his rotor cuff in attempting a catch, an injury that ruled him 
out of the finals and out of cricket for several seasons. 

To add unfortunate timing to injury, Lee Gallagher was to miss the semi final also, 
due to Oz-tag representative duties. 

A loss in the final round saw us plummet from 2nd place on the table 
(and in position for the finals), to 5th place and out of contention. 

After last years mixed results, RSA were looking to improve in 2005/06. The team had undergone a few changes- losing a few players but also gaining a few. Anthony Rees, Billy Lea and Josh Stashko all made their debuts for the club in round one and contributed well throughout the whole year.

 Round one saw the local derby as RSA came up against St. Paul ’s Kogarah. Yet all the excitement of the pre-season soon disappeared as we were bundled out for 107, with only Anthony Rees offering any real resistance with 26 on debut. The ‘Kogs’ won comfortably despite Stewy Lynn’s 6/52. The 1st round loss was to be the 1st of four losses as RSA’s batting failed to fire. The 107 against Kogarah was the highest total with subsequent scores of 102, 103, and 79. Rarely did more than one batsman make any real impact in the game. 

Rd 2 saw Matt Cairns (39) and Ross Whittaker (34 – best ever) score a few. Rd 3 saw Neil Dickson (54) make the clubs 1st 50 of the season and Rd 4 saw Glen Lockwood (22*) show the batters how to do it. Rd 5 was not much better as RSA staggered to 116, thanks mainly to Mike Bishops 43, yet Toongabbie faltered in their chase to be all out for 116 causing a Tie. Stewy Lynn picked up his 2nd 5 wicket haul to help salvage the Tie, and his 1st 50 for the season (54) in the 2nd innings as finally RSA put some runs on the board declaring at 4/135.

The Tie was the turning point for not only the team but the batsmen as well. Rd 6 saw RSA score 9/165 (Anthony Rees 41) and it’s 1st win for the year, dismissing St. Paul for 131 (Billy Lea 3/25 – best ever). Of note in this game was the Sundries – 43 by Kogarah versus 8 for RSA!! 

The winning ways continued with victories over Camden (Stewy Lynn 5/17, Anthony Rees 60, Alan George 25*) and then Randwick (Alan George 3/10, Stewy Lynn 4/29). RSA inconsistent batting returned for Rd’s 9 and 10 with dismal scores of 92 against Emmaus 7/102 (Mike Bishop 30, Anthony Rees 4/9 – best ever) and a season low of 61 versus Toongabbie 6/66 (Josh Stashko 3/15 – best ever). 

The run home to the finals required RSA to win at least 4 of their last 5 games and Rd’s 11, 12 and 13 all saw RSA take the points. Rd 11 was a nail biter against Kogs with Ben Petterson (16*) and Stuart Bishop (10*) guiding the team home with 2 wickets and a few balls to spare. Matt Cairns also contributed with a quick 42. Of interest for the stat nuts was this point – 3 bowlers – Alan George, Stewy Lynn and Joe Mileto (St. Pauls) all had identical figures with 2/27 off 8 overs! 

Rd 11 was a comfy win over Camden (Stewy Lynn 39*) and Rd 12 saw another good win over Randwick (Glen Lockwood 41 – best ever, Alan George 4/33, Ben Petterson 3 catches). The finals road hit a bump at Rd 14 when Emmaus again proved to strong (Mike Bishop 52, Matt Cairns 67* [2nd innings]) and RSA were left needing to win outright in the final game. Unfortunately for RSA, Toongabbie were again too good, dismissing RSA for 91 (Ben Petterson 34, Matt Cairns 4/33) and leaving us a few points short of finals contention.

Inconsistency, particularly in the batting department cost RSA several victories throughout the season and will be something that needs to be addressed next year. At times their was excellent cricket played and lots of fun had by all. We are all looking forward to another season next year. Our best wishes go to Ross and Billy who leave us after this season to try their hand elsewhere – good luck boys!