The Church of Ireland Young Men’s Society, abbreviated to the C.I.Y.M.S., is a cricket club that is situated in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There is probably a good chance that you have never heard of this small cricket club unless you have visited Belfast, but, if you would like, you can find out a bit more about us by reading on.
The History of This Irish Cricket Club
This club was initially founded for those young men of the Church of Ireland who are fans of cricket (and cricket betting), and those who were not part of this group were not allowed to join. However, as times have moved on and different religions have started to become more accepting of each other, we are now open to accepting both men and women from different denominations and religions.
There are five senior teams at the club, as well as an U11, U13, and U15 team. There are also a couple of Kwik Cricket teams. The club is one of the best cricket clubs in the country and have had quite a bit of success over the years. For example, in 2012 and 2018, the First XI won the NCU Premier League. The Second XI have been ever-present in the NCU Junior League 1, while their Third XI were recently promoted to the NCU Junior League 4. Our Fourth and Fifth teams play in League 5 and 6.
The Youth Set-Up at the Club
There are over 100 youth members at the club, which is great to see. We love nothing better than seeing our youth members turn up at the weekend to play cricket and enjoy themselves. Our youth teams have also had some success as the U13s won the John Memorial Trophy for the first time.
Kwik Cricket Program
The club run a 10-week cricket training programme during the summer holidays. This takes place on a Friday evening and the young kids that turn up are taught all the basic skills of cricket is a safe and fun environment.
The year 6 and 7 students that take part in this programme are also invited to cricket training once a week from April to August. Those that excel during these training sessions will see themselves selected for our U11 team.
What Honours Have We Collected Over the Years?
As you can see below, we have picked up quite a bit of silverware over the years.
We won the NCU Senior League in 2012 and 2018. In between these two triumphs, we picked up the NCU Challenge Cup twice (2015 and 2017). In 1968 and 1991 we held aloft the NCU Junior Cup.
We are pretty certain that we will pick up more trophies in the coming years.
Interesting Links:
- Birchfield Harrier's Cricket Club
- List of clubs that play cricket in Scotland