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Season 09-10

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The 90's Through the Turn of the Century

 

In the late 1980’s, softball was almost devastated by the rise in popularity of Touch Rugby. Introduced for Australia, the sport took off as a way of getting exercise and staying fit. Most of the popularity was the minimal cost in money and time, to play you needed a T Shirt, shorts and trainers and the whole thing was over in under an hour.  Compare that with softball, where you needed a glove, a bat, cleats, and uniform which together with club fees could set you back several hundred dollars.

While not affecting the top echelons, it devastated the lower grades with many players switching to the new sport, which was so much cheaper and took so little time. Recovery has been slow and numbers are still down. Lifestyle changes with longer working hours and less leisure time, have made it more difficult for people to devote the time to the sport.

The 90’s saw many of the younger players at Metro elected for grade representative honours.

Subscriptions had increased to $250 for Premiers by 1992 while the reserves paid $200, open grades $160, Under 19 and Students $120, Under 13- 17 $40, while juniors ranged from $30 to $10 for T Ball.

They were trimmed back the following year to $170 for Premiers and Reserves, $120 for open grades, $70 for students and amongst the Junior sides for $40 for Under 17’s down to $10 for T Ball.  A social subscription of $20 was approved.

Team numbers had dropped to 5 boys, 2 girls and 2 mixed for juniors.

The clubrooms were upgraded in 1993 with new carpet and an upgrade to the bar and a repainting of the walls.

From the 1994/95 season the club changed its name to Metro Mt Albert Softball Club.

Joel Carden became a New Zealand representative in 1997.  Again there is a paucity of relevant record keeping.  The new millennium continued to be difficult times for the club. It was brightened by the selection of three players, Dion Nukunuku, Karl Gollan and Roman Gabriel for New Zealand. The following year Bernard Hale joined the chosen few.