History of the Huon Channel Cricket Association Inc.
 

During 2003, the Huon Cricket Association (HCA) and Channel Cricket Association (CCA) commenced meetings about a possible merger after an approach by representatives of the HCA to the CCA. This process commenced a long and thorough preparation for the merger to be able to successfully take place.

Eventually, after agreement between clubs within each of these two separate associations, the inaugural meeting of the Huon Channel Cricket Association was held at the Longley Hotel on 6 September 2004.

The meeting attracted 54 people.
 

Immediately following this meeting was the new association's inaugural Annual General Meeting to elect office bearers and committee members. At this stage, the Association was run by a committee consisting of an Executive Committee, general committee members performing various tasks and two delegates from each club represented in the Association. The Executive Committee was comprised of Harvey  Stevenson as the inaugural President, Michael Ludeke as the Vice President, Secretary and Public Officer, Tony Bowden as Treasurer and Brett Johnstone and Nathan Page were also elected as Vice Presidents. Other Committee members included Mark Drake as the Event's Manager, Bruce Jennings as the Website Officer, Perry Lovell as the Operation's Manager, Peter Pitt as the Media Officer and Mark Loveluck as the Umpire's Co-ordinator.

It had also been agreed that all living Life Members from the former CCA and HCA would be inducted as the Association's Founding Life Members.
 

The Association decided that initially, a three-tiered competition would be adopted, these being A, B and C Grades. It was a Constitutional rule that a club must first field an A Grade team in the competition before any other teams, however clubs could obtain a special exemption to this rule under special circumstances to have a differing configuration of teams entered into the competition. 
 

J.Boag & Son and Kookaburra Sports Pty Ltd each agreed to a three-year major sponsorship arrangement including naming rights J.Boag & Son.
 

On the field 14 clubs nominated with a total of 33 teams for the 2004/2005 season. These clubs and their grade teams were: Blackmans Bay District Cricket (A, B and C), Bruny Island Cricket Club (C), Glen Huon Cricket Club (A and B), Huonville Cricket Club (A and B), Judbury Cricket Club (B), Kettering Cricket Club (A, B and C), Kingston Crows Cricket Club (A, B, C1 and C Youth side), Longley Cricket Club (B, C and C1 – C1 later withdrawn), Margate Cricket Club (A, B, C), Ranelagh-Grove Cricket Club (A and B), Slab Road Cricket Club (A, B and C), Snug Cricket Club (A and B), Southern Tigers Cricket Club (A and B), and Woodbridge Cricket Club (B and C).
 

The Kingston Crows Cricket Club along with Slab Road Cricket Club, Huonville Cricket Club, Glen Huon Cricket Club and Margate Cricket Club were the outstanding A Grade clubs who battled for the top four ladder positions for much of the season. In B Grade, Kingston, Margate and Slab Road were the dominant teams, Slab Road having the final say and winning the premiership. The C Grade competition saw Slab Road, Kingston, Bruny Island and Margate dominate much of the season. The Kingston Crows again too strong for The Roadies for their second of three premierships on offer. The scores in the three grand finals for the inaugural season were:
 

A GRADE: 

Kingston Crows 4-146 (Brett Stevenson 45, Garry Smith 36no, Andrew Henley 22no. Michael Parbs 2-26, Patrick Kelly 2-42) def Glen Huon 144 (Joshua Woolley 43. Lyndon Stevenson 3-36, Jason Jones 2-15, Nick Townsend 2-26, Jarrod Collis 2-27)

B GRADE:

Slab Road 274 (Grant Polley 58, Matthew Cane 38, Julian Direen 31, Daniel Walter 28no, Ian Coulson 27, Grant Clark 21. Tim Smith 3-41, Ken Voss 2-38, Jack Dare 2-45) def Kingston Crows 198 (Julian Newman 42, Robert Chapman 39, Damian Franken 28. Ian Coulson 4-44, Darris Fahey 3-29, Daniel Walter 2-48).

C GRADE:

Kingston Crows 7-201 (Anthony Cupit 47, James Murray 23, Marcus Newman 20, Patrick McGuire 20, Ritchie McInnes 20no. Peter Kenna 3-43, Adam Coad 2-32) def Slab Road 9-200 (Andrew Wilton 51no, Darren Thorp 27, Peter Ross 24, Marcus Synnott 21. Mark Percey 3-33, James Murray 2-33, Brett Cooke 2-33, Marcus Newman 2-43).
 

The season's awards were varied amongst clubs with Aron Cherry from Margate winning the A Grade Huon Valley News Player of the Year Award, Longley’s Andrew Fenton winning the B Grade Best and Fairest award and Slab Road’s Adam Coad winning the C Grade Best and Fairest award. These were three names that could always be guaranteed a place in the history of the HCCA.