TRIBUTES have been paid to Tony Hitch, the former secretary of the Bristol & District Cricket League who has died at the age of 83.
Tony took over the post in 1983 and went on to fill a key administrative role at one of the largest competitions in the country for 40 years before standing down in 2023.
Prior to joining the Bristol & District committee, Tony was an all-rounder – a slow bowler, hard-hitting batter and also a wicket keeper – at Almondsbury where he served as club secretary and fixture secretary.
His towering contributions, on and off the field at the South Gloucestershire outfit, were recognised with the award of life membership.
Trevor Crouch, who was chair of the Bristol & District League for virtually all of Tony’s tenure, said: “It’s very sad news.“We worked together for a very long time. It became apparent early on that he was a unique character and a natural administrator.“He had huge empathy for clubs because of his deep involvement at Almondsbury.“In the best sense of the word, he was old school – he did not like meetings or discussions, he was all about administering and getting things done.“For many years, before the digital era, Tony took responsibility for collating the weekend results and then putting together the league tables.“That meant fielding a tremendous number of phone calls, sometimes very late at night when a captain suddenly realised he had forgotten to ring the result through after the game, as well as organising the result card system we used to have.“It’s fair to say Tony was bemused by ‘new technology’ … he was very much a pencil and paper man, and there’s a very strong rumour that he never sent an email!”
As well as being responsible for the day-to-day running of the league, Tony also was a crucial figure in the organisation of its annual dinner, chasing countless clubs for ticket numbers and the return of trophies which wife Renee would help clean and polish before being re-awarded.
The league’s knock out cup was renamed in his honour several years ago while the England and Wales Cricket Board also recognised Tony’s tremendous contributions to the sport with a NatWest Outstanding Service to Cricket Award (OSCA) at Lord’s in 2010.
David Parry Jones, meanwhile, reflected on a 50-year friendship with Tony that began when the pair were both teachers at Patchway High and played together at Almondsbury.
He said: “We also played for the school staff team, and I can remember Tony refereeing the odd rugby match.“It’s a great loss, for Almondsbury and for cricket in general because of the amount of work Tony put in over such a long period of time.“Many people will also remember Tony for his years teaching geography while he was also exams officer at Patchway over a long career.”Steve Silk, the chief executive of the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation, added: “Thousands of Bristol club cricketers have great reason to be thankful for the amount of work Tony put in behind the scenes over 40 years … that’s a seriously impressive innings.“Leagues do not run themselves, they need volunteers who dedicate countless hours to make sure things are organised properly. And Tony made a huge contribution towards ensuring the Bristol & District is the strong and thriving league that it is today.”
The funeral will take place on November 12 (11.15am) at Westerleigh.