Club History

The Grafton United Cricket Club was founded as the United Cricket Club, on September 18, 1862 by players from the existing Auckland clubs. It was often referred to as 'the United' because of this. The aim of the Club was to secure a ground on which to play and more regular and more challenging competition than that which was on offer in Auckland at the time. Its original colours were dark blue.

The club’s first ground was a field in Newmarket donated by local farmer, James Dilworth, but its distance from the city prompted the administration, on behalf of the cricketers of Auckland, to apply for the use of the Auckland Domain. It played there from 1863 until it shifted to Eden Park in the 1920’s. United merged with the Auckland Cricket Club in the early 1870s and became Auckland United but, by and large, it continued to be referred to simply as United. In 1893 it changed its colours to black and white, possibly because its dark blue was also being worn, along with light blue, by its arch-rival, a re-formed Auckland Cricket Club. When the Auckland Cricket Association’s first District Scheme came into effect in 1903, the Club became the Grafton District Cricket Club. It was so-named because, under the terms of the scheme, it was allocated the area surrounding the Auckland Domain, including Grafton Gully, to draw players from. It retained United’s colours, fielded the same players and continued to be run by the same officers. The Scheme was abandoned in 1920, at which time the Club paired its new and old names to form Grafton United, and it continued in black and white until the adoption of the crest from the Duke of Grafton’s coat of arms in 1949. At that point, gold replaced white, and the Club colours became black and gold. The new name lasted thirty-odd years until the second District Scheme of 1952, when the ACA paired the Club with Birkdale, and later Birkenhead, as the Metropolitan District Cricket Club.

Since it was the only meaningful contributor to the Senior side early on, the Club successfully lobbied the ACA to have the Grafton name reinstated, and it was known as the Grafton and Districts Cricket Club until the end of the Scheme 1967, when it returned to Grafton United. Victoria Park was first used for cricket in 1906 but it has only been the Club’s home since the Auckland Cricket Association shifted it from Eden Park in the early 1950s. The Club had a room underneath the old grandstand and it was only when the City Council leased the Campbell Free Kindergarten to it for a clubrooms in 1960, that the park officially became Grafton’s home ground. In partnership with the council, a new clubrooms and indoor net facility was opened on the site of the old grandstand in 1993 and this continues to house the club. The Club celebrated it's 150th Sesquicentenial in 2012 and a book entitled "United we Stand" was written to commemorate this.