One of Tasmanian Premier Cricket’s most successful clubs will enter a new era this season, with Glenorchy Cricket Club to compete as the Northern Magpies Cricket Club from 2026–27.
The change will see the Northern Magpies represent five council regions – Glenorchy, Brighton, Derwent Valley, Southern Midlands and Central Highlands and follows unanimous support from Glenorchy Cricket Club members and endorsement from Cricket Tasmania, with new signage at KGV declaring the venue the “Home of the Northern Magpies”.
While the playing identity will change, the club’s connection to Glenorchy will remain firmly intact.
The legal entity will remain Glenorchy Cricket Club Incorporated, KGV Oval will remain its home and black and white will continue as the club’s foundation colours, while its records, premierships and history will carry forward.
Club president Brett Geeves said the change was about providing a broader future for the club while protecting its history.
“We reached a point where preserving Glenorchy’s history meant giving it somewhere meaningful to go,” Geeves said.
“The Northern Magpies allow us to carry 95 years of identity into communities that deserve a genuine connection to Premier Cricket.
“This does not erase Glenorchy. It honours every person who carried the Magpie before us by ensuring the next generation has the opportunity to carry it further.”
Founded at Eady Street in 1931, Glenorchy has won 16 First Grade premierships and a competition-record 32 Club Championships.
The Northern Magpies model is designed to strengthen connections between schools, community and junior clubs, Premier Cricket and Cricket Tasmania’s representative pathways across the five council regions.
“Glenorchy remains our home. KGV remains our base. Black and white remain our foundation,” Geeves said.
“What changes is the distance our responsibility now travels.”
The club plans to establish a junior cricket hub at Bagdad, while also supporting clubs in the Central Highlands and developing council-backed scholarships, equipment assistance and school-based programs.
Each of the five regions is also represented in the Northern Magpies identity, with black and white for Glenorchy, navy for the Derwent Valley, sky blue for the Central Highlands, green for the Southern Midlands and orange for Brighton.
The club’s Heritage Magpie will remain part of the identity, maintaining the link to the generations who have represented Glenorchy since 1931.
“The Heritage Magpie holds our story. The modern Magpie carries it forward,” Geeves said.
The expansion will also include the Northern Magpies Ambassador Project, designed to connect schools with their nearest community cricket clubs through partnerships with Reclink Australia, the Tasmanian Government, councils and community organisations.
Federal Member for Lyons Rebecca White MP has accepted the role of club patron, while the club has also developed a long-term infrastructure vision for KGV including a four-lane indoor training centre, modern clubrooms, accessible facilities and a community hub.
Geeves said the success of the new identity would ultimately be measured by its impact beyond Premier Cricket.
“A new logo and new signage are the visible parts of the change, but they cannot be the achievement,” Geeves said.
“The achievement will be stronger community clubs, more children playing cricket and a pathway that every young player across the region can see from where they live.”