Glenrothes Cricket Club's origins lie partly in the unlikely setting of the Caribbean. The organised game came to the town with the help of one Edwin Headley. Of West Indian extraction, he was a teacher at Leslie Primary School and later Auchmuty High School with a passion for the thwack of willow on leather.

He was among the founder members who turned up at the Auchmuty Community Rooms on Friday 17th May 1957, to help give birth to what would become the first sporting club set up in the town.

Also among those enthusiasts that day was a 14 year old called John Bell. Still playing to this day, and the only original member still active. A club in Largo had become defunct shortly beforehand and we picked up their equipment, while other members brought along bits and pieces although fairly basic. The club originally used John Dixon Park in Markinch because there was nowhere suitable in Glenrothes at that time. Five matches were played, four of which were lost and one drawn. Glenrothes historian, Keith Ferguson once noted of the club that it was "always active although struggling against a hostile environment, persevering against the odds of the weather, uneven pitches and official disbelief that Scots should want to play such a game".

His words may have been well founded.

Five of the first seasons games were rained off, while the clubs presence at Dovecot Park in Glenrothes, where it took up residence in 1958, was not always given the respect it should have been due. On one particular day in 1964 as usual things were being prepared for a game, they turned up and noticed that a six foot high perimeter fence had been built round the football pitch. At that time, it was used by Glenrothes Juniors and the football authorities had decided that you had to have this fence, but it wasn't particularly conductive to our needs!

The following year, after a series of "stormy" meeting with the Council authorities, the club moved to Carleton Park in Woodside Precinct, not yet the home of Glenrothes Rugby Club and finally settled at Riverside Park, its current ground in 1970.

They played for a year without a pavilion, changing and having teas in Carleton Park an arrangement which had to be repeated some years later (1992) when the pavilion was burnt down. The club eventually existed for two seasons in a portacabin and 40 feet metal container and brewed tea on the back of a lorry.

The club joined the East of Scotland League Division Three in 1978, were promoted at the end of the season and have remained part of the East League structure ever since.

The club made a foray into hiring a professional in 1989, taking on the South African player Mark Mitchley, who joined the club during a period of transition. Seeing so many promising youngsters coming through, he gave the much needed support and coaching to see these youngsters develop to eventually produce polished performances.

Mark was given a chilly introduction to the Scottish game. John Bell commented "it was his first match for us, quite early in the season, early May. We were at Largo and it started to snow, he had never seen snow before!!!!"

Since then we have had an Indian professional (Saikia), and several South African amateur's (such as Rowland Thompson, Tiro Madiseng, Casey Arnold and Jason Scott).

It appears that the club will remain at the Riverside Park for the foreseeable future despite much investment up at Gilvenbank. Prior to the demise of the Glenrothes Development Corporation who spent £20,000 in laying a new cricket square and an application to the National Lottery was rejected.