Cricket Club's Digital Growth: Social Media Insights from the Best - Joel Mason and Ben Rolfs

Cricket Insights | March 05, 2026

In this conversation we are diving into Best Practice in Community Sport with Joel Mason (Manly Warringah Cricket Club) and Ben Rolfs (Melbourne University Cricket Club) — the social media leads behind two of Australia’s most followed cricket clubs.

Manly and Melbourne Uni rank #1 and #2 in premier cricket clubs across Australia for follower numbers across platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and X — and they’ve each built strong, authentic engagement that’s helping their clubs thrive.

We will dive into how they do it, what works (and what doesn’t), how social media helps with sponsorship and recruitment, and their best advice for clubs who want to lift their social media presence.

Key takeaways

• Big followings create real leverage
• Builds club-of-choice appeal for juniors and recruits.
• Gives sponsors a “feel-good factor” and visible exposure (even if hard to quantify precisely).
• Strengthens the club brand inside the local community.
• The platforms that matter most
• Both clubs see the biggest payoff from Instagram + Facebook, with TikTok strong for reach (especially for Melbourne Uni).
• Facebook is still powerful for reach—especially reels—despite being “older audience”.
• What content wins
• Short match clips / reels are the engine.
• Funny moments do well, but pure cricket moments can go huge too (a ball, a leave, a delivery).
• “High production” doesn’t automatically outperform—sometimes simple iPhone footage beats polished edits.
• Workload and workflow reality
• Single clips can be 5 minutes; full highlights can be hours (unless you can pull from livestream footage).
• Livestreams make content creation easier: find the moment ? clip it ? post it.
• The Manly model: scale through players
• Joel leans on the playing group (not parents/ex-players) as the volunteer engine.
• ~20–25 contributors across small roles (posting), design, photography, editing.
• Key to quality: clear roles + clear timing + simple process.
• The “3 P’s” framework (gold nugget)
• Planning + People + Processes ? creativity takes care of itself.
• Do design/planning work in the off-season, then execute through repeatable weekly processes.
• What NOT to post
• Avoid “funny” content that’s actually embarrassing for a player.
• Once a clip hits the algorithm, comments can get ugly—especially on TikTok—so protect the person and the club.
• Advice for clubs starting out
• Copy (smartly): use strong clubs as a template and add your own spin.
• Ask for help: share best practice between clubs; it lifts the whole competition.
• Be bold + experiment: post consistently, learn what works, then double down.
• Start with player performance posts because players will share them—built-in distribution.
• Posting timing
• Joel: morning tends to hit best; also lunch and after work.
• Ben: also factor time zones (UK/India audiences) and notes Sunday/Monday often perform well.