This weekend, the Footscray ANA Cricket Club will celebrate its 80th anniversary.

Beginning as a social outlet for members of the ANA Friendly Society, a cricket club was entered in the Footscray Cricket Association for the 1931-32 season.

Club players had their first game in Footscray, where the Western Hospital now stands, with fast bowler Jim Brittingham captaining the side against Belgravia Socials.

World War II stopped the club fielding teams from 1942 until 1946.

The Western Hospital had been built on its former home ground, so the club played its home games at Scovell Reserve in Maidstone. The nomadic club would play at grounds in Maribyrnong, Footscray and Yarraville, and it now plays at Yarraville's McIvor and Angliss reserves.

Cricket in the inner west was on a downward slide during the early 1990s, with many teams losing junior ranks or folding completely from the once-populous competitions.

Footscray ANA survived and in 1999-2000 left the Footscray Cricket Association and joined the Williamstown District Cricket Association following a few seasons in the Sunshine Cricket Association.

The club counts among its greats off-spinner Norm Stewart, who took 854 wickets in 152 games during the 1950s and '60s. Hot on his heels is 47-year-old John Verdino with 799 wickets. Graeme Hodgart played 200 games, scored more than 5000 runs and took 250-plus wickets.