...in earnest the possibilities of developing an Ulster Premier League for senior cricket in Northern Ireland. The discussions came about as the result of being involved in a Cricket Ireland Domestic Review Working Group. The following document finalised around the end of August 2010 outlines how we feel an Ulster Premier League for cricket could be structured and run. We know that the concept of an Ulster Cricket league is not a new one but maybe it is a concept whose time has now come given the recent developments within cricket in Ireland.
Background
Richard Holdsworth made the following recommendation in his Domestic Review of Irish Cricket;
“There needs to be a Premier League of a maximum of 8 teams in each province. This allows clubs with very good players to compete in home and away fixtures which are of a very good standard. By only playing a maximum of 14 matches in the season, this will allow time for players to play in the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup (BKISC), the provincial and then National T20 competition and most importantly allow them time off at some stage of the season for a break (when the inter-provincials can take place) and time to practice and prepare well for these matches. This will create some space in the schedule for Inter-provincial matches. Currently all four unions have Division 1 or Premier division leagues, however all have 10 teams, whilst Leinster has a proposal for 8 teams from 2010. All premier leagues should play the same format and on the same day, so that other national competitions can be scheduled, without clashes”
An 8 team league was proposed at the NWCU AGM but but did not get the necessary majority and was defeated. The NCU have passed an 8 team league for their structure but at a cost that maybe not all clubs are happy with. There is possibly another way forward which would still provide the 8 team league that CI are looking for but would also reduce the number of teams who lose out on top flight senior status. The proposed solution is a two tier Ulster Premier League.
Ulster Premier League
Instead of creating an 8 team league in each of the northern unions, create a two tier Ulster Premier League consisting of 18 teams drawn from both the NWCU and the NCU to start in season 2012.
The structure would be UPL1 with 8 teams and UPL2 with 10 teams.
League standings in season 2011 would dictate which 2 teams get relegated into Senior 2 ( 1 in each region ) for the 2012 season. The remaining 9 teams in each region would then make up the new UPL1 and UPL2.
With the UPL structure in place Senior 2 / Div 1 would then be the top regional leagues in each region below the UPL structure. These in effect would become the qualifying leagues to gain entry to the UPL.
Promotion / Relegation would take place each year between UPL1 and UPL2 with 1 team going down and 1 team going up. One team promoted / relegated in an 8 team structure is sufficient. Two teams being relegated / promoted would mean a 25% change in an 8 team league each year! We feel that is too much.
Two teams would be relegated each year from the 10 team UPL2 to whichever Regional Union they are affiliated. Two teams would also be promoted each year from the regional qualifying leagues.
In the interests of maintaining a sense of regional balance the 2 teams promoted to UPL2 each year would made up of 1 from the NCU and 1 from the NWCU. This guarantees each union an equal feed into the UPL structure and will act as a 'braking mechanism' to prevent a skew happening too quickly amongst the teams making up the UPL structure.
Playing conditions for the UPL would replicate those of the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup including coloured clothing etc.
All 14 league games in the UPL would be played on the same date as other unions and would fit in with relevant CI fixtures such as BKISC.
Current regional Senior Cups would be maintained and competed for by the 'Senior Clubs' in the region – just as at present. We feel these are two competitions must be protected due to their historical significance and value to each region.
Advantages of Ulster Premier League
A much better standard of cricket with all the top Ulster teams (and players) playing in an 8 team UPL1.
UPL2 would also be an improvement for the teams involved over their current positions at the bottom of their regional Senior 1 leagues. Instead of getting beaten most weeks by the top 4 teams they would all be of a more equal standing and thereby create a more competitive league which anyone of them could win.
Less teams would lose out in the transition to an Ulster Premier League set up than considering two separate 8 team leagues in each region. 1 team in each union instead of 2. That would mean only 2 teams getting relegated for 2012 instead of 4.
Still fits in with CI requirement of an 8 team Premier league but a much stronger offering. This will help to feed through better prepared and higher skilled players for future CI selection.
Much better possibility of sponsorship due to a much stronger and more exciting product offering. Would also have the potential to improve match attendances.
Travel is not a problem. With 4 teams in the UPL in your region this will mean that the only 'away' matches would be to the 4 teams in the other region. So out of the 14 matches only 4 could be classed as 'away' matches (i.e. outside your region). It is only an hour and a half across Northern Ireland anyway!
League Structure
Lets take a look at how the leagues for UPL1 and UPL2 might look. For illustration purposes we have wound the clock forward one year but used the 2010 season final tables from the NW and NCU as the concept could only be implemented in 2012 at the earliest.
League Structure – 1 Year on
The following diagram shows how it might look at the end of the 1st year as regards promotion / relegation. NOTE: For convenience teams in the UPL have been listed alphabetically rather than trying to gaze into the crystal ball and predict 1st year finishes.
Ulster Cup Competition
At present there are currently 5 major competitions for the top teams in the NW and NCU.
· League
· Senior Cup
· Ulster Cup
· 20/20 Competition
· BK ISC
There is already an enormous amount of pressure on the top players with matches and especially if the weather is unkind with frequent rearrangements. The CI proposal to reduce the number of league fixtures from 18 to 14 by reducing the size of the leagues is welcome. However the intention of CI to free up fixtures for an Inter-Provincial competition means there is little or no change to the pressure on players at the top of the sport at local level.
Already one very prominent club has hinted at not entering the Ulster Cup competition in 2011. Yet this is still a very popular competition with generous sponsors that we can ill afford to lose. Therefore we would propose that the Ulster Cup competition would change in format to free up fixture pressure on the clubs.
The NW currently plays the Sperrin Springs Faughan Valley Cup T20 Cup which in format is quite similar to the NCU Metal Technologies T20 Cup, where teams qualify through groups to play in the final.
It is our proposal that the winners of each local competition could meet in an T20 final to decide the overall T20 champions in Northern Ireland. We believe that the final of this competition could be the new Ulster Cup Champions.
Ulster Shield Competition
There is no reason why the Ulster Shield final couldn't take place at the same venue on the same day between the winners of the NW Senior 2 Sperrin Springs Faughan Valley T20 Cup and the winners of the NCU Second tier T20 Cup. This would create a higher profile opportunity for both sponsors of the competitions and would probably attract a bigger attendance at the games also.
The venues for the finals would be alternated between both Unions on an annual basis.
Summary
We believe the Cricket Ireland proposal to have all unions play their top fixtures on the same dates so that other national level fixtures and competitions can be accommodated, to be a sensible one.
We do think that an 8 team league would be a good move for cricket in Northern Ireland but we do not see many improvements being achieved by having an 8 team league in the NW and an 8 team league in the NCU. There are not sufficient players of the top standard to make up two highly competitive leagues which is what is required if cricket in Northern Ireland is to advance. By having a two tier UPL we can guarantee that the top 8 team league will be highly competitive with around 100 of Northern Ireland's best players competing week in week out. There would be very few 'easy' matches.
The UPL2 league would also be a very competitive environment. In this league we would have 10 teams that are evenly matched so instead of being beaten most weeks, which is what was happening in the bottom end of their old league, they would now have a really good chance of beating most teams in UPL2. Anyone of them could win the league. Playing in a more competitive league will also better prepare the team being promoted to compete in UPL1 when they go up.
Finally and by no means least, another very important strength of this proposal is that it will save two teams from losing top flight Senior status. The UPL structure proposes to have 18 teams which means we would lose only 2 teams (1 from the NW and 1 from the NCU) from the current 20 team structure. The alternative proposal of having 8 team leagues in each region would mean 16 teams make up the new top Senior leagues leaving 4 teams (2 from the NW and 2 from the NCU) to lose out on top flight Senior status. The UPL structure would keep two more teams involved in top flight senior cricket.
We would welcome feedback / comment on the concept of an Ulster Premier League for cricket. You can post feedback / comment on the forum but for convenience it would also be appreciated that comment be emailed to Trevor.dalzell@ntlworld.com so that we can easily collate the thoughts of everyone on the topic and pass them on to both the NW and NCU.
Many thanks.
Trevor Dalzell, Paul Stafford, Charlie McElwee, Mary McElwee
NOTE:
This document has been revised since the end of August to reflect the final table positions of the NW and NCU. The basic concept and mechanism is as was discussed and finalised by the above in late August 2010.
