...with a broad smile and an announcement that he will be on holiday from Friday. And it will be a deserved break for the union workhorse who has endured an unprecedented frustrating season spoiled by rain and the final two potential banana skins namely the Annual Dinner and AGM.
Ironically it was the dinner that sparked most of the controversy as the AGM proved to be one of the quietest in history with no proposals from clubs and no votes required for all the offices because the nominees were unchallenged. All the proposed rules changes came from the Management Board and in comparison to previous years these were small beer mostly related to life in the lower divisions. Either the NCU is running things very smoothly these days, or the clubs have become apathetic. Perhaps the most interesting and enlightening session came after the official business was concluded and Chairman Brian Walsh outlined some of the many initiatives that are currently taking place and asked several key people to explain in more detail what was happening. Listening to Neale Matthews on youth cricket, Billy Boyd on planning, Alan Neill on umpiring challenges and Andy Clement on development shows how far the union has progressed in modern times and the huge structure involved in running cricket within the current set-up. Looking from the outside we are quick to highlight negatives, but they pale into insignificance against the huge volume of work currently being undertaken by amateur administrators who simply love their sport. We should give credit where credit is due!
The Annual Dinner was a much different affair. On the credit side the switch to a Friday evening proved popular as numbers were up and over 200 people attended, the venue at the Holiday Inn remains acceptable and the food was excellent. On the negative side many attendees complained that the evening dragged on too long, the speakers provided poor entertainment, there were abundant mistakes from the platform, and the trophy winners were not given due respect. That said, some of the banter and chest-beating comes with the territory and traditionally the longer the evening the higher the decibels and joviality. Whether this is friendly banter or disrespectful is a moot point, but Friday evening followed the pattern of many previous dinners. From a logistics viewpoint the date clashed with the big Ulster-Castries rugby match at Ravenhill and the following evening there was a corporate fund-raising charity dinner in support of Gary Wilson and William Porterfield’s Sponsored Bike Ride. However, the NCU organizers could hardly be blamed for the dates clash since neither was under their control.
The main criticism was levied at the platform and top of the complaints list was the lack of entertainment. Much of this was due to a low-key delivery from the guest speaker Sir Ronnie Flanaghan and why he didn’t turn off his mobile phone when it rang twice during his speech remains one of the great mysteries of a night perhaps best forgotten.
The club dinner and AGM circuit is about to gather momentum so hopefully there will be much better fare at the grassroots of local cricket.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
