It's a crazy old world in Ulster cricket when it costs most players a few quid every week to play the game while some of their teammates may be 'earning' several hundred quid just to turn up!
I'm not against payment in cricket but there's no doubt we're getting out of control and unless some reality comes back into the game the situation will get worse. There's nothing wrong with a club looking after its own interests but history has shown that in all aspects of life the rich get richer and poor get poorer. When that equation enters amateur sport then the clubs have to protect themselves against each other, or they will self destruct.
This is not the responsibility of the parent union but the clubs themselves, and before anyone starts saying the power base within the union is dominated by the big clubs, this is not the case. Look at the voting power at AGMs.
Clubs with rich patrons and others with lucrative bar takings are at the forefront of player recruitment and while the overseas pro is often the public face of the 'hired gun' syndrome, the chequebook is now openly being brandished in front of many of the best local players. This is not a modern phenomenon given that North Down recruited Waringstown all rounder Michael Reith as far back as 1980, but the major difference is that Reith was a club coach who played, as opposed to a local professional who is hired solely to play.
An overseas pro currently costs in the region of 10K per annum when salary, accommodation, car, perks and benefits are added. If he coaches and plays well then the investment can be justified. Some leading local players have been paid up to 5K per season with coaching duties attached, but in recent times the local playing pros can easily command 3-5K just to bat or bowl.
Development officers within the union are paid on performance of duties, while authentic development officers at clubs should be paid likewise. But the crème-de-la-crème top players are now up there with the overseas pros in the payment league, and with figures being brandied around in the 10K region just to play, surely we have lost the plot?
To balance this equation and bring some sanity to the table, how can a club spend thousands of pounds on players and be allowed to compete in a same league when their ground is sub standard? Many club groundsmen manfully perform their duties free gratis, while some clubs pay around 2-3K for the services of a full time worker. Covers, sight-screens and a quality wicket are basic requirements of a senior club, but are they in place at all clubs?
Bar staff in the clubhouse earn a fiver an hour and most players pay a few quid for tea money when playing at home on top of an annual sub, and at least several hundred quid a year for gear. Add some travel expenses paid out of their own pocket. All this creates a huge disparity within every chequebook club and unless some regulation is put into place the situation is going to destroy club morale, lead to more antagonism with other clubs, and drive people out of the game. Worse still, it is a business model that is unsustainable.
Umpires are almost impossible to recruit these days and that's not surprising given a paltry payment of 25 quid for a stressful day standing in the field. Scorers receive nothing and do it for the love of the game, in much the same way that most players play the game, and virtually all administrators and committee men give of their time.
The paid players obviously have to produce the goods at the end of the day, and there's nothing wrong with any individual trying to better themselves in life. But if the trend is to become an integral part of the local game then some regulation and structure has to be applied. Clubs must have quality playing facilities first before they flash their chequebooks around, all payments should conform with the law of the land, and every club should have player contracts in place to protect themselves against each other.
Contracts do not necessarily involve money, but they do provide a level of stability and unless the situation is brought under control, every winter is going to involve a series of player poaching and recruitment that will encroach into other unions and eventually integrate the schools.
Is this the way we want our cricket to go?
Clarence Hiles
Editor
