...final highlight a disturbing trend in local cricket that cannot be ignored.
Crowd trouble might be a luxury that most clubs will never have to deal with, but the game is always brought into disrepute when unsavoury incidents hit the press. Throwing a beer can onto the pitch is not uncommon in modern sport, but assaults on players and pitch encroachment are areas of serious concern.
Despite all the criticism heaved in the direction of Donemana Cricket Club over the past few days, the calls to dismiss them from the competition for one year are absurd. If this proud little club has one thing in their favour, it is their passion and love for cricket, and nobody will be more disappointed at these incidents than their members. Unfortunately some successful clubs attract a fringe element of spectators that have scant regard for the spirit of the game, and when too much drink heightens their emotions, then anything goes. There’s nothing wrong in having a few drinks at a cricket game, but when some spectators get drunk they get abusive and offensive. It happens more often than we care to admit, but surely the time has come for cricket to look at the matter seriously and put our house in order.
Cricket clubs have very little responsibility for spectators who watch their games, especially when they travel to away matches. The fact that some of these incidents were done in the name of Donemana Cricket Club is a shame, as the culprits are unlikely to be members of the club. If they were members, then the club would act accordingly. That said, the club should carry out its own investigation and make a public statement of their findings. The guilty parties should be identified and the authorities should then act in the public interest.
This match was the showpiece of Irish club cricket and if all the distasteful incidents that were reported are true, then it was a poor advertisement. Players that goad the fans incite trouble, gestures made to fans invite a reaction, and assaults and racial remarks break the law. Maybe with the benefit of hindsight Cricket Ireland should have had a security presence on the ground, and if there was an alcohol ban, then why were spectators allowed to carry copious quantities into the ground?
Unfortunately there have been other incidents at cricket matches involving Donemana but the club should not be treated in isolation, as these are social problems in society where there is a lack of respect for others.
In the light of these events it is time for both clubs, both provincial unions, and Cricket Ireland to investigate the incidents, and to take the required action to put its house in order. Anything less is an insult to the decent people who support the Donemana and Leinster cricket clubs, and to everyone who upholds the integrity of the game.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
