Or is it cricket apathy in the modern era?
One cannot avoid these reflections after another Annual General Meeting that raised barely a ruffle of feathers and went about the routine business of annual reports, appointments and mundane rule changes with consummate ease. Long gone are the old days when the AGM was a feature of the NCU season and some of the greatest orators in the local game swopped verbal punches akin to Ali and Fraser in their prime. They included the irascible Ivan Anderson, Murray Power, Dickie Maxell, Raymond Hunter, Chris Harte, John Elder, Jimmy Boyce, Roy Harrison, John Law, Dixon Rose, and many others, none of them afraid to stand up and exchange verbals in the name of promoting NCU cricket. It seems a far cry from the powder-puff stuff we get these days and may reflect an overall acceptance of the status quo. That will be music to the years of the incumbent President who chairs the meeting and a vote of confidence for hard-working General Secretary Bryan Milford who sets up and administers proceedings in the background. The rule changes were minor adjustments, even if one of them involved a restriction on the "Does your Granny come from Ireland" recruitment bandwagon. The NCU registered a significant loss in the last 15 months, but so well did Hon. Treasurer Dawn Johnston present the Financial Report that there were no questions from the floor.
Indeed the silence from the floor was deafening and the absence of a number of leading personalities might reflect a new era in AGMS and perish the thought, an acceptance that the game is better administered that ever before. It may even reflect an acceptance of the professional era as no proposals to ban them were put forward. After all, even the most ardent critics of overseas professionals and payments to local players are now so heavily involved it would be hypocritical to lobby against it.
Retiring President Chris Harte and Chairman Brian Walsh were warmly and deservedly thanked for their two years of sterling service. Chris ignited a few fires in his own inimitable style and Brian was the quiet and hard-working Chairman who ensured NCU business moved with the times in this challenging era. If the NCU has one huge resource then it is the quality of its senior officers as the new appointees Billy Boyd from Lurgan and Andy Clement from Muckamore are from the top drawer. Both have given the union sterling service in reaching their personal milestones and much will be expected from them over the next two years, as the challenges on the horizon appear awesome for amateur and voluntary sports administrators. Website critics often ignore the huge commitment given at union level from these hard-working officials, many of whom are just as heavily involved at club level.
Before the meeting Alistair Bushe presented his Newsletter Awards and although Waringstown dominated the team with six selections there could be few dissenters given their league and cup 'Double' once again. That 'Double' seems incongruous in the modern game where there are several mechanisms to split teams that finish joint at the top of the league, but in the absence of a proposal to change the rule multiple winners seems destined to stay.
The biggest cheer of the evening was reserved for Holywood stalwart Billy McCormick who won the Jim McMorran Memorial Award for service to cricket. There will be no better or more deserved winner as Billy has done it all for his club and kept it afloat during the toughest times to get back to better times.
It was a rare burst of excitement on an otherwise functional but mundane AGM.
Maybe I'm getting old?
Clarence Hiles
Editor
