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Re-Clarence

Sorry, but i will have to fundementally disagree with most of that.
Rugby is run, in the main by business men - football is getting that way after the ineptitude of the 'barrow boys' period that was recently the case.

You are also trying to compare apples with pears and when that happens the problems start.

If there was an elite cricket league then no one would neither watch or really care about that either !

Maybe ND can attract the same number as Ards - is that supposed to impress ?

Maybe Waringstown could attract a similar 'massive' crowd - but i'd say you could throw a small blanket round the spectators at the rest...

The people running the local game at the top are no less dellusional than those running the clubs

We will not maintain or move forward until the reallity of what we are is accepted.

there are those who clamour and yearn for recognition of our game - I'm sorry, it's not going to happen

Really, Really Really no one cares about Cricket in this country - So lets just enjoy ourselvs and play with our mates !

Phil that's not the world we live in I'm afraid. North Down get similar support to Ards Rugby Club but we know a lot less watch cricket elsewhere. Rugby is a much more professional structure but like local soccer the finances are handled by amateurs hence their heavy debt and poor management. I said it some time back and it may come to pass-cricket may split into an elite professionals division and an Amateur League just like local football. Sounds idealistic as I'm told players have been paid in the Amateur League for years. Maybe Robin will tell us what he got for scoring goals at Comber Rec all those years ago?
Lol.

Gents, there have been a few interesting comments in the last few days in relations to the paying of players in all there various capacities.

During this year, I have visited quite a few grounds in my NCU grounds capacity.

One thing I find is that the majority of machinery that most clubs have could appear in the antiques road show.

People can complain about the standard of grounds all they like but if clubs want to improve them, the majority of them need to upgrade their machinery.

To give people an idea of costs for new machinery, approximate costs are as follows:

Lawnmower £3,000
Roller £7,000
Gangmowers £7,000
Scarifier £2,500
Spiker £3,000

As you can see it is not cheap so the 2nd hand market is the option for most clubs. If you add on top of this maintenance costs and the cost of putting you square to bed each year, you can now see the issue for clubs. Do they spend it on machinery or on players. RSVP

Re Peter Woods

And a fundamental diference is that Rugby can regularly fill a stadium with supporters...
Clarence the 'negligable' spectators you alluded are actually 'NON EXISTANT'spectators !

People want to see and Support Rugby - sorry all, but no one gives flying fiddlers about cricket apart form the people who play it - and that's debatable...

Why don't all clubs get together and vote out all paying of players, overseas or otherwise at the next AGM...

Lets have eveven locals v eveven locals for goodness sake and stop trying to be something we're not or never will be...!

Just for clarification - when I said that the players were the "Morgans and Rankins of their day", I was indicating that their play was of Test Standard. On reading it back it could maybe be interpreted as something else!

Robin - well said. Certainly the players you mention and some of their predecessors were the Morgans and Rankins of their day.
Carson - you are 100% correct. I met with a famous ex Ireland and Lions player in Dublin on Saturday who advised that his club were 1.075m euro in debt. He said that there was no club loyalty left, with even kids leaving school looking for money.
Let us make sure that this mentality of paying so many players doesn't put any our clubs into even 10% of that debt. I am not convinced that many of these paid players do any coaching worth talking about. I still most of it is done by the "Clubmen" with examples as mentioned by the CI parent. Everybody knows that the bulk of the work is done by these officials, many of whom have been involved for the last 10-20 years, or even longer. I am not certain where the next generation of Club Officials to carry out this work is going to come from in the future.
But surely the money going out of the game into player's pockets must be a major cause for concern for all of us. especially as the number of clubs and teams continues to fall.

Re : Payment of Players
Club cricket in Ireland is now at the stage where club rugby was 15-20 years ago - a traditionally amateur sport starting to go down the road of paying players on an increasingly widespread basis.
A few months ago Gerry Thornley,Irish Times rugby journalist, wrote an article on the effect that player-payment has had on club finances.His research revealed that a conservative estimate of the combined debt of the 52 All-Ireland League clubs is TWENTY -FIVE MILLION EUROS.
Surely this astonishing figure should send out a huge warning to all of us in club cricket.

Congrats to Simon Corlett on being inducted into the hall of fame on Saturday night by the cricket writers. I was lucky enough to come into an ulster town team in 1978 which included Simon and he immediately took the time to help me with my game. Simon of course was Ireland's leading all rounder, one of only a very few who could win a game with his pace bowling, spin bowling, batting or fielding. I regard myself as being very lucky to have been playing in the Corlett, Anderson, Monteith and Reith era, 4 ulster and Ireland cricketing legends.
Congrats again Simon, well deserved.

Congratulations to big Boyd Rankin on his selection to the Ashes squad to tour Australia later this year, a real tonic for local cricket !!

Ps. If there's anymore chat about local players being paid money to play cricket
here, I'll not only quit playing myself, I'll quit writing poetry about the game as well!

Good evening !

Hi Simon,
I'm simply saying more and more players are getting paid every year. Most of the paid players (professionals) are local players and not coaching, but simply being paid to play. Every club is living outside their means as gate money is negligible and revenue comes from bar takings, sponsors and partisan patrons. Looking at the big guns the overseas pro is now a minor part of their outlay. We have moved into a professional era where more and more players want paid to play. The overseas professional is just another name on the payroll.
If you were playing today you'd be good value at 15 grand!

An interesting trend occurred when you analyse Junior cricket results this year. The 15 winners and promoted teams of the sections can be broken down into -
junior teams of clubs in the Premier league (8) and
junior teams of clubs not in the Premier league (7).
A pretty high proportion of winners and promoted sides considering that there are 36 teams in total. (although obviously the bigger clubs have more teams and the opening of leagues is relatively new).
More surprising is the breakdown of teams relegated. Waringstown 4ths were the only Junior team relegated whose 1sts play in the Premier League. The other 13 relegated sides are attached to clubs outside the Premier League.
Why is that? Maybe Prem league teams getting stronger and lesser clubs getting weaker Maybe a bit of the no cricket on Inter Pro days where the Prem clubs can avail of a few of their better players? Maybe others will have a view but the trend looks one way.

Clarence, the only thing that is professional in today's game is the fact that players are being paid. Do I detect a sense that you are finally agreeing that we don't need professionals, due to the fact that they are merely hired guns that cost clubs more than they can afford ?

Interesting discussion in regards to professionals and their roles within clubs, my son is a junior at CIYMS and is enjoying success with his team and with his own game. This however along with the success of CI youth teams is not the product of paid locals who are brought in each year or paid overseas "coaches", more to the hard work of stalwarts such as Michael Hingston and Alan Mcilwaine who turn up week nights and want to see the youngsters develop and learn.

I am not a follower of the ci firsts but I do hear friends talk about the majority of the team being paid per match, is there some form of cash incentive in winning the premier league or a champions league spot for finishing in the top 4? I'm aware most clubs do it but I find it appalling, put the money into your coaches who do it off their own back or the ground facilities that your youth can also enjoy.

I heard a stat recently that since CI were promoted to the premier league more than 20 different faces have walked in and out of the dressing room of which have been paid, this is not the sort of team I want my son playing for in the future, when I played rugby I liked playing within a team that had my back season after season guys I know and were teamwork was the ethos not who much we would be getting paid!

Unfortunately I can't see this changing, if you want to see a team v team go watch any game below premier league

Neil,
That lofty ideal that overseas pros are hired as coaches first and players second went out the window 20 years ago. We live in an era where teams are getting more and more professional every year and professional means getting paid. It is a bandwagon that most, but not all, Premier Clubs are riding on to compete with each other. That said, we still fall well short of the Leinster clubs in competition.

pre-season prediction for section 3
" failing that my prediction would be
Saintfield - BISC
Victoria
Portadown
Ards
D'dee
Dungannon
PSNI
Dunmurry

But more importantly, I hope that none of the sides have to scratch games due to not being able to field a side, and that Portadown and Dungannon are able to field second 11's next year again."
Some I got right, some I got wrong, but i feel that the NCU should do all it can to help Portadown CC renew its league status and to help Dunmurry CC and to try & get cricket back on the table at RSD and at the other schools in the Dungannon area.