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this may be lost on most but anybody playing for queens in 1997 away to dunmurry will know possibly one of the best excuses of all time albeit for being late. same day a certain bloke equalled the NCU record for stumpings! timmy browne may have picked up a few wickets

I heard of guy saying he couldn't play cricket cause he had a library book to return.

Excuses not 2 play:

Some classic posts!!

Did i hear a former paid player, who played at a certain East Belfast Club, once told his Captain that he was unavailable due to playing in a "Snooker Comp"????!!! WTF????

Ivan

Re Porterfield read Killyclooney not killymallaght !!

excuses

ive heard plenty of excuses for not playing cricket.
but the worst excuse was one of our players refusing to go for xmas drinks at the club last year 'because x factor was on'...WTF!!!

Excuses

Too many men let woman dictate whether or not they play cricket now, its a common thing in my own club and I know its the same everywhere else. I love hearing stories of years ago from Ivan McCombe, John McCormick, Andy Clement etc about the away trips they used to have at Armagh and Laurelvale, they used to play the game then sit for hours and drink and have a laugh with the opposition. Nowadays its a case of as soon as the match is over its a race to the cars!!

Iav kept quiet on the players moving debate which I assume was caused by me soo ial admit that yes I did contact two players from Templepatrick and they said they were happy playing Section 2 and I wished them all the best. It happens everywhere and I know there has been players at my club approached but thats cricket and thats life!!

Re Niall

A player turned up late. About 5 minutes before the match was due to start. He said 'sorry I am late but if I play today the wife has threatened to divorce me.' Contra to the advice I gave him he didn’t play and I had to quickly get a player from a lower side to stand in.
He stopped playing altogether a year later. Always wonder how happy they are now!!

Cant play at the weekend I'm afraid I'm playing for Northern Ireland against Wales in the Carling Nations Cup in Dublin!!!!

We thought it was a fair excuse

From a more "mature" player, for a midweek match...

"sorry skip, the doc tells me I have an irregular heartbeat and have to have my heart stopped and restarted again that night! Should be OK for Saturday tho!"

Re Niall & excuses.

Don't know if I could list 10, but my favourite from last season was 'I can't play this Saturday skip - I have a chess competition.'

I don't mind chess, but surely cricket isn't that boring.

Ivan a new subject for you. In an age where lots of kids appear to be starting off but fail to become available when they get past 16-18 (demon drink and the opposite sex I guess ....are you allowed to say sex on this forum?) what about a listing of the top ten excuses for not being available.
I have heard of kids birthday party, shopping, hangover, going out that night and one peculiar one from long ago ‘doing a ballroom dancing exam’. Believe that when told the captain had to be physically helped into his seat at selection! Sure there are lots more.

editor... Yes again i do agree with what you say if guys are going to be paid then the facilities , i.e pitch etc should be the priority first of all. All i am saying is each to their own, some clubs are against some are for paying guys, it is going to happen unless there is some change in the rules. When people with the experience of Ivan and the editor speak i listen.

Ricky.... take whatever you want with a pinch of salt. I went to CI for one season and returned to the club i have played with my whole life, at that time it was an apportunity that was appealing to me and i enjoyed the year and made some good mates along the way.

Ricky, no need to apologise mate. Only my thoughts and opinion. I always think it's healthy to get lots of views on any topic we debate. We aren't sitting an exam on this and we don't have a set of right and wrong answers.
Wayne ( as always ) makes some very very valid points about the roles of a club in it's community. I would just hate to see the ambition taken away. When I started playing Carrick were very much a small junior club playing out of the rugby club from memory but a small group of guys like Roger, Beggsy, Bobby Henderson, Robin Stewart and a few others I may have forgotten started to build the club and I don't think it's saying too much that the emergence of Eggy was the catylyst to them getting real Senior ambitions.Those guys matched Eggy's ambitions and that's why he remained a one club player throughout his career. Now they are an established Premier club with vastly improved facilities and an excellent clubhouse. That's what ambition can do.
Remember though that clubs last for 100's of years while many individuals pass through their gates. Some stay a short time and some a longer time and some for life.
Ards have every right to be proud of the part they played in the career of Andrew White as can Millpark take credit for starting the Nelson's and others on long careers. William Porterfield has had a wonderful international and county career but he started out at a junior club Killymallaght before moving on to Donemana as he had ambitions.
The question should a player stay or should he go really depends on what motivates them as individuals. I personally think money plays a very small part if any in the majority of the moves players make. I have spoken to players who have turned down substantial financial incentives to move.
Are there any other topics we could debate ? This one seems to be almost flogged to death.

RE- Wayne

Glad to see you back with your pearls of wisdom

With the amount of clubs Paul's Had, I'd say many have played with him or against him...!

His cricketing ability was never questioned BTW

Re - Nile

Well found mate, How the Cricketing landscape would change(for the better)if we could get the NCU to be as pro-active...

Why dosen't the NCU have a referendum on the subject - maybe then we can put this finally to bed...