Forum

Ivan...

I accept all that - but the arguement isn't about the quality of the Cricket

Has the NCU ever stopped to ask themselves if all these committee's have made things worse...?

Where have all the players gone...

Young guys had girlfriends waiting 23/30 tears ago as well you know...!

Simon, I'm not aiming to be controversial, just asking people to stop thinking with their "in our day" head on and find how to adapt to the change. Years ago when Dermott Monteith played for Middlesex it was an "event". Now lots of counties have Irish players regularily playing and starring . We have an Irishman making noises about captaining England.
We have a professional Ireland set up on and off the field. We have more kids at practice, we have development officers, we have qualified club coaches. All positive moves.
When I started playing for Muckamore in 70's a good score was 150 plus, now it's 250 and moving towards 300.
Overseas players with Irish passports , a hundred and odd day qualifying period, reasons other than cricket etc is straightforward enough.
I don't think it's the problem it's being made out to be. I think the Waringstown team apart from Pinnear are all from the local area. North Down are the same.
Maybe it's time we encouraged our young players to spend a winter in Australia or S Africa playing club cricket.
Cricket is getting more and more coverage in the media and online and the NCU have hard working committees that INVITE and ENCOURAGE feedback from clubs on how the game should be developed. Let's remain supportive, nobody get's it right all of the time.

8 team leagues
Is there any plans from the NCU to consult on the restructing of 8 team leagues prior to the agm ? I feel that alot of the Junior league restructing plans went through because club reps knew what they were voting for and where able to vote knowing the full facts.

Will the new structure be 8,8,8,8,5 or 8,8,10,11, 8,8,8 13. I just feel that it would be good for teams to know where the need to finish and what the plans are for the AGM as ultimatley teams will not vote to relegate themselves if they can avoid it.

Re Ivan

Yes Ryan is a fine example of true Loyalty - If I remember correctly when Carrick missed out on promotion for a couple of seasons in a row - I'm not sure that fitted in with Hendrick's? plans...but he stayed and fought for the shirt...

Didn't impede his Ireland career to my Knowledge though - and lets face it why should it have...?

As I said Ivan, I do disagree with a lot of your's and the NCU's Diagnosis...

I do however believe that duration - start times etc etc are having a negative impact and I applaud the way that has now been addressed - but I maintain the single most destructive element in the demise of the game is MONEY...

Money is the devicive common denominator - it Pee's off the old guard and frustrates the new...

As a young aspirational cricketer, why would you stay at a club that buys a team year after year...?

Equally, as an older alicadoo - why would you hand over your hard earned cash to facilitate these people...?

The NCU needs to exercise strong leadership and come up with a plan to keep what now seems to be the boundless amounts of cash in the local game, instead of facilitating it's leaking to oversea's mercenaries...

I also disagree with the "instant" society comment - Cricket in Ireland should now introduce it's "Correction" just like in all other walks of life.

Change the rules to either ban all overseas players or at the very least limit it to one - and none at all below the Premier League...
Cut out the British/irish passport crap as well or "Here for non Cricketing Reasons" rubbish

I'll tell you now - if we had eleven local players playing eleven local players the game here would be in better shape...!

Remember we are not the IPL, never where and never will be...!

Don't get carried away with irrational hysteria...

Was down at Waringstown yesterday to watch a superb game of cricket between two excellent sides, 3 centuries, 2 from local players and the other from an excellent young professional who has a bright future back home, and hopefully internationally.

In contrast makes you wonder what the clubs who fill their top order with foreign mercenaries hope to achieve long term doesnt it? Something has to be done to stop this worrying trend.

Read a nice article about Ian Kerr of Cregagh Cricket Club.

Was amazed to read that at only 21 years old he has been playing since the 60's.

Great man & great family.

Well done Ian.

P.S Only one problem he supports the Glens. LOL.

Simon.

I think the years you play are "the best years", should they have been 20,30,40 or 50 years ago. I spend hours in the company of people I have played with and against. I listen to John McCormick and Benny Craig talking about the fun and friends they made going back into the 50's. We as a club have been very lucky that people like these two, Harry McFadden, Geoffery Wallace, Billy Boyd played into their late 50's. I have played this season and if I can get on a serious weight loss plan I would go back to playing again every week. Watching is no substitute for playing and golf can't be a substitute for any team player.
However Simon I think the changes that we need with starting times and finishing times etc aren't about us ( that's you and me ), it's about the players coming into the game or MORE IMPORTANTLY those turning their back on the game.
Would I rather go back to finishing at 8pm, drinking with the opposition for a few hours ,getting back to the club for last orders, talk nonsense and then head into Antrim for a Chinese ,get home at 1am and tell the wife the game went on longer than I thought. YES.

However those days aren't going to happen anymore. We have to make decisions based on the society we live in now.
And today's society doesn't have that loyalty. We live in an "instant" world and that includes "instant" success.
We got beat today by a Carrick team where two New Zealand born Irish passport holders both scored 100's against us. No complaints at all and well done to Roger Bell for unearthing two such talented cricketers. That's the way that cricket in the Premier League is going. I heard that Lisburn included county player Sean Irvine today.Again no complaints.
If you want to be in that league then it's a semi pro league and that's the way it is.
But cricket is a sport that can be played at many levels. At Muckamore we have two guys Dominic Rowan and Tom Kennedy who have given over 25 years each service to our 3rds and I know they have loved the competition, the banter during and after the games as much as anyone who has played Senior cricket.
Cricket has to change with the world we live in. I don't think we will have many volunteer administrators in ten years time. We will have paid secretary's , paid groundsmen and members will "rock up" to practice and play.
Let's just get more people involved. In Northern Ireland we have less than 2,500 playing every Saturday. We probably have less than that watching a game of cricket every Saturday.

And on the subject of playing on can I just say to Ryan Eagleson. Keep taking the painkillers, the hot baths or whatever for another 10 years. Nothing beats playing and when you can't bowl of that run up , bowl of a few paces and keep on batting. Eagy was truly brilliant today with an excellent 5 for , a catch and diving stops in the field. And most of that effort today came because HIS club needed it, so at times loyalty gets it's rewards.

RE - Ivan - Fair point...

There seems to be no loyalty these days and to be honest the blame should be placed squarely on the NCU's shoulders...

There are too many examples of mediorce Numpty's with smoke blown up they're rear ends who find themselves languishing on lower teams than promised - usually with a bunch of strangers they have no affinity with...
or never will have for that matter...!
Not to mention the severed links and the bitter taste they leave behind...

What happens next...?
They try somewhere else next season and the next and so on and so forth

I'm sure everyone reading this can think of numerous such numpty's...?

In all but a few cases, it always ends in tears...

Simon Corlett made good point a while back when he said, that the friends he's made and still has are far more important than long forgotten achievements on a cricket pitch...

The whole scenario of very mediocre players "flitting" from club to club is destroying the game...

I totally respect what you and others are trying to do - and I know someone has to do something - my problem is I completely disagree with a lot of it...

Please forgive me for throwing buns from the cheap seats, but I deal in facts and the fact are as clear today as they were 20 years ago...

We need to accept who and what we are, before we can get back to "the good old days"

Ivan - please forgive my anonymity, I've played against you many times - Can you honestly tell me it is better now than it was 20-30 years ago...?

Cricket in this "Wee" country is small potatoes - it always has been and always will be and for that reason, those of us who love it and play it need to protect it and that means the "grass roots"

I've played this game for 30 years now... Yesterday I sat in a changing room and to my left was my mate who's been there for the last 30 years as well. To my right was another guy who's been there longer than that...opposite was the same etc etc...
I'd break my back for those guys and they for me...you can't or never will "Buy" that...!

All you greedy or stupid "Numpty's" out there...

Ask yourself "Who'd break their back for you"...?

STICK TO YOUR CLUB PLAY HARD FOR THE SHIRT - RESPECT YOUR TEAM MATES AND OPPOSITION....SIMPLE...!

Ref dk

You can have all the big picture thinking you want and I think a lot of us have but without passion for the shirt and your own club as well why bother.
It's nice to sit and watch a good game of cricket between two teams you have no allegiance with but when you watch your own club you will every ball to the boundary, you hope that the next ball your team bowl is going to be a jaffa.
Get yourself a club first. Then start looking at the bigger picture.

I see parochialism is still alive and well in Ulster cricket! - and there was me thinking the big picture & moving the game forward was key - not the inward prehistoric thinking of the past..............

R.E "Best pro"

Huge shout has to go to Yashpal Sharma who played for Armagh in the 1980s, not too many local pros have ever been top scorer in a world cup semi-final!

Ref Andy K.

I think when Andy reads this nonsense he just thinks "Duffy's didn't get all the clowns ".

Chipper - times change - I remember the Graham Cup final in 1975ish where Downpatrick beat the Master Race putting them all out for less than 20.

Dr Ritchie told the coach Eddie Malone to get the team to ease up on the master race ;) - he refused

ref Andy K and DK,
Andy, what you wrote was "is there a North-West pattern here?" You are covering yourself by asking it as a question. Most forumites know that! DK is right, you embarrass a lot of people by saying this. Some of us have good friends playing cricket in NWCU. So instead of hiding behind a question, make the statement or shut up.

DK - I am entitled to express my views on any cricket subject, within the guidelines laid down, on this forum and I trust that you will respect my right to do so as I respect your right to be "embarrased" - otherwise you would favour censorship. My impartiality as an umpire is a completely separate matter and I hope to continue to do my best to "facilitate" games in a like manner in the future. You either deliberately or otherwise miss the point that I was making. Please read what I wrote, not what you think I wrote!