Forum

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!

Andy - NO! - 2 isolated incidents which have been managed by the governing bodies. Most unfair & unnecessary of you to allege such a slur on the NWCU.(and you an 'impartial' umpire?) If you're going to post on the forum, try to make it constructive.
PS - i'm from the NCU and embarrassed by your prejudiced comments!

Re Jonny Walker
Yes I played many many games under the MUCG, from my young days at the lawn to my VCC days, and they were always an enjoyable evenings cricket.
I also had the pleasure of playing alongside the Late Wesley Ferris very often, as a young lad on my debut for W'town seconds, i thought his kit bag was the teams kit (and borrowed his pads), then I captained him when the normal skipper of W'town 3s was absent, and heproposed me as skipper of VCC 2X1 when I moved to the park.
A true gentleman and a great loss to the game.
Anyone who ever enjoyed a game at RAF Aldegrove will surely have very fond memories of the various Mid Ulster Cricket Groups matches.

Ejoyed playing last night against 'The Master Race' (was an INST man myself )in 20/20 game. At one stage i think we were all going to call ours Mums down to help us out because they were being very bad boys beating us by so many runs. First time I have had the privilege to face 'The Curry Man' No Probs

Limavady banned from BKISC - Donemana previously banned from the same cometition - is there a North-West pattern here?

Lots of interest about T20 but who recalls around the 1970s and later the 20 overs and two night 35 over matches arranged by the late Wesley Ferris of the Mid-Ulster Cricket Group. It involved teams from the NCU and the North West and teams from south as well.
Wesley arranged everything and the matches were so enjoyable.

Curry banned and Limavady kicked out of the ISC according to BT and BBC. Now we can get on with the cricket! Difficult to see how and why both would appeal given the offences that Curry admitted. His exceptional cricket career ends with a big blemish but Limavady haven't exactly come out with much credit with their soft internal ban and now an appeal. Stand by your man!