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was in north county attempting to play cricket for niacus in the white stick trophy... (we lost) was just wondering is there a site anywhere with photos of same? by the way still cant walk properly since, maybe be recovered by next year! if selected.

just like to say was sorry to hear saintfield were relegated in such terrible circumstances but they are a well established team and will come back strong. dont know if same would have been said if we had went down as some of our key players may have been tempted to seek a higher level after tasting some success in section 2.

congratulations has to go to big lee connor, joel maguire, rodney hassard and gavin mcnerlin for their gargantuan efforts ably supported by some stalwarts and up and coming players at dundrum.
surely if the flood gods are kind to us next season and practice is better supported we will build on our first tentative steps up the leagues..

Well said Bruce.
Age isn"t a factor,as long as there"s a fire still rageing in the belly and steel in the soul, you have 90% of a successful team. The other 10% is luck and a bit of practice.
Anyway there is no substitute for experience!

taito, ive been away but deliberatly stayed off line & i would never dissrepect my mate richard owens or saintfield as this is not the way we wanted this but such is life & if you want too give the 40£ you owe me too dicky we will find a good charity or APPEALS solicitors funds.tips for today eway winged harriet 210, tifernati 535. yaddree.350.gus macrae 6pm.best outsider fifteen love.& think soldier off fortune win the arc on sunday.

RE Michael Shannon & Ageism

I think Downpatrick were sweating all the way up until the second last week of the season even with Geoffrey's performances with the ball.

Perhaps their talented thirtysomething "youngsters" will show us their true form next year.

Yes Taito I did bite!!

PS It does not matter what age you are as long as you show passion and retain a competitive edge, you can still succeed.

Micheal , you arent wrong jeff has that nack of taking crucial wickets. I wasnt talking about gerriatrics in general. You certiantly still have a lot to offer hollywood yourself.

I hope dickie is just as sporting against us on the hockey pitch tomorrow, and doesnt mind a gentle slagging in the pub tomorrow night.

Firstly on behalf of Holywood and no doubt a lot of other clubs can I thank M.Taylor for the effort he has put into working out run rates for clubs involved in the relegation battle - it was certainly very valuable to us. In no way can he be held responsible for incorrect information given to him prior to the obtaining the scorebooks from both clubs.

Secondly commiserations to Saintfield who I feel have been very unlucky to be relegated - on their day they are by no means one of the worst two sides in the section - had they not let Holywood have a sub fielder in their last match perhaps they would have saved 20 or 30 runs and saved themselves from relegation !

Credit to Dicky Owens for observing the spirit of the game !!

Thirdly Taito - on behalf of the geriatrics can I just say that Downpatrick might have been sweating a little had it not been for Geoffrey Fergusons performances with the ball!

Fourthly Big thank you to Roger and many NCU officials who give up a lot of their spare tome for the love of the game !
Roger -will the league table now be updated according to run rates for the teams that finished equal on 28 pts ?

Can I also add that the NCU PRO - Ryan McMaster is on honeymoon in Mauritius and has been for the last fortnight - shame on him for not updating the website !!

I think Ballymena may just surprize a few teams in the Premier league next year -thay are also play the game how it should be played - hard but fair- good luck to them and Woodvale next
year.

As far as I can see the NCU have not stated publicly that Dundrum had been relegated.

Therefore why all the abuse. As staffy has pointed out these guys are enforcing the rules that are already in place.

These administrators give up a lot of their own free time to help with the running of the game locally, and from what I can see do not make decisions out of malice or with agenda.

I have in the past been critical of the NCU but have learned it's the processes that are the problem and not the current folk enforcing them.

Roger - They are written down for ALL to read presumably even me!(except the unwritten ones of course).
While you say you wish all Captains knew the rules as well as you think I do, I secretly suspect that 'officialdom' would want everyone to accept that THEY know what's best for us and sit and 'take our medicine' with quiet subservience.
I know that the 'Clubs' ARE the Union and have the chance to make proposals to the AGM. So I find it disappointing that so many of the Serials, (eleven and a half! out of the 27 listed - where is the 28th advertised in the headline by the way?) this year are proposed by the Board of Directors or other Officials. Apparently since it doesn't get a mention it's only Staffy and I think Rule 3 as it is being interpreted is a nonsense.
Neither do many Clubs seem to have taken up their option to nominate members of the various Directorates. Is that just apathy on their part or satisfaction with the staus quo?
As is often said in this country "You get the polititians you deserve!"
Can't wait for the end of the season - whenever that will be!!!

I wish some of our captains knew as much about NCU Rules as Alan Bryans appears to, then we would have no problems with Competition Rule 3!

Wayne

Great to see you in better form. Its been a long season with your 30 extra days and your wife slaving over the pasta on a Friday night! I'm sure she was delighted that Stuarty was criticising it without even turning up to eat it!

On a more serious note I'm not sure all this slanging between clubs is a great idea. Everyone needs to calm down and accept that the NCU have simply applied the rules. It is the rules that are a mess. Rather than rush into another AGM with more restructuring we need to address some of the key issues raised this year.

That was the reason I joined the NCU Competitions Directorate and would be still there but for the shabby political maneouvering of a few individuals. But the less said about that the better.

If we don't sort this out now something else will happen next year. As things stand the NCU administrators reputation with the clubs is as warm as Mike Ashley's with the Newcastle United fans.

Alan i see you have your head buried in that rule book again. I assume you dont have much else to be getting on with?

I am pretty sure dundrum will take a fine over staying section 2 for sure.

jeff you are very quiet, maybe hungover after celebrating?

Bruce, you didnt even bite, well done. There has got to be an over 40's league somewhere, you boys would do well there.

RE John

I would like to point out out that Laurelvale won 6 of their 7 matches before the end of August (including a win over Woodvale).

It was in fact other teams who were trying to catch us by playing against understrength teams in September !!

You may not think we are any good but plenty of sides have underestimated the Vale.

If there are any better teams which finished below us surely the cream will rise to the top in future years as they race past us up the leagues !!

NCU Competition Rule 25 - Result Forms states:
'After each fixture...the home team shall enter full details of the match (which shall correspond to those appearing in both scorebooks) ... on the Result Form provided, have the latter signed by both Captains and despatch to the Hon Section Secretary... A club failing to fulfil its obligations under this rule SHALL (my Capitalisation) be fined.'

So if that hasn't happened the LEAST we can expect is that Dundrum will be fined under this rule for their incorrect completion of the 2 result forms referred to by Michael Taylor in his post the accuracy of which was confirmed by Roger Bell.
The worst case? Matches voided under the much quoted Rule 3 - Captains being responsible for knowing and ensuring that they comply fully with all Laws and Bye-laws at all times.
Still keep thinking about Roger Bell including the words "If the rules are applied" in an earlier post. I ask you "Why wouldn't they?"

Guys
Plenty of controversial topics at the minute so let’s keep the postings fair to all concerned.
And remember, you have even less chance of something controversial getting live on the site if you won't put your name to it...
Cheers
Ed

Michael Taylor's account is a very accurate one, and I would like to acknowledge his valuable assistance in this matter.
The NCU's official statement has been issued to the two clubs concerned this morning, and will appear on the NCU website later today.