Forum

Mark,
I would like to know who you are so I know who I am talking with, rather than you being one of these people that hide behind single names.
Anyway, I am sorry that I even bothered with you and I am not going to carry on with the debate.
As you have such great ideas, maybe you should put your name forward for office at the next AGM. I seem to do such a poor job, then maybe you will do wonders.
BTW - you still didnt answer my question about what other ways you propose communication, seriously - please give me a call and we can discuss. Number on the notice board, but here it is 07709 399 334

Tut tut Ryan. Not very good PR. I'm a minnow in the sport but you are an elected officer with a role that involves letting everyone know about things that are happening in the NCU game.
The NCU website is the notice board but if that's your only communication tool then we know where we stand. As for correct information 100% of us want it not 98% and as for communication then perhaps the decision makers should be answering this email not you. And as for my name why is that your business?

Dear Mark,
many thanks for your interest in the NCU and in particular the Junior Cup. We have all be experiencing a heavy workload with the rain etc and trying to get things orgainsed so that the finals can be played and be a special occasion for the teams and the sponsors - this takes a bit of prep work.

I, as NCU PRO, have to wait for the meetings to happen before I can give you and the public information.
I would love to know what you mean by 'be more proactive, communicative and timely’? Do you want me to bombard you with hearsay? Please tell me as I would like to know how I can improve. I would say that 98% of people want the facts, not what I THINK may happen.

I will not even bother wasting my time anymore, as you don’t even bother giving me your full name.
Why have a PRO and not just a notice board? Well who would pin the notice to the board Mark and would you pop in to read it?

Thanks again for your interest, please feel free to check the NCU website for future notice board additions!

Regards,
Ryan

At last some up to date details of the junior and senior cup finals have been posted on the NCU website.(Wed) As usual you come to us in your time rather than be proactive, communicative and timely. Why have a PR officer and not just have a noticeboard?

Can someone from the NCU clear up the Junior Cup final venue confusion?

there's a rumour that the junior cup may be at saintfield.woodvale have been asked to move an away fixture to accommodate.

Re David- Junior Cup Final

As far as I know it is still at Osbourne- the game definitely starts at 11.00am!

Does anybody know what happens if the final is postponed again? Is it rolled back another week/ bowl-out/ share of the trophy?

Cheers

Chris

What time does the Junior Cup Final start at on Saturday and more importantly where is it being played?

Re Martin Donaldson's rant on the other channel.
I'm glad that come September he'll be happy pushing a shopping trolly round Tesco, while in the NCU we will still be enjoying our cricket!

Well done to Andrew White on a century against Canada, hes the Ireland player who has been shuffled about the most in the past 5 years, always doing a good job for the team and here has been given a good chance to bat up the order in a 3 day game and cashed in. Well done Andrew!

Ivan, I'm all for anything that helps and your ideas are positive but someone in both unions need to take the responsibility to tackle the problem or hire a PR company to do it. Right now I'm not sure it is a high priority as so many other things are happening and maybe it suits to have poor crowds in the north as it makes it easier to allocate the best matches to Dublin.

Mark, I hadn't intended that the Ireland players go "begging" people to attend the games. I saw them as ambassadors and hopefully by geting involved at grassroots level the support follows. David Healy and co do it in football and David Humphreys and the boys do it in rugby. How about the likes of Gary Wilson being given a winter contract by CI to go around and tell kids about life as a professional cricketer, hand out a few shirts and do a spot of coaching.
What's happening currently isn't bringing in the crowds so let's try some fresh initatives. I don't think a few more posters or another few ads will do the trick.

Ronnie, when you share points for abandoned or games not played it opens up a can of worms. Much better to give no points as there is an incentive to play.
Teams shouldn't get points unless they earn them on the field. As for players not wanting to watch cricket what is the game coming to? Do they want to go shopping with the wives? You play and watch sport for recreation and relaxation. Get a life guys.

Ronnie - It may have been poorly attended on the Sunday because of the rain or that people couldnt get away from the ball and chain 2 days in a row :-). I was there on Sat and noted good numbers of players / members from Waringstown, Muckamore, Academy, Dunmurry, Derriaghy, CSNI, Laurelvale and Millpark. There were also a few from Carrick, Cooke Collegians, Donacloney, North Down, Lisburn and Drumaness. There will probably have been more clubs represented too with guys I dont know. As for getting games played, I doubt there would have been much played anyway last weekend - Stormont was probably only playable due to it's good drainage and the sterling efforts of their grounds team. Not too many other clubs would have been able to have as many volunteers available mid-week to work as hard as the Stormont guys did to get the event going (including full time staff). I therefore think that the event would have been a complete farce if the clubs mentioned above did not attend due to fixtures being arranged - in my opinion, these weekends need to be blocked out if Belfast is ever going to take over Dublin in terms of crowds.

i was at the 20/20 games at stormont on sunday and although i dont know every member of every club in the ncu, it was clear to me that cancelling the weekends cricket, so this tournament was well supported by club members, was a failure. all it done was add to the backlog of postponed games. the 20/20 seemed to be followed on THAT day by academy, north down and a minority of players from a few clubs. perhaps the reason for this was, that guys who give their weekends up to PLAY cricket, find it difficult to forfiet time with their wives, family, or other commitments to go watch cricket! would it not make more sense to share points on abandonded league games due to bad weather. if i'm in the minority on this then maybe the majority could enlighten me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!