Forum

yes rodney , but i think what myself and paul are trying to say is that we play in section 2 every bit as hard as we would do in section 1 , we know we have to battle hard in that section ,of course everyone would like to be in section 1 ,and as paul said , noone expects to go straight back up without a fight. My views on junior inter pros have absolute no relevance on my views of section 2

Paul

I am only commenting on what I see you / other people post on the forum. My post is in response to that and entirely that. However both yourself and taito and everyone else are entitled to their opinions, thats what the forum is for so i will respect that.

Wylie

Fair play to you for taking the time to post.

I also agree with there being an underage inter pro for example under 23 etc rather than the existing setup.

Seven northern players on the Ireland team today.
We may be off the pace in the ISC but our cricket can't be that bad?
Good luck guys.

Re Paul
Given that the Irish squad was only announced on Monday, not quite sure how a 7 day rule can be imposed in these circumstances?

I've just read that the Dutch Twenty20 Cup winners get 10 000 Euro prizemoney out of a pot twice that size!
And the Irish Senior Cup doesn't have a sponsor - what a joke!

Guys
See the link for the NCU Media Release regarding the postponement of fixtures:
http://www.theulstercricketer.com/news/ncu-respond-to-fixture-debate/135

Wylie thanks for the response, much appreciated. Hopefully a rule can be brought in whereby games have to be postponed 7 days in advance of the fixture, therefore meaning a scheduled league game can go ahead and we are not sitting around on a dry Saturday without any cricket to play. A nice fixture backlog looms!!!!

Thanks for the invite Jeff but I think the postings say it all. Yesterday was the busiest day ever on our forum but to put the issues into perspective sport lost Tommy Burns and Robert Dunlop in tragic circumstances. Two great ambassadors of their sport.
What a sad day.

Thanks Wylie. Now we have the facts and we have them from the right person. Well done as you take the hits so you should take the compliments even although the decision is absurd. I have to say most people are shocked that a club can get their match postponed with one player absent and your precedent will open a huge door for abuse. Shame on Brian Walsh and Instonians for going this route. Very negative approach from someone who has been involved in 'developing' the game. Don't know the Bangor chairman but he must be going down to the marina on Saturday afternoon to watch the wee boats come in! Does anybody want to play cricket out there?

Wylie
I think your response goes a long way to explaining the decision making process and I think this positive use of the forum boards by you is commendable and certainly counters the postings that the Union despise this media.

really cant believe games being put back because off 1 player missing but if CLIFTONVILLE would like too give us a BETTER CHANCE they should call it off as we have 2 missing .cant believe that we have best weather for 10 years & we already have 3 sunday games ,playing sat&sun is ruining peoples lives & i love my SPORT but after playing 35 seasons think it is time we looked to the future as BELIEVE me in less that 20 years their will be very few STALWARTS &a lot less 2nd 3rds 4th teams as life has a lot more too offer than working 5 days &then being asked too give up your sat &sun too play our beloved CRICKET.(editor whats your VIEWS ON games OFF?)ps think CLIFTONVILLE playing us because they no we are RESTING PLAYERS FOR SUNDAYS GAME.lol

does anyone know whether the new bye law that allows a team to postpone their senior cup game if they have someone playing for ireland includes ireland a,ireland u23,ireland u19,ireland u17 or is it just the senior team.

Who are the selectors of the NCU Junior side ?. I would assume they would be attached to Section Two clubs.If they are considered too old or barred because they are Ex Internationals could I suggest that Charlie McCrum and Michael Shannon would know most players at this level inside out.Andy Clement and Reggie Stinson are two other guys who have a good knowledge of players at this level.

Rodney your right with your comment 'Well I say, if you arent good enough to play in section 1 then you should accept the arrangements in section 2 etc.'

However if you think that I/my club don't accept arrangements in Section 2 then your a bit naive - Goodness sake we've been in Section 2 five years now and just get on with playing week in week out and giving our all! Yes our aim every year is to return to Section 1 but we by no means think we have a divine right to get back to Section 1.

I respect your views however should you really be commenting on individual clubs/players who you know very little or anything about?

All

The NCU are preparing a press release on the postponements of the two cup games this weekend that should be out later on this evening.

However I will try to detail the timeline for the match postponements:

The NCU were contacted by Waringstown on Monday evening at about 8.00PM.
I was made aware by Billy Boyd of the existence of a ruling made in 2004 by the NCU Management committee that clubs were allowed to postpone cup matches (but not league fixtures) if they had a player (singular) involved in Irish matches. On Tuesday I received a copy of this and contacted a number of senior NCU officials and discussed this ruling and how it affected Waringstown. We agreed that Waringstown could indeed postpone their fixture because they have three players involved with Ireland. This was conveyed to the Waringstown and Woodvale secretaries by email late on Tuesday evening (around midnight). Part of the reason for this is that I was attending a Northern Ireland Cricket Association meeting at Coleraine RFCC and did not arrive home until 11.30PM.

On Wednesday morning I was contacted by the Instonians Chairman, Brian Walsh, letting me know that they were thinking of requesting postponement of their game against Bangor. We received an official request from him at 5.15PM on Wednesday evening. I then contacted the same NCU officials and it would be fair to say that not all were in favour of allowing the postponement. However a majority thought we had to abide by the previous ruling and I made the decision to allow Instonians to postpone their game. Both Instonians and Bangor were contacted on Wednesday evening at around midnight. I also spoke to the Bangor chairman who thanked me for the call and did not object in any way to the match being postponed.

The NCU plan to look at this ruling in the coming weeks to see if it needs to be changed in any way for next season and will also try to avoid scheduling our cup matches on the same weekends as Irish matches. This is not as easy as it sounds with the number of matches Ireland play in early May.

Forum posters should also be aware that all of us are volunteers with proper paying day jobs and it is not easy for most of us to reply instantly to messages posted on forums during a working day.

Wylie McKinty
Chairman, NCU

PS if Ivan would like to sponsor my phone bill for the last three days I am open to offers!