Forum

Michael
First question.How many games have you seen in both unions over the past 5 years.?Surely the golden oldies as you describe them are also still performing in the NCU.I see Uel Graham scored 98 yesterday,Ryan Eagleson 100,Garfield Harrison,Colin Magowan,Neil Doak have proved that even after years away from the game they can still perform in our top section.I'm not convinced the young talent is about in either union,but would wager that the next new Northener to win a full cap is as likely to come from the NW as the NCU.As I see it the four in contention will be Rankin,Dougherty,Stirling and Hall.I think if you check with the NCU umpires they have the highest regard for there NW counterparts and Ireland's leading umpire Charlie McElwee is from the NW.This paranoia about finishing in August is it better to play vital league games on a Friday of 32 overs where one of the teams fields with 10 men ? However you arrive at it though I think few would argue that in North Down and Brigade we got the deserving champions of 2007.

Very tardy treatment of North Down and their supporters that no presentation was made at Downpatrick when they won the league championship today. Obviously someone decided not to do it because everyone around local cricket should have known that North Down would be champions if they won the game.
Please explain NCU!

Ivan you have to be joking!
Those teams have as many passengers as good golden oldies. Get real the old guys are still around because the standard is so low. As for getting their season finished early it's only the first week in September and the reason why many of the North West matches get finished is because they play in the rain depending on who the umpires SUPPORT!

Brian's comments about NW are so far of the mark they made me laugh.
Limavady,Eglinton,Bready,Strabane,Brigade have grounds and facilities on a par with the majority of NCU clubs. And they aren't postage stamps. Some of Ulster's best players of the past 20 years go by the name of Curry,McBrine,Smyth,Gillespie,Thompson.And the fact we are still playing late into September is nothing to be proud of.Pros gone home,players moving to winter sports or taking end of season holidays make for some strange results.Having watched a lot of Senior games in both unions over the last 5 years the passion and better cricket from a spectator point of view is over the Glenshane,North Down v Waringstown being the exception.

I’m not sure why there seems to be a smug attitude from the North-Westers that their season is now over?
By their own admission the standard is at its lowest ever and they think this will be rectified by 20 over thrashes…
And the standard of pitches is laughable – what they consider to be a good batting wicket wouldn’t be considered playable in the other unions…
Duckworth/Lewis would also be tricky as I’m not sure if all of the clubs have electricity…
And the calculation of NRR would require the use of a computer…
But I suppose it will all be ok if they get to play their ‘pros’ in the Irish Senior Cup, we play all the games on postage stamp grounds with mud-heap pitches and if there is rain then thrash it out in as few overs as possible!!!
But don’t forget, the season is over now in the North-West which is the main thing.

RE Paul and Anon.
As regards "County" would have to agree with Paul. A mixture of overseas players attracted to Eire, some limited local passion for the sport and the essential " big money man" behind the scenes have contributed to their success AND rightful billing as one of the best Irish club sides ever.

Maybe not the best club team of all time but better than anything around for a long time! Probably only Railway to rival them with the Hills and Phoenix just behind. No NCU teams in sight and if Curry and McBrine retire as predicted then the North West teams needn't enter the competition.

Has anyone ever heard such nonsense - North County the best team of all time in the history of Irish cricket!

Cheers Michael - I'll even stand you a pint!
I am serious that views and suggestions on this subject in an aim to improve the workings of youth cricket are genuinely welcome.

OK Neale you win!
I still don't know your views on the rule and your support of your colleague should not have carried the assumption that you supported the rule. We'll have to leave that one out there in cyper space because I'm a little confused.
But don't get your knickers in a twist about youth cricket as it has been around for years and has been full of inconsistencies, bias and poor adminstration. I'm sure its working better these days because there's more youth cricket and that's a challenge in itself. I've always felt the rule of common sense transends all rule books and that's where the suits scored with this ruling. Good luck with you work on the committee but as for sending in rule changes or going to AGMs I'd rather watch Lurgan play Derrriaghy on a wet Saturday afternoon if I want to punish myself.

MICAHEL
You still have neither produced any quote from any source which indicates I was "defending the NCU Rule book".
Now you are asking whether I do or do not support the rule. Can every reader now take it you accept I have never expressed any support for it?

Are you still unable, even in light of your admission that you dont know my views, to accept you were incorrect?

As regards my views on the particular rule, these are well known to members of the NCU Youth Committee. As a member of such, that the appropriate place to express my views. I do feel able to say that I am in favour of a review of the rules in relation to the various youth comopetitions. To that extent, I am sure that informed and helpful views on the subject would be welcome.

I look forward to receiving your considered proposals on the running of the youth competitions and ammendments to any of the laws. You will find this takes rather more time and thought than snide 'digs' based on prejudice and ill-informed assumptions.

Neale, do you support the rule or not?
Simple question.

I would have thought that rearrangements would have been a topic covered by the NCU’s Development Plan, where is that by the way?

MICHAEL
1. You do not know if I support the relevant rule or not (yet this was the very allegation you made!) This is because I have never expressed any view on it. I have said that as a member of the NCU Youth Committee I felt to do so would be inapproriate.
2. I agree that law and sport should not mix. Again you have made a mis-informed assumption that as I am a lawyer I have somehow brought the law into a historical matter. I did not. Indeed it was the other side in the historical matter who ran the argument that the NCU were in breach of European Law! We simply pointed out how the the rules had been breached.
3. As you have failed to point out anywhere that I allegedly supported the rule in question, can I assume you will withdraw this suggestion?
4. Defending a colleague, when unjustly accused is not 'treading a thin line', but rather something I felt moved to do.
5. It seems odd that the Muckamore contributors to the other forum appear to have accepted the 'point of information' as to how the decision was reached - indeed Ivan McCombe specifically asked if the reason for the decision could be explained, yet you have an ongoing problem.

Cheap shots from a distance are easy, apologies take some guts. I wait the withdrawl of your allegation.

Well Neale, I certainly won't be calling you "Your Lordship!'
What I'm now unlcear about is whether you are supporting the rule book or not if you say you are supporting your colleague rather than the actual rule. Thin line don't you think?
The law and the rule book are strange bedfellows and the former has no place in true sport.
The North Down thing was a straightforward club mistake we have all been told and the reason why you didn't support your NCU colleagues who accepted it then was because you are a Waringstoewn man as you clearly state. But that's old hat now and they got what they deserved because they are too full of themselves anyway.
As for Friday night I won't be watching Under 15 cricket as that's my drinking night with the boys when we talk cricket, football and politics, and try to sort out the problems of the world.
Maybe we'll see you in the Planters after the game?