On Tuesday evening I spent some considerable time in the company of three other grown men in the close confines of our dressing room/committee room at Bagenalstown CC sorting the selection of three teams playing four fixtures this weekend. Regrettably this is not an unusual occurrence; indeed it is how I spend most Tuesday evenings during the summer. It is not right or proper. The only time (and it should be brief!) to be corralled in a dressing room is with the purpose of changing for a match. The only time to be in close quarters with other fully dressed and grown men is in the bar.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the company and the challenge of getting sides together in a fair and equitable manner that allow our teams the best chance of success and all of our members the best chance of doing what they love- playing cricket. It’s a delicate balancing act between the two and not always one we get right. But we work hard at it. Our Fixture Secretary puts in the hard yards in the winter so we have something reasonable and feasible to work with over the summer. Texts, emails, facebook messages, bush telegraph and carrier pigeon are all utilised by our Comms Officer to confirm availability and convince and cajole where necessary. The ECB, BCCI and CI don’t have to put in the hours the humble clubman does to get teams out.
Imagine the frustration engendered then when having toiled through the whole process, as with every club, in an entirely voluntary capacity while keeping the wife and the boss onside the opposition decide that a trip to “the sticks” is not on their agenda for the weekend. Players have found other and possibly better things to do. Watch football, drink beer, go on holidays (yes I’ve heard about them too) and generally get on with life outside of cricket. I sympathise with the captain/secretary/selector of that team who has put in the same effort we have and still has to make the call that he has no team and would we consider refixing? I’m afraid my milk of human kindness long ago went sour.
I’m one of the great many that plans life in the summer around the cricket fixtures. I see the fixtures a lot earlier than in the bad old days when they mightn’t appear until April. Our Fixtures Secretary has a provisional list while the frost is still hard on the ground, while the evenings are still dark at 4pm. And then the logistical planning, the protracted negotiations and the brownie point building begins.
So please, forgive me if I say No- and take the walkover. Yes, I want to play cricket. Yes, I’d love to give you a second opportunity to waste my planning and commitment but I’d rather save that for a team that will travel and give me that game. This is the third time that a side has declined to travel to Bagenalstown this season already. The fourth time a team has failed to travel to County Carlow. It’s not even the middle of June.
My near neighbours and rivals on Carlow CC’s First team are obliged to travel for all 14 fixtures this season as their ground is not deemed suitable for Division 9 games. Their Second team in Division 15 are their opponents are not afforded the same protection but that’s another day’s work. The reality is their club will play 21 away fixtures out of 28 games. At least. And already a club has failed to extend them the courtesy of a return fixture.
What action will be taken? Points docked and awarded. Great. And next time? The same. And next year? Well, you know the answer. To all you clubs based north of Naas, that have this reluctance to travel south- it may be once or twice a season for you. It’s seven times per team per season for us. We don’t always make it. I recall a disaster some years ago when we failed to travel to Malahide. We compensated them for costs incurred. Our fault, we paid the price. Since then we’ve fulfilled fixtures with 8 and 9 players because the integrity of the League demands it. The League also demands literally thousands from each club to participate in the Leinster Leagues each year. What’s the payback if we’re not even guaranteed fixtures? Not to mention the other hot topics of umpires and facilities.