Player Movements [1]:  Participation in OC

Over the past six years the numbers taking part in Open Competitions has gone up and down each year without any clear long term trend. The chart below provides the annual breakdown, excluding unregistered players*.

The fluctuations hide a much greater degree of movement in and out of the sport. Since online registration commenced in 2014 there have been 3,121 players who have taken part in OC matches. This excludes the relatively small number of unregistered players. What is worth noting, however, is that out of this figure only 1,183 have participated in all three seasons, just under 38%. What this strongly suggests is that the era [assuming this ever really existed as there are no statistics just impressions] where a large number of the same players turned out season after season is past. Club careers appear to be getting shorter, even for those in the higher divisions of the league.

Other headline items to note from the player registration and match statistics figures are: 

• 30% of the players in 2015 exited the sport in 2016,
• these were replaced by close to an equal number of returning and new players [overall drop off between 2015 and 2016 is 79**]
• it is also worth noting that 292 players who debuted in 2015 did not continue into 2016 and
• a relatively small number [68] played in 2014, missed 2015 and came back in 2016.

The total number of players who have given up the sport since 2014 is 1045 i.e. played in 2014 or 2015 but not in 2016. Further analysis is required to get a better handle on the composition of the fall off - the number of retirees [different age groups], the proportion of youth that have given up and how many have left the sport whose cricketing origin is from outside Ireland [and are likely to have emigrated].  

Looking at the figures from a club perspective. The table below sets out the numbers playing in each season since 2014. All figures relate to the club that the person finished at in a season, including where students play for Trinity in the first half of the season.

No clear conclusions can be drawn from the above figures without further analysis. Clubs will draw their own lessons from the figures but more generally the picture is one of change and renewal [as new players come into the sport], high volatility in player turnover for some clubs, with ten clubs [excluding clubs that either did not take part in Open Competitions in 2014 or ceased to by 2016] gaining or losing more than 20% of their playing strength, and, what might indicate capacity issues, the decline in numbers over the period for the larger and more established clubs.

These are all issues to be considered further in the context of the next phase of Cricket Leinster Strategy 2020. In the next article on participation we will look at the movements between clubs.

* The number of unregistered appearances: in 2014 [23], in 2015 [60] and in 2016 [54].

**  The real number is probably slightly lower taking into account remaining players who did not upload their photo and thus did not complete the registration process.