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thefountainsafc_73
Guest
In the north east, every year that goes by, clubs seem to struggle to get teams out. Why is it?
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The usual answers will come up to this question:
Year round football, XBox/Playstation etc.
I actually think the problem is that clubs haven't moved enough to counteract these. In the past kids would have little choice in the summer apart from their local cricket club. Now they have choices clubs need to spend more time making the club attractive to kids. So many places just expect kids to turn up.
Year round football, XBox/Playstation etc.
I actually think the problem is that clubs haven't moved enough to counteract these. In the past kids would have little choice in the summer apart from their local cricket club. Now they have choices clubs need to spend more time making the club attractive to kids. So many places just expect kids to turn up.
It's still not difficult to maintain a thriving junior section if a club is genuinely committed to it. There are still plenty of kids out there who enjoy playing sport and enjoy playing cricket.
The biggest threat to clubs isn't playstation or football, it's short termism from club committees who would rather win a league title than field the full compliment of junior sides.
With the advent of the pyramid system, you're now even seeing some clubs who will pay two, three first team players just to stay up in a league, rather than invest time and money in junior cricket. For me, that's a shocking approach which loses sight of what a cricket club is all about. If you have your house in order from top to bottom and are fielding regular junior sides at all levels, then by all means try to strengthen a first team. However if you haven't got the basics right, paying a few journeymen is only going to delay the inevitable for a few years.
The biggest threat to clubs isn't playstation or football, it's short termism from club committees who would rather win a league title than field the full compliment of junior sides.
With the advent of the pyramid system, you're now even seeing some clubs who will pay two, three first team players just to stay up in a league, rather than invest time and money in junior cricket. For me, that's a shocking approach which loses sight of what a cricket club is all about. If you have your house in order from top to bottom and are fielding regular junior sides at all levels, then by all means try to strengthen a first team. However if you haven't got the basics right, paying a few journeymen is only going to delay the inevitable for a few years.
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The Omega Man
Guest
I've said before that one of the problems is that kids cant play for different teams in different leagues. Clubs are way too protective of "their" players. Not only that but and ironically some of the parents complain that, at these clubs where they are keen to keep "their" players, the more talented kids sometimes dont get many games in a season.
Simple solution is to let kids play in 2 leagues for different teams with the parent club having the final say.
Ludicrous that some canny young talent end up playing say 16 games a season when they could play say 25 to 30 matches and keep other clubs junior teams alive eg Tantobie/Kimblesworth etc.
Simple solution is to let kids play in 2 leagues for different teams with the parent club having the final say.
Ludicrous that some canny young talent end up playing say 16 games a season when they could play say 25 to 30 matches and keep other clubs junior teams alive eg Tantobie/Kimblesworth etc.
I don't think it is dying. Many clubs just have cycles of having part and full junior set-ups. e.g. from afar the likes of Annfield Plain and Bill Quay seem to be stronger than ever.
As I've rattled on about previously I think cricket being taken off TV has had a massive bearing on attracting kids to the sport and you'll never see it played on the streets again because of it. If a club runs coaching and goes into schools lads will still come and get sucked in by the game though. I just think clubs have to find the kids rather than the other way around nowadays.
As I've rattled on about previously I think cricket being taken off TV has had a massive bearing on attracting kids to the sport and you'll never see it played on the streets again because of it. If a club runs coaching and goes into schools lads will still come and get sucked in by the game though. I just think clubs have to find the kids rather than the other way around nowadays.
Greavsie
Striker
You mentioning lack of free to air cricket is getting like Boycott mentioning a stick of rhubarb or his mum's pinny.......Bingo!!!!!
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The Omega Man
Guest
Other reasons of course include:
1. Parents and kids being frightened to move clubs. How many times have we seen lads who might not be the most talented not get a bat or a bowl and stand and field all day and all night, yet they would have the talent to go to another club and get a bat and a bowl.
2. Clubs that horde players. You end up with lads who for example dont want to play first team cricket for say an NEPL team and stays in that second team all his life, clogging up the system for a talented youngster coming through. Such lads should be quietly told that its time for them to branch out and play first team cricket for say a non NEPL team or simply dropped for a talented kid coming through who needs a chance of second team cricket.
3. Clubs who almost point blank refuse to play kids above their age group. They hang around the U13s for example and are desperate to play more cricket at a higher level to be challenged but dont get the opportunity to.
How can it be right, and I'm not blaming the club here, I'm blaming the system, for say Hetton Lyons to have 85 kids turn up for junior training yet Tantobie are allowed to fold their junior section? Surely and getting back to my first point there should be a loan system or similar to help smaller clubs with not many kids to put an SOS out and for that SOS to be answered by the bigger clubs.
In the end the whole system suffers.
1. Parents and kids being frightened to move clubs. How many times have we seen lads who might not be the most talented not get a bat or a bowl and stand and field all day and all night, yet they would have the talent to go to another club and get a bat and a bowl.
2. Clubs that horde players. You end up with lads who for example dont want to play first team cricket for say an NEPL team and stays in that second team all his life, clogging up the system for a talented youngster coming through. Such lads should be quietly told that its time for them to branch out and play first team cricket for say a non NEPL team or simply dropped for a talented kid coming through who needs a chance of second team cricket.
3. Clubs who almost point blank refuse to play kids above their age group. They hang around the U13s for example and are desperate to play more cricket at a higher level to be challenged but dont get the opportunity to.
How can it be right, and I'm not blaming the club here, I'm blaming the system, for say Hetton Lyons to have 85 kids turn up for junior training yet Tantobie are allowed to fold their junior section? Surely and getting back to my first point there should be a loan system or similar to help smaller clubs with not many kids to put an SOS out and for that SOS to be answered by the bigger clubs.
In the end the whole system suffers.
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ollie c
Guest
Some excellent points there, mate. Another issue (which sometimes has the opposite effect to your point 2) is that there is a "ceiling" which is based on the club paying for players....the young lads, however good, are never going to unseat the lads the club are actually paying.
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The Omega Man
Guest
Aye some clubs either have too much money or an ego about making sure they stay at the top, then moan on when their more talented players fuckoff elsewhere. Whats that all about?
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ollie c
Guest
Correct!
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The Omega Man
Guest
I might as well say this again but my lads move to APCC was undoubtedly a good one for him. 11 years old playing for the academy, and last season 12 years old playing in every academy game and every under 15 game...and ending up at the ECB. Now people might say that its simply ridiculous for that to happen but when you then consider that its the likes of Neil Killeen, Phil Shield and Andy Donnelly calling the shots then clearly these lads know what they are doing.
I guess the addage is that if they are good enough then they are old enough.
Skandhaless
Striker
You were always going to it was just deciding how long a wait was decent
I think your points about moving are decent. My own moved for both reasons
A for better standard originally
B . When they found they were blocked off at that standard .
I think some degree of caution needs to exercised however or we lose the nature of club cricket and stickability and end up producing arrogant time servers . Kids that have too many clubs too young are usually the product of parental ambission who learn to take little satisfaction from the game for its own sake.
Cain000
Central Defender
Speaking from the perspective of my club;
1. No-one would ever try to intimidate parents into stopping their kids moving away. If kids think that they could have a better chance somewhere else, then good luck to them. Most kids/families love it here though.
2. I do not agree with this. Everyone should be selected on merit. There are a lot of really good 2XIers who score runs/take wickets week in week out. They have been dedicated to the club for years and spend a fortune behind the bar and are a massive part of our community. However, if a kid is good enough and does well on a regular basis, he will definitely be in the team on merit.
3. I can't comment on this because we simply don't do this. Again, if the kid is good enough, he will be in the 1XI at 15 years old.
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The Omega Man
Guest
1. I wasnt talking about anyone being intimidated. I was talking about a fear factor from parents and kids about leaving their club ie a bit like getting divorced - fear of the unknown.
2. Some kids cant get into the senior structure as others clog up the system. I get what youre saying though.
3. Doesnt happen at very many clubs I would wager, particularly the Durham ones/NEPL ones, unless your face fits. Far more prevalent would be my guess in the NTSCL.
The Voice Of Reason
Heaven Branch
Junior cricket is expanding and moving forward this season at Littletown CC
Check out our website
Check out our website
For all of the fantastic work Gregg and co have done in getting LCC up and running, nothing they've done is as important as the work that's now going into the new junior section there. It's great to hear. Getting a junior section started from scratch is incredibly difficult at the start; but done right, it'll guarantee the clubs future.
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Deleted member 35923
Guest
never mind Tantobie, there was a club no more than a couple of miles away who had terrible junior participation for a number of years from the mid 00s. And it is still a struggle getting bodies in even now they've started up again despite it being better organised than in recent years.
Greavsie
Striker
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