STAFFORDSHIRE ASSOCIATION OF CRICKET OFFICIALS
Chairman’s Report
Annual General Meeting 2017
It gives me great pleasure to welcome members and guests to the 2017 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Staffordshire Association of Cricket Officials (SACO) at Stone Cricket Club and thank Stone CC for their hospitality.
This will be my last report to the AGM as I am standing down as Chairman after five years in post for various reasons. I have been a great advocate all of my working life that five years is about the optimium time in a leadership role before the organisation needs new impetus and drive, so that periodhas now arrived. Also some of you may be aware that I have had two serious accidents in June and late September this year involving multiple fractures and the latest one has resulted in spinal injuries from which I am hoping to attain a level of recovery enough to allow me to continue on-field umpiring, but as yet that is not certain. This year has taught Barbara and I a salutory lesson onlife it is time to “start to knock off the personal bucket list”. I will continue to support any part of the England and Wales Cricket Board – Association of Cricket Officials, (ECB ACO) that requires any assitance if asked.
It is not my intention to duplicate the contents of the reports to be delivered to you by the Officers of the Committee, but to just summarise from a strategic and Chairman’s perspective the key achievements of 2017 and to give you a briefing on the changes to recreational cricket and those which are going to impact on the Membership.
- The West Midlands Region and Staffordshire Association of Cricket Officials
First and foremost once again my thanks to all of the Committee for their hardwork and commitment over the last year, which has been entirely voluntary in dealing with and moving this Association forward at National, Regional and Local levelsas well as delivering the key targets in our Business Plan. Thanks are extended to all of those Committee members during my time as Chairman.The role of the Chairman is not only to oversee the business activities in the County but to also contribute and influence the bigger agenda in cricket and the past year as well as the foreseeable future will require that to continue.
This year we have welcomed onto the SACO Committee a new Vice-Chairman in Paul Boden who has contributed to moving forward the Business of the Association, but as importantly provides a communication element with colleagues in the south of the County, as has John Williams for the east of the County. John Reed has undertaken his first year’s role as County Appointments Officer (CAO) with success and we shall be progressing the use of Whose the Umpire (WtU) in 2018 for more of our Local Appointments. The impending move to New Zealand of Ted Till has been deferred for an indeterminate period of time and we are grateful that Ted was able to fill the vacant role of County Education Officer (CAO)at a time when immense change is being effected with the ECB ACO. The number of candidates progressing through the UL1, UL1A and UL2 process this year has been extraordinary and this has kept Colin Pearson the County Peformance and Development Officer (CPDO) busy with the new Observation Process (formerly On-field and Boundary Assessment) to ensure candidates met the standard required prior to this autumn’s Personal Development Assessments.
Sadly, Thelma Eden our Scorers Officer moved to North Wales in July and we wish Thelma and her family every health and happiness in their new home and thank her for her contribution to keeping our valuable team of Scorers briefed and fully involved in the SACO business. At the time of preparing this report we have no nomination for a replacement.
We are fortunate that our small group of Tutors in Staffordshire continue to deliver high quality and vitaleducational input to new members and existing ones through Trevor Cotton, Cliff Jones, Keith Healey, Derek Bloor and Ian Matthews. Their role as we approach the training of the new MCC Laws revision including the On-Field Discipline Procedures will be absolutely critical to communicating these changes and teaching skills to ensure competence and knowedge amongst our Officials, ofUmpires and Scorers from 2018. There is no doubt that they will be an equally pivitol role in educating Leagues, Clubs, Captasns and Players in these changes. Please give them every encouragement and support in what is undoubtedly going to be a very busy winter and spring 2017-18.
It would be totally remiss not to mention two Officers whose work often goes unrecognised but are absolutely crucial to the running of our organistaion in ensuring we have sound administartive and financial procedures, Paul Hector and Malcolm Edge whose efforts ensure we runefficiently to undertake all of the work required.
This year has seen a formal reorganisation of the ECB ACO into seven regional structures aligned to the ECB structure, hence we now have an ECB ACO West Midlands Region. The County Chairman were engaged in the autumn last year in identifying the best possible and most suitable Regional Officials and I am delighted to report thatwe have very capable Regional Officials who have my total support and confidence and have already demonstrated a professional and forward thinking approach with openess and integrity under the capable leadership of David Bird (Chairman), David Gower (RPDO), David Johnson (REO), Chris Bryant (RAO), Heather Vernon (RSO) Inger Bevers (YOP Coordinator) with Alan Crook (Secretary) and Rod Lane (Technical Support for WtU). Richard Cox is ECB Regional Participation and Growth Manager.
This ECB ACO Regional Structure facilitates the explanation and implementation of National Policy and Procedures through Regional Officials who have influence on National Committees but the County Chairman from Shropshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcesrtershire have a major input into Regional and County matters and I hope that the open and trusting dialogue built up over the last year will continue long after my period as your Chairman.
- Business Plan 2016-17 and Staffordshire County Cricket Ltd.
We have continued to make significant improvements in progressing Officials competence and performance mainly through the Observation and Assessment process,as well ascontinuing the Mentor and Mentee Process where this has been of benefit to colleagues. We have had nine UL2 candidates and a good number of UL1A candiates who have been successful in qualification this year and over 20 who have qualified in the UL1 category. In the UL1A and UL2 category the new Observation proceedure has resulted in large numbers of Observations by collegaues “in-development” who will either progress to a formal Accreditation or continue their programme until Accreditation is reached. Colin Pearson leads and coordinates this part of our Association work and the enthusiasm, time and organisation, thatColin puts into this role is enormouswhich has increased by dealing with our Membership issueswith real meaningful improvementandresults.
In partnership withJames Menzies and his team at the Cricket Cave, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, 43 Umpires went through the “Pitch Vision” LBW Training-Phase 1 in September. Without exception I have received numerous emails and telephone calls from attendeesindicating what a valuable learning experience this has been and wanting Phase 2 as soon as possible. For those who are unaware of what “Pitch Vision” entails it is the most up-to-date and sophisticated software provision in the UK similar to the “Ball Tracking” that is used in International Cricket for LBW reviews but much more accurate and entails facilities that takes account of pace, bounce, leg spin and off spin. It also records perfomance. At this point my thanks go to Jason Britton who providedthe specific funding for this training initiative separately to the agreed budget. It is hoped funding in 2017-18 will allow the Phase 2 to proceed but this is matter for the new Committee after the AGM aligned to the continued support of Staffordshire Cricket Ltd.
Prudent Finanacial Management by Malcolm Edge our Treasurer, and with the support of Staffordshire Cricket Ltd, has allowed us to place this Association on a sound footing for what is going to be a difficult financia future. Malcolm continues to manage with efficent success the payment of expenses for Staffordshire Cricket Ltd, Staffordshire County Cricket Club and Denstone College fixtures.
There is one more year of the ECB current funding process before introduction in 2019 when all of the funding for Staffordhire cricket will come directly from the ECB to County. SACO will need to be ready for this challenge with a fully detailed Busienss Plan and costings if it is to continue to achieve its objectives through the new funding method.
Once again all of the Business Plan Objectives for 2017-18 are either complete or well onto the road of completion for which funding and resources exist, therefore the ethos of “judgement of success by outcomes” remains our principal aim and encompasses all of our work.
I rightly acknowlege the support that we receive from our senior partner, Staffordshire County Cricket Ltd, through Jason Britton,all of the Directors and Staff, in what is a strong and valued partnership. We continue to support the The Cricket Forum with Business Planning Techniques along with the Board on Officials issues where required.
- Recreational Cricket Reform and Reorganisation
2018 will be another challenging year as Recreational Cricket continues to undergo reform at a fast pace where the measurement of objectives through audited outcomes continues to be the catalyst for the release of funding throughout various cricket administration bodies therefore we must continue to strive within the current economic climate to do more with the same or at least the same with less.
I have had the opportunity on a couple of occasions to engage in direct conversations with Matt Dwyer, National Director of Participation and Growth, within his Directoratethe ECB ACO resides. Matt’s strategy for growth is fundamental to the future of our great game and without it and competing with other sports there is no doubt cricket would have disappeared from the traditional sport profile within 20 years. His vision and strategy is exceptional and the introduction of ‘All Stars” cricket for the younger generation has been a national outstanding success mirrored by the take up in Staffordshire. Without this investment and the changes at the First-Class arrangements from 2020 and the new media contracts means cricket at last is on a sound footing. Greater participation brings its challengers for Officials as we must be prepared to respond to new requests for involvement and that means sometimes without expense payments.
The changes recommended for different formats and durations of cricket in Staffordshire is not an issue for Officials, but appears to be currently resisted in the north part of the county. I hope that change for the future and will be embraced and we can only encourage or influencethis move.
The introduction of e-learning packages has commenced and the up take is very strong. However whilst this is a postive move thatallows people to use learning opportunities in chosen environments it will never replace the practical application of Officiating whether Umpiring or Scoring that is imparted by our team of experienced tutors.
Increasing the membership is an annual core activity and this year the figures indicate a growth of 17, although sadly we have lost a few memberts for various reasons. With the introduction of the new Discipline Regulations requiring the intervention and agreement of both umpires, the longer term concern regarding any umpire taking the field of play not being a member of the ECB ACO for this and other comprehensive insurance reasons in the north of the County remains a concern.This is now considered by the whole of the SACO Committee an untenable situation and is in the process of being adressed to influence a change in policy. Also the inconsistency in this season’s Discipline Awards following various hearings for a combination of Players, Captains and Clubshas led to avariance in punishments recommended for varous Levels of Offence thisremains a matter for concern. However, the SACO Discipline Coordinator is currently liaising with some Leagues to improve the procedure and understanding of this matter from a SACO perspective before the new Laws are introduced.It is not in the gift of SACO to dictate the outcome of this subject but helpful advice may provide a more conistent approach to these difficult issues in the future.
- Future of SACO
I have rightly had no involvement or influence of who replaces me as Chairman of SACO. This is a matter entirely for the Membership in a democratic organisation who will individually decide who is best poisitioned to take the organisation forward following the AGM, as is the case for all of the Committee Members. The Membership will judge my performance as Chairman, when I have stepped down as to whether the organisation is in a better position or not, since my tenure commenced in 2012, so in the meantime, thank you all for your confidence and supportover the last five years and I wish the new Chairman, Committee, Members and Partner Organisations every success as I return to “the ranks”.
GJ Maltby
Chairman
Staffordshire Association of Cricket Officials
1