THE SHEPHERD NEAME ESSEX LEAGUE 2004 AGM
DRAFT MINUTES FOR APPROVAL AT THE 2005 AGM
Meeting held at the County Ground Chelmsford on Wednesday 17th November 2004
The meeting started at 7.30pm and ended at 9.40pm
1 ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
In Attendance: M.Barnes (Hon.Chairman)
C.Greenhill (Hon.Secretary)
M.Vandome (Hon Treasurer & Results Secretary)
D.Evans
T.Kilby (Umpires Representative)
R.Mason
A.Sanderson
A.Pearson
G.Sandy
G.Salmon
T Wade
F Lockhart
Representatives of 38 member clubs
Apologies: M Jones (Hon Fixtures Secretary)
C Speller
Not represented: Horndon on the Hill, Ilford
2 MINUTES OF 2003 AGM AND MATTERS ARISING
The minutes were approved. There were no matters arising.
3 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Mike Barnes (Old Parkonians)
The 2004 season was successfully completed without too much interference from the weather, which meant, generally speaking, that the most consistent teams in all divisions were successful. Saffron Walden once again finished as champions of the Premier League and I would like to congratulate them and all sides who gained promotion to a higher division. Also congratulations to Woodford Wells on their victory in the League Cup Competition.
Your committee is aware of the need to constantly seek avenues in which to develop and enhance club cricket in the county, and welcomes the thoughts and views from member clubs on how this might be achieved. At the same time, it is recognised that the majority wishes of member clubs on how the game should be played in Essex are paramount. You will be asked later in the meeting to vote on some proposals that have been under consideration, and whether or not these receive your approval, the Committee is committed to serve the best interests of the league at all times.
On 20th October I attended a meeting of Chairman of all ECB Premier Leagues where it was interesting to compare the different formats that the various leagues have adopted, and also to learn about the differing views from around the country. At the meeting, there was some pressure from a small majority of leagues to move towards limited over cricket, and the ECB were asked to consider whether accreditation requirements might be reviewed. There was also interest in the format adopted in the Southern League for a mixed season of limited over cricket in early and late season, and 120 over timed cricket during mid season. I have some copies of Premier League Captain’s comments available if these are of interest. The ECB’s official position on funding is that there will be no additional sums available for 2005 with the possibility that even the level of funding for 2004 may not be possible.
Discipline on and off the field of play showed little sign of improvement, with dissent and criticism of umpires, abusive language and behaviour towards opponents, being the main areas of concern. However, there was some evidence that individual clubs are acting to improve standards of behaviour and sportsmanship, and this is to be applauded. That small minority of individuals who misbehave would do well to remember that we all get involved in cricket for the love of the game, for the enjoyment of competing and to enjoy the team spirit and friendship that accompany those activities. There is no room for loutish bad behaviour in the game, and we should all be committed to eliminating this.
As I reported at the October Management Meeting, I am delighted that Shepherd Neame have agreed to extend their sponsorship to the end of 2006.
May I thank the Committee members for their unstinting hard work and encouragement that they have given so freely during the year, but finally I would like to thank all member clubs for the support and friendship they have given to me. It has made my task so much easier and it has been a privilege to sit in this chair.
Please accept my best wishes for Christmas and I wish you all a very happy and enjoyable cricketing new year.
4 REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2004
Michael Vandome (Chelmsford)
Overall income was much in line with that for the previous year, a £500 increase in contributions from the sponsors in respect of the Old Parkonians who moved over to Shepherd Neame enabled us to partly compensate for the reduction of the ECB grant by £1,000. As you will see from the expenditure there were a number of increases, the major ones related to umpire charges with their increased costs that came through during the summer of 2004 and I have also made provision in the accounts for the costs of printing the two years statistics for 2002 and 2003 which I believe are almost ready to go to the printers. We had the advantage during 2004 of using some competitively priced balls and I would expect the overall costs to rise to some extent in 2005. I had in fact prepared a budget for that year which indicates the costs are going to be in the region of £53,000, that is very similar to last year. I have reviewed subscriptions and other income and I consider that it will be necessary to raise subscriptions to some extent and I am proposing that teams with up to three sides pay £550 subscription with Premier League sides paying an extra £300 and that for additional sides in the lower divisions, a further £175 per Club is proposed. This should raise subscriptions to £31,300 in total and this with the ball contribution of £100 per team with an extra £100 for the Premier League sides which is the same level as last season, we should be near to breakeven next year.
Questions were raised from the floor. It was indicated that notes on the accounts giving explanations of variances would help understanding. The printing costs allowing for the extra statistics booklet seemed excessive and the committee were asked to review these costs. The amount of building society interest was very small. Michael Vandome explained that trust accounts pay hardly any interest. The committee were asked to review any means of obtaining a higher form of interest.
FINANCIAL PROPOSAL FROM THE TREASURER
The Executive Committee propose;
Subscriptions should be increased as follows;
Basic subscription to be increased from £475 to £550
Additional subscription for Premier 1st XIs to be increased from £225 to £300
Clubs with 4th 5th and 6th XI’s continue to pay an additional £175 per 4th 5th and 6th team.
22 clubs were in favour, 7 against, 7 abstained. Therefore the proposal was carried.
The accounts were adopted.
5 REPORTS
a) SECRETARY
Cliff Greenhill (Loughton)
I would like to thank Rob Hayne now Essex Cricket Development Manager for making the County Ground available and ensuring that we have enough space for our AGM. Rob is working tremendously hard to support recreational cricket in Essex and yet still finds time to turn out himself, albeit in the lower echelons of the League. We will be involving Rob on our committee to improve liaison between the League and the County.
We are grateful to the Development Department for the help they give clubs in many ways including improving facilities and pitches, training coaches, obtaining grant aid and supporting youth cricket.
There have been 11 Executive Committee Meetings this year and the Executive Committee take their responsibilities very seriously. Two Management Meetings were held.
This season we welcomed 102 overseas players representing 37 clubs. Under ECB regulations clubs must register as overseas exempt any players who are not qualified to play for England. 36 of the 102 overseas players were overseas exempt. We are awaiting guidance from the ECB on possible changes to the overseas regulations. There were 8 player transfers.
We will be forming a sub-committee to review all our Rules and Playing Conditions. There are a number of inconsistencies in the handbook. Any recommendations will hopefully be incorporated in time for the 2005 season.
We are still being asked by the County Board to reconsider expansion of the League and will look at this again in the forthcoming year.
Our thanks are due to the County Club, Woodford Wells, Chelmsford and Loughton for allowing us to use their premises to hold our meetings.
Thanks also to our umpires who provide excellent coverage. It is disappointing to note yet again that about one quarter of our clubs do not provide a scorer at first team level.
The umpires reports on clubs facilities, discipline and hospitality have been distributed. They are most useful and there are Morrant awards for the teams who top the Discipline and Hospitality charts. These were Discipline: Westcliff on Sea, Hospitality: Shenfield.
My understanding is that at least four Premier clubs wish to retain the all day 120 over format so there cannot be a two-thirds majority required for change.
One of the other proposals this year is brought about by a decline in the standard and some suggest the “honesty” of umpiring at lower XIs. I did a brief review of the 4th XI Premier results to compare the number of LBW decisions given compared to Premier 1st XI where there are panel umpires. The 4th XI Premier champions only gave 1 LBW decision against their own batsmen all season. Some other clubs only gave 2 or 3 decisions. On the other hand Wanstead gave 18 of their own batsmen out LBW. Most Premier 1st XIs lost over 20 wickets to LBW decisions. It is imperative if we are to enjoy our cricket at lower levels without independent umpires that whoever umpires understands the Laws and applies them fairly. We may introduce some additional categories on the back of the result sheet to enable clubs to comment on hospitality, discipline and the quality of “club” umpires.
Thanks to John Clark who “rescued” the handbook after Andy Jenner had to stand down. There will again be a £200 fine to those who failing to meet the deadlines. Please forward your submissions to me by the end of the year. Thanks also to Don Coates of Woodford Green who with George Salmon and myself produced the statistical information for 2002 and 2003.
The Jeff Rodriques Memorial Over 40 / Under 15 Competition was again a success and provided a wonderful final at Jeff’s home ground of Fives & Heronians. South Woodford keeping their nerve in the final over to prevent West Essex overhauling their total.
It is possible that we may increase the size of this competition by opening it up by invitation to selected non-Essex League sides.
It is a pity that again in 2005 the Matchplay groups are so large (10 per group). This prevents a number of clubs from supporting other Sunday cricket and especially our Over 40/ Under 15 competition..
We will be canvassing clubs to see if there is support for a 20/20 competition either at adult or junior level or both.
We reached the semi-final of the CCC Sovereign Cup and thanks are due to Jeremy Mordrick David Courtney who agreed to Manage the side and those players who supported them. It is disappointing to see how few of our best players are prepared to make themselves available for this high profile competition.
It would be nice to put out a full strength side and hopefully win it.
The Play-Cricket sites are still inferior to our own magnificent site run by George Salmon. We have registered over half a million hits. Unfortunately few clubs used the facility to provide registration details and averages. It is still an ECB requirement that Premier clubs at least maintain basic information on the site.
We have asked all clubs to provide statistical information from the 2004 season in a simple format to allow the stats part of the handbook to be prepared more easily. There is a deadline of the end of November and so far less than one quarter of the clubs have replied. If you don’t reply your players personal achievements will not be recorded in the handbook.
In view of their efforts in support of the League we wish to propose umpires Paul Adams and Frank Lockhart as Honorary Life Vice Presidents.
I would like to thank the committee for their support in easing my workload
We have a wonderful, powerful league providing competitive cricket for over 2000 players.
b) FIXTURES SECRETARY
Cliff Greenhill on behalf of Michael E Jones (Loughton)
Michael Jones is producing the fixtures and advised that league fixtures will start on 14th May and end on 10th September. To allow all teams who have applied to play. The 4th XI Premier will comprise; Ardleigh Green, Brentwood, Gidea Park & Romford, Hornchurch, Horndon on the Hill, Hutton, South Woodford, Upminster, Walthamstow and Wanstead.
4th XI Division 1 will comprise; Basildon & Pitsea, Chelmsford, Hadleigh & Thundersley, Hainault & Clayhall, Hornchurch 5th, Fives & Heronians, Old Parkonians, Southend on Sea, Upminster 5th and West Essex.
Division 2 East and West will comprise 9 teams playing 16 games. They will miss two weeks during the season. Division 2 East will comprise; Benfleet, Billericay, Brentwoods 6th, Hornchurch 6th, Leigh on Sea, Old Southendians, Orsett, Stanford Le Hope, Wickford. Division 2 West will comprise;
Ardleigh Green 5th, Brentwood 5th, Buckhurst Hill, Chingford, Harold Wood, Ilford, Loughton, Upminster 6th, Wanstead 5th.
c) RESULTS SECRETARY
Michael Vandome (Chelmsford)
The results were usually emailed to Club members by early on Sunday morning and were available on the website from around 9 o’clock most weeks. I know it I have mentioned this before but taking down results on the answerphone is quite time consuming and I must please ask once again that those telephoning in the results do have some consideration. It is very difficult when you are speaking with a background noise of a bar to hear exactly what is being said and sometimes it is absolutely impossible.