THE chairman of a Yorkshire rugby league club once told me that the administrators of the game had the perfect product. He said that rugby league didn’t need much to make the spectators flock in.

He said that the people running the game were actually hindering the sport because they were causing confusion with some of their decisions... that chairman was then hauled before the RL disciplinary chiefs – who then, perhaps fittingly, couldn’t decide what action needed to be taken.

Spin the clock forward almost 20 years and that chairman’s words could almost fit the cricket authorities like a glove.

Aside from a report on this page, yesterday’s start of a one-day series with Australia slipped under the radar – and not just in this newspaper.

After all the thrash and smash of the T20, a five-match series with the old enemy deserves prominence.

Yet the games are scheduled at the same time as the World Cup. Madness. Even Sky Sports, who haven’t got any World Cup football, are not exactly getting mega excited about the series.

Surely the powers that be could have used their grey matter to schedule the games at a more suitable time. The World Cup was scheduled a decade ago for goodness sake. They could and should have avoided a clash between big sporting spectacles.

Okay, Old Trafford is sold out for Sunday’s third game between the two – and so it should be. But there is no doubt that the scheduling of the series is madness.

Take this office yesterday. It was a three-way fight for the remote control with the cricket eventually losing out to the World Cup and the ping pong on grass from Wimbledon.

The disorganisation isn’t the sole preserve of the international calen-dar either. The Lancashire League and the Ribblesdale League are both mighty fine competitions.

They both also have cup competitions that excite and have the buzz that makes people want to watch.

Yet the semi-finals of the Lanca-shire League’s Worsley Cup and the Ribblesdale League’s Ramsbottom Cup clash. Yes, all four games take place on July 4.

It is bizarre scheduling. Surely the leagues shouldn’t be competing with each other...if they are, maybe they should consider merging.