Switch would have boosted the clubs (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Switch would have boosted the clubs
4:52pm Wednesday 30th June 2010 in Talking Cricket column
WHICH WAY TO LOOK: The bar at Lowerhouse during the England v Germany game
Cricket clubs, like just about all businesses, face a weekly battle to stay afloat.
Sadly the days when thousands of paying spectators crammed into the likes of Seedhill, West End, Bacup Road and the rest are in the past.
But league cricket is battling away, the clubs graft to keep going with fund-raisers through the winter and, hopefully, getting the full use out of their facilities in the summer.
Sunday was a day when most bars would have made a killing. Sunday was also a day when I reckon some local cricket clubs would have taken a hit.
There was a Lancashire League programme on Sunday, the same day that England were booted out of the World Cup by Germany.
Crowds around the grounds were generally down – and those £4’s add up – and the games were played out in front of a surreal atmosphere with cheers and jeers coming from the bar and an eerie silence from empty benches.
The League could and should have played the programme on Saturday, an open date, to give everyone the chance of watching the football.
There surely cannot be too much difficulty involved because clubs are so flexible in any case.
Okay, England’s display was bordering on the shameful.
But the cricket fraternity would have loved to have seen the football team sink...because, as ridiculous as it may seem, England could have won.
It was a one-off, a huge occasion. The World Cup is once every four years.
Cricket players and fans would have liked the chance to watch it – and then drown their sorrows.
And with the mood of misery, the amount of ale supped could have kept some clubs afloat until 2014.
Comments(2)
TrueBlueSue
says...
10:38pm Thu 1 Jul 10
click2find
blueette says...
10:24am Thu 1 Jul 10
At the game I attended there was a healthy crowd watching cricket, plenty of people in the bar watching football and a good number came down after the football finished - a reasonably healthy and pleasant outcome for everyone as the less salubrious element stayed in the pub
Would that have been the case had there been no cricket at the ground on Sunday?
Also, what about the logistics of re-arranging a whole first and second Xi programme, plus cancelling Saturday's Third Team games , at 3 days' notice? Remember England were playing Ghana on Saturday until USA scored an injury-time winner
Players and pro's (some of whom had substitute engagements on Saturday arranged) aside, that's a mere 70-odd umpiring appointments to jiggle with. Would have fancied that job would you Matt?
No, another ill-considered infantile article from an utter disgrace to sports journalism who didn't actually know who was playing where on Sunday (see Rambsottom v Church report) but who can tell you childish tales about who's had a few pints and been sick
No doubt Mr Plunkett will now rebuke me for "personal attacks" on his staff - Mr Donlan however can repeatedly question the integrity of umpires from his vantage point at fine leg or cover point. He is a victim of the modern phenomenon the writer who sees a badly-behaved player show dissent and assumes the umpire's decision mut be wrong
One can only sigh and recall the well-respected likes of Alf Thornton and Peter White who knew their subject and were respected by all who played the game