ANTHONY AXFORD BOLTON CRICKET LEAGUE
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING
HELD AT BRADSHAW C.C.
28th SEPTEMBER 2009
Apologies; The Treasurer and Roy Sturch.
Minutes Silence; The Committee stood in memory of Les Smith (Walkden), Sean McDermott and Tom Cooper (Eagley).
Congratulations; The Chairman congratulated league champions Farnworth Social Circle and Hamer Cup Winners Kearsley and Runners Up Horwich. Horwich thanked Farnworth S.C. for staging the final in difficult conditions.
Minutes of the August Meeting; These had been circulated and were approved as a true and correct record.
Matters Arising; The Secretary reported that Ian Senior had agreed to take responsibility for the second team results in 2010.
Correspondence; The Secretary read a letter from Hamer Cup Final Man of the Match adjudicator John Hutchinson following criticism of his choice.
Finance; The Secretary read the report, which had been emailed to clubs or will be enclosed with these minutes. Walkden still owe £112 from the start of the season.
It was agreed clubs should still be paid £60 for trophies, but these will not be presented at the League Dinner.
Mike Hall will be sending the Treasurer a list of fines by 30th September.
Juniors; Horwich and Walkden did not attend the recent meeting.
Clubs should contact Mike Buckley if they want any Child Welfare related courses organising. It was confirmed the LCB would not be funding these courses.
Bolton C.C. had applied to play in the Bolton League should a vacancy arise. It was agreed that if the Manchester Association raised no objection the League and Junior Secretary would look into issues of registrations and child welfare. Mike Buckley would contact Bolton C.C.
The Junior Secretary would be raising the issue of the unplayed U18 inter league final with Bob Hinchliffe and copying Peter Stafford into the correspondence.
The Junior Presentation had been a success with around 140 attending. The Junior Secretary will pass the raffle money to the Treasurer.
There had been problems relating to the U11 Walkden Festival and the Junior Committee are considering running U11 league and cup competitions in future leaving the Walkden Festival entirely to Walkden C.C. The Junior Committee will also be considering a proposal to play U18 league matches on one night.
Umpires; Karen Knott said the three main offenders in not submitting umpires’ marks were Egerton, Kearsley and Westhoughton first teams. The Chairman asked all three clubs to explain in writing, before the next meeting why they had lapsed so badly.
Submissions are even more important now the LCB requires umpires to be graded. The Bolton League, along with the Liverpool Competition, Northern League, Lancashire League and CLL are all considered to be ‘Premier’ status.
Astley Bridge and Kearsley will take part in the LCB Indoor KO Semi Finals on 3rd January.
The Chairman thanked the Umpires.
R&C Report; Mike Hall said that after a lot of deliberation it had been decided that although the umpires had made an error during the Farnworth v Tonge match, this did not mean under the circumstances Farnworth were entitled to a bonus point.
The match between Eagley and Heaton, which was initially won by the visitors, was void, as the game had not been played to the number of overs available under the rules. Two points were awarded to both clubs.
Disciplinary Report; Warwick Milne said his club were dissatisfied with some of the aspects relating to the reporting of a Heaton player. It was agreed Mr Milne, the Secretary and the DC Chairman should look into a guideline covering the timing of informing a player after a match if he may be reported. The Committee also noted officials involved in an event, directly or indirectly should avoid unnecessary comment to anyone other than the DC or Umpires’ Secretary.
Tony Hayes reported that 2009 had been reasonably quiet, but more clubs should still be dealing with incidents themselves. This year there have been four reports involving junior players, one is still with a County Welfare Officer.
It was again stressed that the DC can only deal with offences reported to them, and they are aware of incidents, which were not reported or dealt with by the club. For consistency the DC will continue to follow the Code of Conduct.
The DC have had to handle four instances of players reporting other players for incidents that were allegedly not observed by the umpires, and Mr Hayes explained how the DC had dealt or were dealing with these. Again a review of the reporting procedures is necessary.
Mr Hayes concluded by thanking the other members of the DC. The Chairman supported this.
LCB Report; The President said the LCB were contemplating a re-structure of the organisation.
Expansion Report; The Chairman said the attendance at meetings had been poor.
The proposal will not be detailed.
There was an apology from an individual for what had been intended as a light-hearted comment on the Forum.
Amendments to Rule; These have been received from Eagley C.C. and the Secretary, and have been emailed to club contacts. Copies were also distributed at the meeting. Members of the Committee felt there was no need for further explanation.
The final time for other amendments is the commencement of the October meeting.
Prize Claim Meeting; Monday 5th October 7.45pm at Bradshaw C.C. Clubs must attend and bring first and second team scorebooks. Errors cannot be rectified after the evening. Representatives should bring a piece of paper containing their first team captain’s vote for amateur player of the year and be prepared to cast a vote for the professionals prize. Clubs cannot vote for their own player. In the case of a tie for either League Officials will be asked to vote.
League Dinner; Friday 30th October at Farnworth Masonic Hall. Any remaining trophies should be brought to BCC next Monday.
The winner of the Hubert Pendlebury award was announced.
The provision of mementoes for Life Members will be looked into.
Ticket numbers should be given to David Morris.
Any Other Business; Little Lever won the Lyddon Trophy.
Date of Next Meeting; 26th October.