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Readers respond to Premier League call
Date published: 16 July 2009
REACTION has been largely positive to the idea of a Lancashire or Greater Manchester Premier League.
Judging by the response of our readers, the scheme would promote more competitive cricket through promotion and relegation.
But Peterborough Blue and Coppice say clubs from the Saddleworth League wouldn’t be good enough to take their place in the top-flight.
GREAT piece. Having played and watched cricket up and down the country for the best part of 25 years it has become more apparent that the Saddleworth League and CLL are far from anywhere near as good as the majority of the Lancashire, Yorkshire or Cheshire leagues.
The problem is that for the better quality league cricketers have to travel to clubs outside of the local area to play competitive cricket, so all that local leagues are left with average league/village cricketers to set the standard.
The North Staffs League sets a very good example. Seven divisions, with promotion and relegation.
First and second teams play in one of the divisions rather than the reverse fixture. Ten teams in each division. which gives quality rather than quantity (less league fixtures).
The modern way of life does not react well to committing all your summer weekends to playing meaningless games of cricket, with nothing to play for come the end of June.
How can this be good for the local game!
MAD MAX
HAVING played in the CLL and Saddleworth League, it is obvious that the former is a better standard.
However, the gap is beginning to close.
Merging the two leagues would be a great start in improving the local standard of cricket.
Something that is certain is that the Saddleworth League is stuck in a very big hole. It must move with the times.
Leg-side wides and inner rings would improve the game right away.
Merge the leagues and have two divisions. Simple!
SWINGING BOTH WAYS
I THINK you will find this has come up because it has been spoken about at the Lancashire Cricket Board.
Some informal discussions have taken place with a club from the Saddleworth League.
From what I have heard, the Saddleworth League, the Manchester Association and Lancashire County League were going to be approached. Apparently, the CLL are not keen.
Splitting the teams would have to be decided off placings in the respective leagues at the end of the season. Over time, all teams would find their level.
GOLFER UK
ALL well and good talking about it, but will anything ever be put in stone and proposals drawn up between the leagues willing to participate.
In my view, a premier division featuring clubs from the CLL, Saddleworth League, Bolton League and Lancashire County would line up as follows — Farnworth, Farnworth SC, Bamford Fieldhouse, Heywood, Norden, Denton West, Glossop, Greenmount, Monton and Weaste, Denton St Lawrence, Walkden, plus one more from Littleborough, Rochdale, Kearsley, Little Lever, Heyside, Cheetham Hill, Prestwich.
AVRIL BRIGGS
I DON’T know what Kevin Richardson means when he says, ‘Other counties have taken the courageous step and it has worked”.
In what way has it worked? Has it raised the standards of clubs, or has it just sorted them in a different order?
I’ve been to a Hyde first XI game on a Saturday afternoon, and there’s nobody watching. The bar is not even open until after tea.
COMMITTEE MAN
THERE wouldn’t be a Saddleworth League club in the first three divisions.
The top teams would include Bradshaw, Didsbury, Greenmount, Hyde, Littleborough, Middleton, Monton and Weaste, Prestwich, Rochdale, Unsworth, Walsden and Wigan.
And remember, you can forget any clubs that don’t have accreditation. The ECB won’t consider them.
PETERBOROUGH BLUE
IF the cream of the Lancashire or the Greater Manchester club cricket scene are put in one pot then all the Saddleworth League clubs would be excluded.
COPPICE
Comments
Yawn Coppice we heard you the first time.
Good point about the clbmark accreditation. This would exclude a fair few of the clubs who seem to spend more money on players than on developing the game.... As for CLL standards being higher, the fact of the matter is that having played at several CLL and Saddleworth league grounds, all be it the sizes differ, standards wise are not all that great in the CLL, and on the playing side, i have seen my fair share of garbage cricket at the coppice, and the pollards recently, to name a couple.
saddycricketer! its ECB affiliation nothing to do with clubmark accreditation! you seem to be missing the point, its not about knit picking about the SDCL and the CLL its about taking local cricket forward into the 21st century its a next generation we have to look after. The CLL is better than the SDCL thats a fact, (although the quality is in decline as the better players leave to go into other better quality competitions ).
its easy to say you have seen "garbage cricket"at the coppice and the pollards you are picking on two poor sides who are struggling at the moment, i would still back those teams to beat the majority of SDCL teams.over the last 10/20 years Oldham have had a great youth policy only to become victims of this because all the good players leave to achieve better things in better competitions.something local cricket cannot offer them.
The saddy league has got some good young cricketers coming through but mark my words they will also leave there relivant clubs in years to come.so all the time,money and effort these clubs spend has gone to waste because you have no quality competition to offer them, how can this also be good for the local game. how many saddy league cricketers have gone on to represent a county in the last 20 years?One Kyle Hogg lol.
I understand that similar proposals had been talked about in the past within the CLL, but unfortunately too many officials are at the moment - big fishes in a little pond. Moving to a Premier League setup would mean that they would become little fish in a big pond and therefore care little for change.
What sense is there is this day and age for a stand alone league where some clubs can 'spend' a lot of money on a pro and other players and win £300 for winning the league! Over the past 20 years the standard of pro's, 'amateur players', play and attendances with a few notable exceptions has been downward. With promotion and relegation on offer every year perhaps all standards might rise and there certainly would not be any dead games in August.
Madmax. ECB Premiership Leagues require all 1st. Division Clubs to have Clubmark. Clubs in the lower tiers of the pyramids are expected to be working towards it at least. Check out the websites of some Premierships.
Madmax. ECB Premiership Leagues require all 1st. Division Clubs to have Clubmark. Clubs in the lower tiers of the pyramids are expected to be working towards it at least. Check out the websites of some Premierships.
Correct anotherbob but that is not what i said, i said the ECD affiliation/ clubmark are different ! of course clubs should be working towards the latter if they have not already done so!i dont have to check it out i already know! but do you agree that we need to offer the better quality cricketers better quality cricket!we cant live in the past!
Example- Chris Gill he is the best young cricketer i have seen this season, so all that effort from Greenfield in making him the player he is, will be wasted because if he wants to make it county level they will not let him play in the saddy league, and some other club will reap the rewards of Greenfields hard work.Better cricket is required locally thats all we ask.
Madmax, i agree 100% that a combined league is the way to go for improving standards. But my Clubmark point also stands, as anotherbob says, it is a requirement for all decent leagues. As for league standards, i cant understand why anyone would leave a CLL club to join a saddleworth league club if the standards are so inferior, unless a brown envelope is being offered. Seems there are a fair few hypocrites knocking about at the moment.
a joint league would be great for both leagues,the cll standard is going backwards and the sdcl is staying completly still (not improving due to lack of change). 2 leagues would spice things up and definatley get people talking and watching local cricket again. players would want to play in the top tier so the comp would be full on all year
I'm confused! Madmax says we can't live in the past, but according to many others posting here, standards used to be much higher than they are now. The past seems to be just where we need to be.
If any club produces a player good enough to become a County Pro then they won't see him again, until he either retires, or perhaps fails to make the grade. This would be the case if his club played in a Premiership or a village league.
Golfer UK, Not on the agenda for the LCB, so no matter how much is written on websites its not going to happen, the Bolton League have a proposal to go to two divisions of ten clubs, that wont happen, and I cant see any local leagues merging, struggling CLL clubs like Radcliffe wont want to travel to the likes of Staley after putting so much into improving their ground.
Have Your Say
I repeat, if the cream of the Lancashire or the Greater Manchester club cricket scene are put in one pot then all the Saddleworth League clubs would be excluded.
By Coppice @ 16/07/2009 13:33:19