these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

Summer Sports - Cricket
“No, I’ve never done it before
Another year entered
with thoughts on a
blisteringly hot summer
heavy on the mind. Then
you pinch yourself back
to reality and know you
will settle for no rain on
a Friday, but for some
nice heavy rain about
8.30 on a Sunday
evening. That’s not too
much to ask for is it?
Barry Glynn muses on the
cricket groundsman’s lot
Barry Glynn
80 PC FEBRUARY/MARCH 2012
THOUGHTS
for the
WINTER...
My thoughts have drifted recently
onto just how important club
cricket is to the game at the
very top. Without club cricket, I
doubt if the game would exist
at all in a professional capacity, and it was
really always thus. But, although club
cricket is basically an amateur sport, the
modern demands placed upon it at the
upper echelon are virtually professional in
what is required on and off the field of
play in terms of organisation and
commitment by groundstaff and
committees. I would like to point out that
the following musings are my personal
ones and do not represent the club I am
involved with.
As with anything these days, costs are
escalating far too quickly for anyone’s
good. I’ve been involved with running
cricket clubs for forty years now and, in
my time, have held just about every
position on and off the field. Having just
managed to find another mug, er, I mean
volunteer, to take over the position of
Fixture Secretary after twelve years, my
involvement is now down to being a
groundsman.
What I have observed is that, whilst it
was never easy running a cricket club, it is
now probably even harder on all fronts.
Financially, the need to raise funds has
taken on even more importance. No
longer can clubs get by on subscriptions,
profit on a few beers in the summer and
squeezing a profit out of a couple of social
functions. One could argue that
subscription levels are too low, and
obviously these vary geographically, but
probably are relative in terms of what
percentage of the running costs they
actually make up.
Of course, there are degrees of demand
depending on what level the club is
playing at. My club is in a very expensive
part of the country to live, and there are
many clubs competing with each other for
general members, good players and colts
within a crowded area. The club plays at a
good level which, again, brings about
many demands. But, whatever standard a
club is playing at, normally the desire is to
strive to improve playing conditions and
standards, social events etc. None of these
come without some extra cost and
certainly not without more work on
someone’s part.
So, let’s look at the financial
requirements of ground maintenance first.
Any club trying to provide decent surfaces
has to face basic costs that are not
negotiable. Loam, seed and fertiliser has
to be bought and, as we all know, that, like
everything else, has risen quite sharply in
the last three years or so.
Some of you may be very lucky and
have the services of an excellent volunteer
groundsman who is also handy with
machinery. If you do have such a person,
then the club should look after him. But,