The Annual [Autumn] General Meeting of LCU was held in Clontarf Cricket CLub on 24th November. There was a good attendance from clubs. The main purpose of this meeting is to receive reports on the preceding season, to carry out elections and to deal with any motions submitted.
The Honourary Secretary presented a report on the season’s activities. The full report, together with those from the different sections, committees and associations, will be uploaded to the website over the next few days. The Secretary reported on the successful completion of all competitions and generally a good year for national and provincial senior and youth teams. Good progress was recorded in relation to securing volunteers and sponsors to underpin the work of the LCU but more of both are still needed. The one jarring note was the rise in the number of disciplinary cases that had to be dealt with.
The financial report for the year will be presented to the February General Meeting but the Secretary did tell the meeting that the union was still having difficulties collecting subscriptions and umpires expenses from some clubs.
The following were elected at the meeting:
Honourary Secretary: Mary Sharp
Honourary Treasurer: Gerry Fennell
President Elect: Henry Tighe
Executive Jim Bennett, Graham Pasley, David Cooke
Chairman OCC Paul Reynolds
Secretary OCC Kevin Gallagher
Members OCC Greg Molins, Paul O’Neil, Martin Russell, Michael Sharp, Jeff Short, Reinhardt Strydom
New Vice President Louis Hogan
Auditor Alun Brophy
Disciplinary Committee John Buckley, Philip Byrne, Barry Collins, Peter Geoffroy, Brian Horn, Cecil Medcalf and David Pigot
There were no elections to the Development or Finance Sub-Committee
It was agreed that a number of vacancies on committees for which there were no nominations would be filled by the Executive and ratified at the Spring General Meeting.
The following nominations from Sections and Committees were confirmed:
Open Competitions Committee – Representative from the Umpires and Scorers Association, Nigel Parnell
Executive Committee – Representative from the Youth and Schools section – Aideen Rice.
The following notice of motion from the Open Competitins Committee was debated at the meeting.
‘The OCC notes that there has been much discussion over the surface that Division 1 matches should be played on. As it stands there is an informal assumption that Division 1 matches must be played on turf, however this has no basis in the regulations. Whilst the OCC believes it essential that Division 1 matches should be played on turf, it also recognises that many grounds across the province are not in the position to do this.
The OCC would like guidance as to which of the following three routes it should go down
1. All Division 1 and Senior Cup matches must be played on turf pitches
2. From 2013, all Division 1 and Senior Cup matches must be played on turf pitches. In 2012, all Division 1 and Senior Cup cricket may be played on turf or non-turf pitches
3. All Division 1 and Senior Cup matches may be played on turf or non-turf pitches’
After a lively discussion during which a range of grounds, development and competition related matters were raised, it was agreed that the matter would be referred to a working group appointed by the Executive, which would consult with clubs, make general recommendations on the use of ‘non-turf’ wickets and specifically advise on regulations in time for next next season.
Under AOB, a number of matters were raised from the floor of the meeting for the Executive to consider over the off-season. These matters included:
- ways of strengthening the disciplinary code,
- the movement of young players between clubs,
- tightening loop-holes in the regulations governing overseas players,
- concerns about the legal form of the union and the liabilities for costs or damages incurred,
- limiting the top individual playing awards in the open competitions to Division 1 [rather than Division 1 & 2].