It is with a very heavy heart and no small amount of regret that I write this week’s column. It could be the last column I write for cricketleinster. This week’s article begins with some quotations.
Disillusionment: a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be. Also see disenchantment, disappointment, cynicism.
Gamesmanship is the use of dubious (although not technically illegal) methods to win or gain a serious advantage in a game or sport. It has been described as "Pushing the rules to the limit without getting caught, using whatever dubious methods possible to achieve the desired end" (Lumpkin, Stoll and Beller, 1994:92). It may be inferred that the term derives from the idea of playing for the game (i.e., to win at any cost) as opposed to sportsmanship, which derives from the idea of playing for sport. The term originates from Stephen Potter's humorous 1947 book, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship (or the Art of Winning Games without Actually Cheating).
Gamesmanship is, of course, a world away and deliberately so from actual all-out, win-at-any-costs cheating.
Cheating is the getting of a reward for ability or finding an easy way out of an unpleasant situation by dishonest means. It is generally used for the breaking of rules to gain unfair advantage in a competitive situation. The rules infringed may be explicit, or they may be from an unwritten code of conduct based on morality, ethics or custom, making the identification of cheating conduct a potentially subjective process. A person described as a "cheat" doesn't necessarily cheat all the time, but rather, relies on unfair tactics to the point of acquiring a reputation for it.[ii]
Last Saturday I played probably my last game of cricket for my club, in College Park. One of my favourite settings for a game of cricket, the experience was enhanced by the two teams who played a fine game of cricket, well within the spirit of the game. Despite our comprehensive loss to the students, they now go forward to the next round of the Minor Cup with our best wishes. Post-match both teams enjoyed a student tea outside the pavilion as a sort of picnic before rejoining to the bar to watch the Irish rugby team attempt to be the first to win a series below the equator. It should give you some idea of the time we finished at, ooops.
After the rugby my fellow players and I took the DART, as a consequence of the non-availability of parking in College Park, back to our home club where our Fourth XI was playing.
The contrast between the game just played and now this one was as wide as black and white. The mood and atmosphere were not good, on or off the field. No neutral umpires had left both teams umpiring their own batmen. A common enough occurrence, but in this game it had led to resentment, anger and downright fury.
The standard of umpiring from one team was appalling, even when viewed from the sidelines. The square leg umpire gave not out a decision for a stumping when it was plainly obvious to all of the spectators sat along the crease on the Wall, as well as the players nearby, that the batsman did not have his foot on the ground and no other part of his body or bat was grounded safely. Another incident saw the umpire call multiple no-balls incorrectly in one over and then change his story (for it was a story and not right) about where the foot was to the players who had questioned the call. Perhaps this is ignorance of the Laws of Cricket rather than outright cheating, but if the umpire/player does not know even the fundamental no-ball Law then what chance he has read the preamble to the Laws which deal with the spirit of the game.
One of the players has stated...
I'm playing league cricket since 1983, and I've seen plenty of cheating over the years but I cannot remember as many clear and obvious examples of DECISIVE cheating as I witnessed in this game.
This type of cheating I have seen has crept into cricket in Leinster over the last 10 years. It is getting worse, and I feel people will retire rather than play under such circumstances. We have young boys playing on our team and in the case of my own children, watching this rubbish from the sidelines. Does cheating eventually pay? Sadly, unless Cricket Leinster actually do something about this, I'm afraid the answer is Yes - cheating does pay.
Another player has stated in correspondence to be sent to the LCU...
Basically, it was the worst example of flagrant cheating and disregard for the spirit of cricket that I have ever come across in my years of playing junior-level cricket in Leinster- by a considerable margin. And that is compared with games against other teams who have a reputation, often sadly a deserved one, for unfair behaviour when umpiring games - this was far, far worse. When you consider we had four youth players on our team, what kind of message is being sent out and what hope do we have of keeping young guys interested in playing when this goes on?
Is this what we want for our cricket? This is our free time, our time off for relaxation and yet I am seeing players come off the field of play more wound up than they ever get in their jobs Monday to Friday. Has winning the game at the expense of everything else become the way to go? I know I won’t be a part of this any more. I had announced a few years ago that I was retiring ground by ground. A slow and I had hoped dignified way of cutting back on the 30 plus games I used to manage in a season. However this season has been the worst yet for conduct within games and I am now considering retirement team by team and club by club. I will not be making myself available for games against various specific clubs. After watching this game on Saturday, I am delighted to say that I will never be playing against this Club ever again and this was a game I was not even playing in. This Club are sadly not the only offenders nor the worst and also not the only team I will not play against.
As a player from another club said this week...
Are we not the ones really at fault? We keep inviting ... into our clubs to f*** us over. Remember the definition of insanity...
The LCU&SA do a great job providing umpires to games from Division 1 to about Division 7 (which was the level of game on Saturday). However if I were to put forward one suggestion to the LCU and the LCU&SA, it would be that they cut back on the Divisions covered by neutral umpires and allocate them instead to specific games, thus going further down through the leagues. Not all games really need neutral umpires, but there are some that are screaming out for them. Recently I was involved in another ugly unpleasant league encounter that was so bad our team wrote to the LCU with a request for neutral umpires for the following week’s cup clash. This request was granted and there was a marked difference between the two games and despite the loss it was a far more enjoyable day’s play. The umpires spoke to players about excessive appealing as needed and it made for a far nicer day, albeit with a worse result.
Therefore I would urge every captain in every league to inform the LCU not only about the facts and figures of reporting scorecards, but also to include notes on the conduct of the game. In fact I would encourage very player to write to the LCU with feedback on their day’s experience. It needs to be done for every game not just the poor ones, the positive games should be highlighted too: publicised as a standard to be met and it also guarantees that the LCU can not dismiss it all as sour grapes. . Whilst without neutral witnesses it becomes impossible for the LCUOCC to act. However if over the course of a season the LCU have received say 200 notes and 50 of them refer to the same team, then action could be taken in the form of allocating neutral umpires or other relevant and sufficient measures.
The headline figures of people playing cricket or new clubs forming are the figures that governing bodies want to see so they can trumpet their achievements in growing the game, but unless they act and act soon, many people will withdraw from the game with grassroots withering and participation dropping alarmingly.
Finally, unless action is taken by us the players by writing to the LCU or by the LCU actually take some action we are going to lose this game we all love. This is not merely my view but quote another player again.
...we all pretty much accepted our fate and were relieved when the game was over, if disgusted and disheartened at being involved in such a travesty of a game.
I hope you will be able to send the LCU a portfolio of all of our reflections on this game and that some kind of action is forthcoming. ... they are poisoning our game and our enjoyment of it with this behaviour. At the very least, for the rest of the season they should not be allowed onto the field of play if neutral umpires are not available. If for the return game neutral umpires are not appointed, I would recommend you refuse to play the fixture, forfeit the points if necessary, and we can all do something more pleasant and rewarding with our Saturday or Sunday instead.
Hear, hear....
[ii] Wikipedia: “cheating”