General Registrations and Open Competitions

Some early findings from the registrations as of the 13th April.

With registrations of adult players for Open Competitions running at about 90% of last year’s total, it is possible to undertake some initial analysis of the main categories. We will update this during the season at the end of the year when final figures our available. But for the moment we have a reasonable sample to draw some early findings.  

As of the 15th April over 1700 players are registered for Open Competitions. This is a good number this early in the season and especially as many youth players will not have registered yet to play. A recent quick count shows that there are 184 U18 players who have previously played in Open Competitions and who are already registered. This suggests based on 2018 figures that there are around 200 more youth players who will register during the season. With these numbers excluded it is estimated that there are at something in excess of 300 adult players who have not yet registered for the new season. So a reminder to all clubs to get their players to complete the registration process.  

The Table below sets out the position regarding registrations so far in 2019. It is important to remember that some who register will never end up playing. Figures of those actually taking part is the more important but obviously we won’t have these for some time yet. Note also the explanations around the table set out below. 

Explanation: Figures from 13th April. They do not include Cork County or Munster Red. The figures for 2018 refers to those who played in Open Competitions - not simply registered. DU figure of 23 represents the number that did not go on to play with another club. Figures for womens / girls are not included in 2019 registration as it is clear that a number registered for Open Competitions but are unlikely to play. The figures for youth [2019] include those registered who have played in Open Competitions before [every year youth players are registered for Open who do not go on to play any adult matches]. During the season - updates will inlude all youth and women who actually take part in Open Competitions. 

The two data items that we can extract from the registration system are the origins [where someone learnt to play cricket] and the age profile. At this point we focus on the subset of adult male players. 

Confirming the findings from previous years, around two thirds of registered adult players in Open Competitions learnt their cricket outside of Ireland. There may be some confusion around how exactly the question on cricketing origins is interpreted with the result that some players have left the answer blank thereby by default they are deemed to have learnt their cricket in Ireland. It is clear, however, from personal knowledge and the names of the players concerned that many have just not answered the question.  Taking this into account the percentage range is between 60% and 70% with the most likely figure of around 68%. The distribution of the main countries from which the known respondents come from is set out below. 

The age profile of Leinster Cricket shows a little over a third each of adult players in their 20s and 30s. The numbers in the crucial university years [19 - 23], however, is quite low with an average of only a little over 40 per year. Adult players taking up the sport tend to be from outside of Ireland and brings up the average size of the annual cohort of players to closer to 60. The figures in the Chart below include only those who have indicated that they learnt their cricket abroad so overstates the number of domestic players.

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