Members ready for a ruck (5 May 1999)

5 May 1999

Members ready for a ruck

Peter Deeley

Tony Lewis, president of MCC, has upset members with his threat to crack down on "behaviour unbecoming to the tradition of the club" at tonight's annual meeting at Lord's, where the committee are expected to come under attack from the floor.

Members are still unhappy that, for the first time, they are having to pay to watch Lord's World Cup games and some are demanding that the committee must in future consult them over such decisions.

MCC have negotiated a 25 per cent reduction in prices for members and say this is a "once-in-a-generation event" that is unlikely to be repeated.

But critics maintain the club must have known they would have to break with the tradition of free entry over and above the annual membership fee for the World Cup at a time when they were exhorting people to take out life membership.

A vote is likely at the meeting on a resolution from the club saying they will confer with members should they be asked in the future to pay for entry - "except for exceptional reasons".

A move by some members to demand a special meeting was defused, critics claim, only because the committee agreed there should always be consultation on this issue in future. "But now the club are trying to row back from that agreement by saying that in special circumstances they have the right not to consult," one member said.

"Now Tony Lewis appears to be wanting to stifle free speech at the meeting. Many of us find the president's remarks offensive. It makes you wonder whether they have anything else to hide."

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)