T Chesterfield: Northerns Clubs Still In Dinosaur Age (February 1996)

Northerns Clubs still in Dinosaur Age

Spinner`s Tales by Trevor Chesterfield

One of the less endearing facts about driving around Centurion and Pretoria is discovering that to most motorist`s indicators appear to be an optional extra. And leaving a safe following distance between cars can also create hazards as a Kiwi friend of mine painfully discovered last summer. Travelling to matches in- volving Ken Rutherford`s side, he was forced to brake so many times he almost ended up with permanent whiplash.

There is little difference between these drivers with their optional extras and the thinking of the majority of Northern Transvaal`s senior clubs in their support of an outdated Premier League system that encourages mediocre standards. Expecting players to thrive and improve their ability in a season that consists of a total of 14 days which are spread over almost six months, is neither helping clubs nor player growth. It is therefore not at all surprising that club-standards have fallen gradually over the last 12 seasons or since the abolition of the Saturday/Sunday format.

Rain apart, you could, in 1983-84, depend on a possible 18 weekends, allowing for 36 days where players could hone their techniques and make strong representation for a place in the Currie Cup or UCB Bowl (Northerns B) teams. In my first season in Northerns, 30 summers ago, I umpired 24 club matches (Premier league and Harlequin Cup) which meant 48 day`s play - and that didn`t include a B Section Currie Cup match, a SA Country Districts tournament and a variety of friendlies.

In an age when sport has become so technically-organised at provincial and national level, clubs seemed to be linked to the era of the dinosaur and are in danger of being left behind. Not a clever thing to do. In fact they have become blinkered by their own introspection losing sight of how important club cricket is in developing the game a higher levels.

When you think about the fact that the game is also growing so fast that CricInfo, which was established on the InterNet is the largest sport archive on this world wide computer service, Northern Transvaal senior clubs indeed need to take a hard look at themselves and where they are going.

An interesting statistic is that CricInfo is read in 65 countries as diverse as the United States, Brazil, Thailand, Slovenia, Italy and Denmark and is expanding rapidly to include a variety of other (club-related) material apart from test, one-day international and domestic first class scorecards.

Last year more than 6-million people accessed the data-base. Apart from a serious credibility problem, a number of Northerns clubs also lack the professionalism they had 15 or more seasons ago when committees were far more organised than today. What is needed is for the Premier League to return to a Saturday/Sunday format or for games to be switched to a Sunday, which in turn will give the schoolboys access to the league. At least it will develop a keener sense of competitiveness.

Frankly no Premier League worth its name can exist on a diet of 14 matches and hope to produce top players from among its rank and file.