Management Committee Meeting

6th April 2017 – 7:00pm

Leicester Banks CC,Banks Road,Aylestone, Leicester, LE2 8HA

Meeting notes

Andy Jones / Brad Peake / Nigel Kinch / Martyn Dobson
Richard French / Sam Rowe / Mark Ward / Andy Hibberd
Rob Doleman / Robin Whait / Guy Jackson / Jonny Lawrance-Owen
Paul Whiteman / Kevin Smyth / Roger Stead
Dan Pedley / Colin Green / Pratap Odedra
  1. Apologies:

Robin Whait, Kevin Smyth, Mark Ward

  1. Approval of, and matters arising from, the Minutes of the meeting held on 16th February 2017 (distributed)
  • Outstanding fines
  • Leicester Lions still owe £40 + £180 for this season’s subscriptions. Roger Stead will give them a call to follow this up.
  • Leo haven’t yet paid this season’s subscriptions.
  • 8 sides haven’t paid AGM fees.
  • If clubs haven’t paid before the balls meeting (or at it) they cannot pick up their balls.Brad will email the clubs with outstanding fees.
  • All other matters approved.
  1. Pitch Inspections for 2017
  • John Upton has suggested that the committee does some pitch inspections on selected grounds. There is money available to offer a report and suggested improvements for a few pitches (not in Premier or Div 1). Committee approved League funding for this, of necessary.Colin Green will target certain grounds.
  1. Fatana 2 – ground update
  • Still to be confirmed.
  • Kirby Muxloe Rec would be ideal but Gaddesby is a fallback option.
  1. Great Glen CC, sight screen funding
  • Great Glen’s sightscreens have been damaged and are no longer usable. They are looking for grants or loans to help with a new purchase.
  • Cosby are hoping to sell their old sightscreens which may be an option.
  • Cosby want a grant to buy new sightscreens, however the Committee will only offer them a loan.
  • Paul Whiteman to reply to this request and offer them a loan.
  • Another option could be for Great Glen to get a loan from the League loan fund.
  • Andy to contact Rob Doleman to ask whether there is enough money in the grant fund to give Great Glen £500 as a grant, and lend them the rest (minus the amount they can match fund). Or they can consider buying Cosby’s sightscreens.
  • Grant priority is to go to clubs who are looking to move up the ground grades; however this doesn’t stop clubs applying for general ground maintenance, especially if there are sufficient funds available and the need is great.
  • Richard French has had a request for grant funding from Barwell. Richard to inform them that the priority is for clubs maintaining or climbing a grade and to offer them a loan.
  1. Sponsorship - Pitchero
  • Pitchero is offering the League £1500-£2000 if the League approves a marketing campaign by them. There is a data protection issue to this as it involves the League granting a company authority to access clubs’ contact details.
  • Should each individual club be given an opt-in or an opt-out for their details being passed on?
  • There is a discussion about whether the money is worth the potential bad-will from clubs not being happy about having their contact details offered to a third party.
  • The decision is made to do nothing for the moment and revisit it later in the year after consulting with clubs.
  1. Div7 survey results
  • There was a thought that teams might benefit from a 10 team division, reducing fixtures that are difficult to fulfill because of the overlap with the football season etc.
  • Survey results:
  • Division 6 clubs
  • 6 clubs voted for 12 teams in the division
  • 4 voted for 10 teams
  • 2 expressed nopreference
  • Division 7
  • 13 voted for 12 teams
  • 6 voted for 10 teams
  • 3 expressed no preference.
  • The main reason for clubs not wanting to reduce to 10 teams was due to potentially losing revenue.
  • Based upon a clear majority vote by clubs, the Committee decided to keep the division at 12 teams.
  1. League Restructuring for 2018

When Division 4 Central was introduced the plan was to remove it for the start of the 2018 season so that all Divisions from Div 4 downwards have a simple East/West split. Clubs need to be aware of the shape of the restructure in advance of the 2017 season.

  • Option 1: Remove Division 4 Central.
  • Shift the bottom 4 teams in each Division 4, into Division 5 and allow the effect to cascade down the divisions.
  • 4 teams to be relegated from Division 3 to allow the top 2 teams to be promoted from Division 4E and 4W into Division 3.
  • This option would be a significant shake-up lower down the leagues.
  • This option would lead a potentially large number of teams moving down a Division and this may have a negative perception from players.
  • Option 2: Keep things as they are.
  • An alternative is to keep the existing structure because teams have got used to having three Division 4s and the structure appears to work well.
  • Division 4 also acts as a bit of a buffer between the higher and lower tier teams, including the ground ratings.
  • PratapOdedrahas also had feedback that clubs are happy with the existing structure.
  • The decision is made to adoptOption 2 – no change.
  • The situation regarding what happens if teams cannot be promoted due to ground ratings was also reviewed.
  • Option A: The best runner-up (whoever has the most points) from the 3 Division 4 regions is promoted if a Divisional winner is unable to be promoted – this is the current structure.
  • This procedure would hopefully ensure that the best teams are playing together in the higher leagues.
  • Option B: Promote the team that finishes in 2ndplace in the same region behind the team unable to be promoted.
  • If a runner up cannot be promoted, then promotion can be granted to the 3rd place team. If they cannot be promoted it will be the team with the highest number of points from the other regionsthat will be promoted.No teams below third place will be eligible for promotion.
  • A decision is made to adopt Option B.
  • The details of this decision to be emailed to clubs by Andy Jones.
  • Division 9 currently has 3 regions and will adopt the same principles as Division 3 and 4 (under Option B).
  • The top team in each Div 9 region will be promoted with the bottom teams in Div 8 East & West being relegated. The third relegation position will be taken by the second worst team from Div 8 East or West.
  1. Clubs Pre – Season meeting
  • Andy Jones is on holiday so is unable to deliver the meeting content. Nigel Kinch will take the meeting.
  • Sam Rowe is happy to organise the balls as usual.
  • Earliest clubs can pick their balls up is 5:30pm, meeting starts at 7pm. Clubs need to bringinsurance for public liability and any money outstanding (clubs with outstanding liabilities will not receive their balls!)
  • 5 handbooks per team.
  1. AOB (notify within 48 hours)
  • ACO funding
  • The league usually gives £1,500 to the ACO. If they require funding for 2017, then the Committee approves it being given.
  • Pratap gives a promising update from the LCCDO.
  • Grounds:
  • A new ground is being developed with 2 pitches on St Oswald Road, New Parks.
  • ECB have allocated funds to get this to a Premier League standard within 3 years.
  • There is also some possibility of redevelopment in Beaumont Leys.
  • The first LCCDO AGM is on 20th April.
  • Highfield Rangers unsuccessfully applied for a small grant through the ECB small grants scheme which is now closed. The best option is now for a loan from the League.
  • Maher Stars has a player who is from abroad and has registered as an overseas player.
  • Richard French reports that a club has contacted them saying they have registered 2 overseas players but it looks like one of them may not come, and ask if is it possible to de-register an overseas player. Mark Ward will hopefully know the answer to this.
  • Cup Competitions
  • A risk has been identified in the registration process. It could be possible for a player to do a short term transfer to a different team for a cup game. Utilising the short term transfer rules merely to play for another club in a cup competition is not an acceptable practice.
  • The ethos is that clubs use their own players for cup games.
  • League registration rules apply to cup competitions.
  • This will be monitored.
  • There has been a recent spate of robberies of ground equipment and machinery. Other clubs in the county have been made aware of this.
  • Social media
  • There has been no activity on the League Twitter account (@landrcl) since November. It is important to improve the social media profile of the league, including the website.
  • Agenda item for next meeting: discuss and action a plan of communication via social media and the website.
  • Andy Hibberd reports:
  • Small grants - 90% of clubs have received approval letters which is positive.
  • Clubmark is now live online.
  • U19s T20 have a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the format among the 10 teams interested. More teams can apply if they are interested. There is the possibility of a regional finals day.
  • Clubs (including friends and family) can get £3 cashback from Leicestershire T20 tickets. Ask for Jack Bradley and ask for the cashback code.
  • Kegworth are hoping to extend their pavilion. The ECB have initially agreed to fund 50% of this.
  • There is a change of County Child Welfare officer and the post is now taken by Kerry Somerset.
  • All Stars Cricket take-up will hopefully improve from this point on. There are plans afoot for promoting this in the city centre, schools, and in national marketing.

Meeting closes: 21:15

Date of next meeting:Thursday 25th May