By Charles Randall
10 December 20011
The Club Cricket Conference have voiced their support for the ECB's continuing efforts to increase playing numbers after the announcement by Sport England that cricket funding was to be cut by more than £300,000.
Sport England, distributors of Lottery and Government money, disclosed this week they were reducing cricket funding by £312,188 because the ECB had not achieved the growth numbers expected through the five-year period ending in 2013, despite strong progress in the junior, disability and women's sectors.
Alf Langley, the Club Cricket Conference chairman, said that the outlook in the recreational game was still encouraging because so many clubs had built flourishing sections for boys and girls. "Unfortunately the indications are that the old problem remains -- the drop-out rate among youth players before reaching adult cricket," he said. " But the story does not stop here. The CCC, and club cricket as a whole, must look at all avenues to achieve the participation targets required by the Sport England. We are committed to cricket all the way through from the grass roots to the Premier Leagues and to supporting the ECB in all it’s further endeavours.”
Jennie Price, Sport England's chief executive, said they had adopted a consistent approach with all governing bodies of sports that failed to achieve the agreed growth. "The challenge for the ECB is to increase participation across all forms of cricket, both formal and informal," she said. It was acknowledged that the ECB had met, or exceeded, all other targets, such as coaching numbers.
Price added: "We support the even greater priority now being given to the adult grassroots game by the ECB. The steps taken by their development team in recent months have given us confidence in the governing body's ability to get more people playing the game regularly over the next 12 months."
David Collier, the ECB chief executive, reckoned the Sport England decision was fair. "The ECB appreciate that Sport England do not have accountability for the expansion which is occurring at the junior level, but the ECB believe that the 11-25 year age group is critical to the sustainability and health of sports in the medium term."
In a recent CB survey the number of players within the 1,418 Focus Clubs -- the main community clubs -- increased by five per cent across all age groups while adult participation grew only three per cent, surprisingly low. These figures suggested that while youth cricket was booming, fewer players were moving into adult cricket.
The Sport England action was probably no more than a shot across the bows of the ECB, as the £300,000-plus cut was a tiny proportion of the £37.8 million grassroots fund agreed in July 2009 for the period to 2013, covering capital and revenue expenditure plans. That grant was the largest awarded to any sport governing body.
The idea, as stated then, was to invest in projects that grow participation, sustain involvement, increase the satisfaction levels of participants and creates pathways for excellence from the playground to Test arena. The ECB were expected to maintain their focus on improving opportunities for women, girls and disabled players to participate in cricket -- that part has been an undoubted success.
The Sport England award in 2009, alongside an agreement with the then Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe, meant that Chance to Shine’s £20 million four-year youth investment programme could go ahead, funded jointly by the private and public sector. Wasim Khan, the new chief executive of the Cricket Foundation, said: "We’re delighted that the Government continues to acknowledge the positive effect Chance to Shine is having on communities nationwide."