Hows That issue 304 mod Season

[nompere]

Do you have any views on Geoff Lowden's statement that you would like to share?

[fatpunter]

I'm sure that I'm not the only one but I feel that it is very sad indeed that ACUS seems to be disappearing up it's own backside with schisms and factions and all sorts of opinions and nobody seeming to know which is the correct way to turn.
I have been an old "full member" of ACU, as it was, since the 1970s, I've been round the block, done it all, got the t-shirt etc. and have never really been a lover of the organisation but it was a necessary evil(I never wore a field tie. I did not feel the need to advertise the fact that I had passed some exams). In years gone by there were always far too many chiefs, lots of very important people in blazers, lots of people with ideas above their station and we must bear in mind that ACU was always a dog with no teeth. We never had a real voice and the ultimate goal of First Class status was really a non-starter while recently retired First Class players just waltzed straight over us, laughing at how easy it is to get on the list. We can have as many exams, titles, different coloured ties as we like but we must face reality, we are a very small - although very important - part of a very big game. Most leagues will snap off the hands of anyone who half mentions that they may be willing to umpire, qualifications are meaningless to most leagues, they just want a body in a coat.

Look at the example of Michael Gough. He played a couple of seasons at Durham in 1st/2nd XI borders and at the age of 23, 2 years after walking away from the game, he decided to become a First Class umpire. His only experience was a handful of games in the 3rd division of the Nort Yorkshire South Durham League, he declined the offer to stand in the NE Premier League but yet he waltzes straight onto the First Class reserve list.

This has always been the case and always will be.

People in "authority" at ACU would do well to remember this and remember their status in the overall picture of things. The whole nastiness blew up over somebody deciding to try and modernise something that had plodded very nicely for decades below the First Class game. However, he made a total pigs ear of the whole lot. The only real way forward must be for the ECB to look after umpiring affairs in conjunction with ACU but can anyone really see this happening. The controlling body of the sport must surely have an input into the officials of the game.

Who knows what will happen. Which is the correct way to turn and more importantly, does anyone really care. If there was no ACU, no ICUS, ECBOA or any of the other organisations that people would care to invent, cricket would still be played, umpires would still umpire, players wouldn't really care.

How very sad.