Bassetlaw Umpires Association A.G.M.
by Paul Barker, 4th October 2004

The annual general meeting of the Bassetlaw and District Umpires Association took place on Saturday at Worksop Cricket Club. A good attendance saw Mr. Alan Bennett the vice chairman open the meeting by welcoming everyone and asking the secretary/treasurer Peter McKenzie to read out the minutes from the last A.G.M. held in October 2003.

Mr. McKenzie told the meeting that the minutes had been circulated as well as appearing on the Association’s website and that he proposed to take them as read. This was accepted unanimously. No matters where arising from these minutes.

Mr. Bennett who was standing in as chairman in the absence of Mr. Bernard Jarvis then asked Mr. McKenzie to read out his report to the members for the last twelve months.

Mr. McKenzie said that the season was pretty awful weather wise and then went on to thank the members for their response to the annual sportsmanship award. He stated that last years effort was a rather disappointing one that didn’t create a true picture because so many of the members didn’t send in their final tallys. This term had been much better with a healthy response which would and should give a much better picture of who deserved to win the award.

He also went on to say that the league were still suffering from a chronic shortage of umpires to fulfil all the matches. He felt that the clubs could do more to the cause of providing umpires and it was also saddening to see so many officials pulling out as late as 12.00 noon on match days. This practice was not acceptable but there was some instances which were actually worse than that, with some umpires not turning up at their designated venues and not even informing the Umpires Association Secretary!

Mr. McKenzie also said that the league was lucky to have so many umpires with most of the matches being staffed whilst other neighbouring combinations could only staff as many as two divisions and the rest had to do without. However this should not be taken as a sign of complacency and everything must be done towards fully staffing every match in every division.

The rules regarding the number of overs bowled and the wearing of helmets by young players was not completely carried out but Mr. McKenzie stated this was not completely the fault of the umpires. The clubs themselves know these rules and should be doing everything in their power to make sure they are carried out to the full.

The disciplinary committee met on seven occasions during the summer and Mr. McKenzie hoped that this could be brought down more with players behaving themselves and also working within the spirit of the game.

A full programme of speakers has been arranged throughout the winter for the monthly meetings and Mr. McKenzie thanked Mr. John Leaning for his help in organising these events. He stated that the leagues website was now in full operation and this had helped to keep costs down.

The C.R.B. clearance certificate which all umpires should hold next season is going quite well with now around 110 officials either having or applied for it. Mr. McKenzie then went on to thank everyone who had been so helpful over the past twelve months and finally concluded by paying an enormous debt of gratitude to Mr. Geoff Holden who has retired from his position as Umpires Appointments Secretary after sixteen years, a truly remarkable record.

In the absence of Mr. Holden, Mr. John Leaning read out his final report and the emphasis was once again on the shortage of umpires. From a supplementary list of 41 umpires, only six officiated during the season which is not a record one could feel proud of.

Mr. McKenzie than read out the financial report thanking Mr. Roger Heath for his help in preparing the statement and stating that the Associations finances were in a far healthier state than they were twelve months ago.

The presentation of the Joe Richardson Memorial Trophy was deferred until the November meeting as was the presentation of 20 year service ties to Messrs. John Hayes, Trevor Mitchell and George Wood.

The election of officers saw Mr. Mike Smedley re-elected as President, Mr. Bernard Jarvis as Chairman and Mr. Peter McKenzie as Secretary/Treasurer. The appointment as the new Umpires Association Secretary was proposed as Mr. John Leaning but as this is an appointment made by the league it could not be ratified until after the A.G.M. in November. The appointment of another member to the committee to make up the ten places was also deferred until the November meeting.

Several nominations regarding objections and procedure will be presented at the league’s A.G.M. and a change to rule 6.2 regarding the cancellations of umpires and the appointments secretary will also be offered at this meeting.

It was also unanimously voted that Mr. Geoff Holden becomes a life Vice-President and Mr. Reg Beresford a life member of the Association in respect of the wonderful service given by these two stalwarts. Mr. John Heaman paid tribute to all the work done by Mr. Holden over a period of 25 years as secretary of Hasland Cricket Club, Umpires Appointment Secretary and his work as the Derbyshire Umpires training officer. Mr. Beresford was also praised for long and loyal service by Mr. Gerry Graney.

A demonstration of Table Cricket then took place in the Squash Courts and the presentation of a trophy in memory of the late Mr. Eric Adwick was presented to his family. After this the meeting was closed.