TOO MANY TEAMS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 35, 10 August 1927, Page 10

TOO MANY TEAMS

WELLINGTON CRICKET

IMPROVING THE STANDARD

VARIOUS SCHEMES

The idea of introducing a new scheme with a view to improving local cricket is still occupying the attention of the Wellington Cricket Association and affiliated clubs. In the hope of reaching some finality, delegates will be given an opportunity shortly to consider various proposals which have been made. The Management Committee of tho Wellington Cricket Association again considered at its last meeting ways and means of affecting an improvement, and the outcome of a lengthy discussion was that a scheme suggested by Mr. M'Kenzie should be brought to the notice of club delegates at a special meeting, with a view to opening up discussion on tho whole position. Mr. M'Kenzie suggested that, with the object of improving the playing of crickei in Wellington, the number of teams be reduced to six, viz., Wellington Midland, Kilbirnie, Thorndon, Old Boys-University, and Hutt ' "Valley. The proposal was carried at a meeting of the Management Committee of the Wellington Cricket Association, and it will be discussed at a special meeting of delegates of the association, to be held on Monday next, when Mr. M'Kenzie will move his proposal as a motion In "support of his proposal Mr.' M Kenzie says that he believes that Wellington cricket, to make any advancement at all, can only stand six senior teams. Tl.re were facts and figures to prove that. What the six teams should bo was the point round which argument would settle. His opinion was that a district scheme was the solution at the present time. To bring it into operation, however, disorganisation was bound to result, and probably it would take a couple of years for things to settle down. • His suggestion was in the nature of a semi-district scheme, and the clubs las he had set them out could become district clubs without much trouble or the disorganising of the play. Much financial worry concerning material, etc., would, also be saved. For instance, Kilbirnie could become Wellington East, Midland Wellington Central Wellington Wellington North, Thorndon Wellington Suburbs, with Hutt Valley and Old Boys-University as the teams necessary to make up the complement. His scheme left the whole of the other clubs as constituted at present, including Boys' Institute and V.M.C.A., to enter teams for the junior and lower-grade championships. Even with tho introduction of a district scheme, Eastbourne, Johnsonville, Karori, Khandallah, and sueh-like teams would preserve their separate identity. ijR- BROAD'S SCHEME. With other schemes now under consideration one formulated by Mr. P. B. Broad some time ago is worthy of attention. In submitting his scheme to the Management Committee of the Wellington Cricket Association, Mr. Broad said that he had been guided by two considerations, and had endeavoured to keep them steadily in view. They wore: (1) District cricket to succeed in Wellington must be based as far as possible upon the existing clubs, consequently (2) the new scheme should involve no abrupt change, and should interfere as little as possible with old ties, interests, and associations. DIVISION OP CLUBS. "With these two ends in viow," said Mr. Broad, "I have spent some considerable time in attempting to classify the existing clubs to see whether it was not possible to evolve a scheme which would embody the principle of district cricket, while it preserved as far as possible the existence of the present clubs. I found upon examination that the existing clubs can be divided naturally into four classes, and this gave me a basis upon which to work." The classes were: (I) District clubs—i.e., clubs consisting of players resident in a particular district. (2) Clubs connected with educational institutions. (3) Clubs which are based on institutions other than educational institutions. (4) Cricket clubs pure and simple. He thought that tho Hutt Valley in any scheme of district cricket could be regarded as one unit only. If the senior clubs were to be restricted to six, it obviously would be unsound to allow two of that number to exist in what was naturally only one district. The first district he suggested, should comprise the Hutt, Petone, Eastbourne, and Petone Wesley Clubs, with grounds at Hutt, Petone, and Eastbourne. An appropriate name for the district would be "The Valley" or "The Hutt Valley." The second district Mr. Broad r iggested should be called Thorndon. It was a district which might be defined as all that area lying west and north of the Hutt road, Thorndon quay, Lambton quay, Woodward street, The Terrace, Mount street, Kelburn parade, Plunket street, Baroa road, and the district lying west of the Karori tunnel. Kilbirnie, he thought, should be the third district, which he would define as that lying east of a line drawn from Point Jerningham and passing along the Town Belt to Haughton Bay. TWO VITAL FACTORS. The matter that was likely to cause the most contention was the three remaining districts. He had been impressed by two factors that vitally affected the whole question of district cricket in Wellington. They were: (1) The strength in Wellington both iii' numbers and in quality of such clubs as those connected with institutions, and clubs connected with educational institutions. (2) The utter lack of natural districts, when one excluded Thorndon and Kilbirnie. That being so, he had been forced to the conclusion that for the three remaining districts it was necessary to depart from the territorial idea of a district, and find a line of demarcation in something else. He suggested that the fourth district consist of institutions and comprise members of the V.M.C.A., Institute Old Boys, Railways, St. Thomas's, and Stop Out Clubs, provided that such members were not resident j in one of the following three districts —Hutt Valley, Thorndon, and Kilbirnie. Tho fifth district, he considered, should be known as "The Colts," with membership to be restricted to boys attending Wellington' College, Wellesley College, St. Patrick's College, Scots College, Technical College, students actually attending a course of lectures at Victoria University College, existing members of tho Old Boys' Club and of the Marist Old Boys' Club, and future old boys of Wellington College, or Marist old boys resident in a district other than Hutt Valley, Thorndon, or Kilbirnie. His final suggestion was that the sixth district be known as Wellington, and consist of players resident in the area lying between the districts of Kilbirnio and Thorndon. It would bo seen, stated Mr. Broad, in making comments on his scheme, that it was practically in the nature of .a compulsory amalgamation of clubs. Ho thought,-however, that there should be as little compulsion as possible, and that, therefore, lower-grade clubs should, where possible, bo allowed to continue their existence as separate entities. He felt very strongly that the six senior district clubs must have as feeders for their senior team one

junior district team, consisting of th? eleven next best players in that particular district, irrespective of the club they might belong to. Hence the executive in each district would be entitled to call upon any player in the district to play for the senior or junior district team. Below those first two grades he thought there should be three grades, A, B, and C (with, if possible, not exceeding ten teams in each grade) playing two-day matches, and that in those competitions such clubs as preferred to continue to exist as separate entities be allowed to enter teams under the names of tho clubs concerned, but through the medium of the district executive. His idea was that each district should be entitled to six delegates, but that each district should be required to furnish to the association within three months a report showing how it proposed that the existing clubs in the district should have representation. Mr. Broad made several suggestions with regard to the internal organisation of each district. DEFECTS AND WEAKNESSES. In conclusion Mr. ; Broad said that he put forward his proposal with a good deal of hesitation, arising chiefly from the fact that he could see defects and weaknesses in the scheme. Nevertheless, if a change to district cricket was necessary, ho believed it could be introduced harmoniously only' on Ijhe lines ho indicated, or'a modification of those lines. DISTRICT CRICKET. "I am an out-and-out advocate of district cricket," remarked Mr. Roy S. Johnston, a member of the Management Committee of the Wellington Cricket Association, '' for the simple reason that I consider it to be more in the interests of cricket to have six district clubs well managed rather than twenty-four clubs as at the. present time. If we had a district scheme in operation there would be a stepping-stone from one team to another, which would thus enable young,players to go right through to first-grade cricket without a change of club. Under the present arrangement, players belonging to a junior club get to the top junior grade, and there remain because they have no desire to leave their particular club. "In the meantime, I am supporting Mr. D. M'Kenzie's scheme in the hope that it will be. a stepping-stone to the district scheme. We have to get a scheme which will stand the test of time, and which will stop the perennial bickering as to which club is to play senior and otherwise. The district scheme would overcome the problem which is at present before the Management Committee. The main argument put forward against district cricket seems to be that Wellington does not lend itself to subdivision into districts. I do not see that Wellington is so geographically.situated that it cannot be- split up into defined areas. Another force which comes into the question is that we have to look to the older countries for a lead. In England they have denned county cricket, and in Australia it is all practically district cricket so far as the major association are concerned. If district cricket functions there, why not in Wellington?"