The Telegraph’s recent article by Chief Sports reporter Jeremy Wilson with the headline: ‘Grass-roots sports clubs are dying out’ has got me hot under the collar.
I am particularly twitchy as it’s another national newspaper making depressing, sweeping statements about the state of recreational sport.
The sub-heading states: ‘With life habits changing and the effects of Covid still being felt, many community clubs are fearing for their future.’ I don’t believe that either; some may well be fearful, some are getting by and some are prospering. As ever, it’ll depend on who you ask, where you look and what mood they’re in.
Quite a few cricket clubs told me, whispered under their breath, that while Covid was undoubtedly tough in many ways, they emerged from it financially better off. The challenge, of course, was that not all players, umpires or volunteers returned to the game.
I ought to say that The Telegraph article is not just about cricket but looks at grassroots football and rugby too. It is well researched, has multiple interviews and the gloomy outlook certainly has some truth to it. These are volunteers who live and breath the game after all.
Jeremy writes: “It is a story that can be heard across the country not just in men’s cricket but 11-a-side football and 15-a-side rugby as costs soar, work patterns evolve, volunteering declines, and decades of community tradition breaks down.”
It’s a nostalgic look at a debate that I saw coming a mile off.
Incidentally, Jeremy reached out to me, we had a chat by phone and he asked for a quote to understand more about recreational cricket in Yorkshire. That none of it was used in his feature is no problem at all but I can’t help but wonder if it’s because my optimism didn’t fit the narrative.
Glass(houses) half empty?
Yes, there is a humbling truth that recreational cricket in one of its traditional heartlands (here in Yorkshire) has seen the loss of clubs and leagues as many have disappeared over decades.
There are many reasons for this from fewer cricket grounds to changing behaviour to technology, travel and greater competition than cricket once faced. Comparing the post-war prosperity of club cricket to 2025 is unsurprisingly going to yield some massive change.
A problem with an article like this is that it paints the same forlorn picture while conveniently ignoring any of the success stories that are out there. What about new teams, new clubs, new leagues, new formats? What about the incredible volunteers in club cricket who are doing so much for their communities?
However, my biggest gripe is that someone I have the greatest respect for, Ken Hainsworth at Glasshouses Cricket Club, is the poster-boy for The Telegraph article. The stories Jeremy has teased out about Ken’s life are beautiful like the six that ended up in Harrogate, courtesy of a cargo train. Yes, it celebrates him – but in the context of crisis.
His devotion to Glasshouses is phenomenal, something you’ll already know well if you are a regular reader of Cricket Yorkshire or my books.
The challenges facing recreational cricket – cost, volunteers, competition for attention and time commitments – aren’t new but they are nuanced. In this shifting climate, some work out a way to thrive regardless and other clubs don’t. I say that without any judgement whatsoever.
Two of the clubs I have played cricket for have folded – but I am nearly 50 not out. There are lots of examples of village cricket teams doing well too. I can back that up as I’ve done hundreds of interviews over decades. It also depends how you judge the health of a sport, doesn’t it? Purely numerically or in other ways?
Ken is a legend. Not a term I ever really use. It would be tragic if the glorious Glasshouses ground disappears but I’d be surprised to see that happen because teams will travel far to call it ‘home’. Meanwhile, one team clubs with no juniors like Glasshouses are as important as any other but are always going to be on a potential knife-edge.
So, yes, SOME grassroots sports clubs are dying out – but that’s inevitable for a myriad of reasons and not the complete picture.
What Jeremy’s article does do is encourage debate about the state of the game which is no bad thing. Club cricket is getting ever-more bureaucratic and volunteers are being crushed under the weight of admin. It is increasingly expensive to offer cricket at grassroots at a time when we’re trying to encourage more to give it a go.
Quite a bit of funding is naturally skewed towards national strategic objectives and while supporting say women and girls’ cricket or opportunities for disability cricket is absolutely right, it is creating a sense in some communities of being left behind or ignored if they don’t tick certain boxes.
There is also a relentless drive for participation – and why wouldn’t you want more adults and children to discover cricket – but starting something and maintaining it over years needs careful thought. How can volunteers be better supported to deliver all of this cricket?
What the example of Glasshouses – and many before it – shows is that the contraction of club cricket leaves gaps. What you get are bigger clubs with more teams and bigger leagues but areas of Yorkshire and elsewhere without. A re-mapping of recreational cricket has already happened and will continue to shift.
That creates its own pressures. Just organising leagues in a way that is fair, keeps travel distances down where possible and maintains standards is not one for the faint-hearted.
Overall though, I am (frustratingly perhaps) upbeat about the prospects for grassroots cricket in Yorkshire. Maybe that’s because I no longer volunteer. Maybe because I believe in people. Either way, your own experience and points of view are always welcome if you want to leave a comment here.
What are your thoughts?
Leave a comment below – I read them all – but you’ll need to leave a name and email address.
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I stopped volunteering in 2020, when I stopped auditing the accounts for my club. I still pay a sub to the club and used to go to the annual dinner, but as that tradition went, my last link (other than a bank transfer) to the club is a Christmas Eve punsch in Vienna city centre. It’s difficult enough balancing work and family (there are enough challenges on that front). In hindsight the years of volunteering (15-20 hours a week in my 20s) took a larger toll than I realised. I came to resent helping and not playing, and then when the league said I had to score with a computer, I decided that was it for me (my scoring days were supposed to be a break from the computer screen).
That’s understandable Mike. I get scoring online for following live match updates, ECB data capture etc but I still have a quiet thrill from seeing a paper book as it’s increasingly rare.
Acutely agree with the need to be offline sometimes too. I’m always curious how volunteers recruit but also retain volunteers in club cricket. I’ve talked to enough volunteers who end up resenting their roles to know that it’s often left to a small core to do everything. In other news, hope you’re doing well and enjoying the Ashes, if that’s possible 🙂
Hi John.
I honestly believe that the shortage of volunteers is the biggest issue in Club Cricket at present.
if you were to do an audit of Clubs and Leagues you will see the demographic of many volunteers as being white males over 65.
I am absolutely thrilled to see some youngsters on club committees, eg my Club have 2 youngsters in charge of Social Media.
in the main, I don’t see where the next wave of committee members are coming from.
League committees are a real issue, I don’t know of many Ppl eague Officials under 60! ( I hope I’m wrong)
the other issues are the payment of players, and the constant merry go round of some players who will move for an extra fiver, the lack of Officials, and the lack of playing facilities..
Lots of good points Steve from your personal experience. It’s such a key question, isn’t it?
How do you incentivise volunteers to get involved in the first place? How does the game address this over the next decade?
I note the NYSD and other leagues are offering extra cash incentives to umpires (pretty standard) so is the future paying more people other than players?
Lots of questions in there….
think word needs to get out that there are benefits to volunteering…… life skills….. feeling of worthfulness.. we have just recruited a new treasurer who is hoping to qualify as an accountant. our Social Media team are aged 20 (? ) and 15. the youngest hopes it will enhance his work at school. think ECB ,YCF ,Leagues should look into how to recruit volunteers and share their findings with Clubs
Couldn’t agree more there… lots of benefits both practical, social and everything else.
You’ll know more than I do if clubs have access to ECB resources on volunteering and how to recruit/reward/retain them.
I agree it’s such a priority, perhaps more focus, help needed.
Well said Steve all very true! I’m finding availability and commitment is a massive problem there seems to be more of a trend towards playing 4/5 games a year when the sun shines and cricket on TV (bit like tennis in Wimbledon week).
The governing bodies including ECB create so many hurdles too! whilst we all want a safe environment I’ve campaigned to not give a captain / secretary / scorer a reason to stand down yet the red tape bulls**t keeps coming!
It’s taken me three attempts to do DBS because the system is faulty for the third year running.
People also want pay and play so without massive sponsorship we’ll be like golf club fees soon.
grassroots cricket is struggling because of the lack of volunteers. .more paperwork DBS checks make it harder for people to get involved. less young players coming into the game too ..we seem to get them playing earlier all-star and Diamonds are a brilliant introduction to our wonderful game . but keeping those young one playing into their teens and early twenties is a problem..
Thanks Geoff, the problem of retaining teens is no easy fix but I do think there are ways clubs and leagues can try to involve that demographic more in the running of things.
How many clubs or leagues involve juniors / 20-somethings in any way whatsoever?
More incentives, as Steve said, to promote professional development, work experience and life skills.
There is loads of admin and, as an outsider talking to clubs, it seems to increase in volume, complexity and potential consequences for not doing it.
As Steve says above,I honestly think the biggest thing is volunteers.
It’s always the same 6 or 7 people that do everything and others claiming they don’t have time. If a club has 30 members who just do an hour every other week of something,be it painting the junior lines or marking the boundary line,it cuts down on so much for them 6 or 7.
But it doesn’t seem to be forthcoming and so things get left,People complain and it’s a negative merry go round.
Covid I think did help clubs financially and I’ve gotta be honest ours has flourished since covid….we now have 4 senior teams on a Saturday(4th team is regulalry fielding juniors and ladies),2 evening teams,a ladies team and then an u9s,u11s,u13s and 15s teams,most of which started from All stars…..but all that has taken so much work from a very few people.
So we realise we’re lucky as we have the volunteers but as the top comment says,you can come to resent it too as you slog your backside off whilst only asking for a little bit of help….but the rewards are amazing.
Cheers for sharing this Danny. Congrats on the growth of teams at your club. I don’t know what the magic answer is to volunteering. Some clubs take quite an upfront / ‘this is part of your membership’ stance to some degree of helping out, beyond playing. Don’t know if that works, it might in some cases.
The other side of the coin (again, def not all clubs) is to what extent volunteers will share responsibilities with others when it’s their way of doing things / perhaps easier and quicker if they just do it instead of explaining / mentoring others.
Mostly though, I think the resentment builds when repeat calls for help don’t get answered and it’s left to that core you talk about.
What help would your club most benefit from in relation specifically to volunteering?
A really thoughtful article John, thanks. It’s easy to wish things were like they used to, but without a time machine we have to live in the present and for the future. I’m seeing growth sparked by All Stars/Dynamos/club junior sections and programmes such as Lord’s Taverners, MCC Hubs, Chance to Shine, ACE Foundation, SACA and many great clubs and schools, with many more women and girls and people with disabilities playing the game. Declaration of interest: I work for a county cricket board. The game is changing, hasn’t it always? In my (not particularly diverse) county, 16 out of the 25 new teams are south asian, playing on public parks. Without them numbers would actually be down! The contributor above mentioned committees – my favourite stat is 72% of players are <35, 79% of administrators are 52-79 (me included, just!). The game has been driven by 'standards' and has a tendency for unnecessary over-complicating things. One of Yorkshire's own, Rob Richtering, nailed it with the phrase 'Cricket Prevention Officers'. The landscape is changing, so rather than doubling down and retreating, I think there's a great opportunity for the game to adapt and grow by simplifying some of its structures and just doing basic things well – listening to players and volunteers, and acting on what they want and the game needs.
Thanks Simon – really good to get your views on here and successes in your county. Simplifying structures is an interesting one – it comes from the top down via ECB, YCF etc to clubs.
I don’t have an easy answer to reducing / easing up on admin and processes but it would make a major difference for someone giving up an evening / weekend or putting off a potential volunteer once they realise some of the hoops to jump through. Of course, various jobs and roles in cricket require that legally too.
As for demographics, it’s a game that hoovers up time and well suited to retirement age but the women and girls game is younger but still needs organising so it feels natural to me to use that as a
template to learn from and adapt the men’s game. Keep in touch, pleased you read CY and all the best with your own projects in Hampshire.
Due to its size Yorkshire often encounters problems first, and solves them!
I’ll not comment on volunteers as already nicely covered by others. we have introduced women and girls teams in the last 5 years and they’ve been like a breath of fresh air with their energy and commitment on and off the field. I do think the ECB ivory towers do promote the latest inclusion and diversity initiative but they need to be careful not to neglect other areas… ground maintenance (when did we last see a funding round from the ECB to help clubs buy new machinery?) and linked to that pitch capacity. ‘you must have juniors at all age groups, you must have a women’s team, you must have girls teams. Capacity at ours full.