Why Yorkshire Cricket affiliation makes sense

Club affiliation through league cricket

Give or take, (whether they know it or not) 95% of cricket clubs do actually affiliate to the Yorkshire Cricket Board via the leagues as part of their annual league fees.

A mention too for the Yorkshire Cricket Board’s Derek Shuttleworth who is in his mid-eighties and has been their (volunteer) affiliation secretary for nearly three decades.

Without the aid of either PC or email, apparently, which just shows there’s life beyond the digital realm…

Still, there will be many cricket clubs out there that aren’t affiliated; perhaps also teams that get together for a game at a less organised and formal level.

To that end, it’s definitely worth flagging up the recent changes introduced by ‘Yorkshire Cricket’ (the YCB, Yorkshire CCC and Yorkshire Cricket Foundation combined) relating to the affiliation offering.

**Editors note – it might be easy if you’re scanning this article to confuse the terms ‘Yorkshire Cricket’ and our good selves here at ‘Cricket Yorkshire’. Just to be clear, it’s not this website offering affiliation**

For clubs unsure about an association with the county board and county club, there are now more reasons to link up and benefit from experience, expertise and everything from funding to coaching.

What is affiliation?

In its simplest terms, it’s a relationship between a cricket team or club with the county cricket board, county club and the charity (under the ‘Yorkshire Cricket’ umbrella) which has a cost but also associated benefits.

What does it cost?

£45 per club and £15 per team

What are some of the key benefits for 2017?

ECB/YCB competitions:

A primary reason might be cricket clubs seeking to play league or cup cricket within Yorkshire (or other ECB competitions) who need to be affiliated to the Yorkshire Cricket Board (YCB).

T20 tickets:

Each affiliated club gets four T20 tickets to a Yorkshire CCC home game (excluding Lancs fixture) which, when raffled, will likely offset much if not all of the affiliation cost.

Judging from the tweets that crop up in my timeline, cricket clubs often make a day (or night) of it for a T20 for either their entire club or certain teams or junior sections.

Other than fundraising potential, offering up their county tickets from the YCB affiliation is a way clubs can thank some of those hardworking volunteers.

Comprehensive support:

ECB Club accreditation, development planning and funding, help with NatWest CricketForce…it’s all useful stuff for cricket clubs of all sizes and means.

Access to Funding4Sport:

Knowing what funding streams are available and the ability to talk to someone and have online help from a specialist in this area. Richard Sutcliffe can de-mystify the process and criteria and even apply on clubs’ behalf for grants.

YCB Emergency Fund:

Say a cricket club has been vandalised or the wicket has been dug up overnight by an inquisitive family of moles, help is at hand.

Though each case is judged at the YCB’s discretion, they have helped many clubs down the years with a bit of a financial leg up .

Yorkshire Cricket Floods Appeal:

Sometimes, something happens that no-one can adequately prepare for.

The Boxing Day floods that hit the region in late December affected 20 Yorkshire clubs, many of whom will take a considerable time to recover.

At the time it happened, a helpline was set up and £500 from the YCB Emergency Fund immediately allocated to each club with up to £5,000 available via Sport England.

Clubs were visited by a Yorkshire Cricket Floods Taskforce – including Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale and representatives from the YCB, Yorkshire CCC and Yorkshire Cricket Foundation – to assess damage, help with insurance claims and fundraising.

Dan Musson (ECB Facilities & Funding Manager) visited all the flooded clubs and was able to make grant awards on a case-by-case basis on the day to cover any shortfall and assist clubs back on their feet again.

Player pathways:

If your club has juniors that show potential then by being an affiliated club, they can progress through the county age groups.

Equally, the same applies to women’s cricket, disability cricketers and those defying the aches and pains of cricket at the upper age limit with Yorkshire Over 60s.

Training and development:

Local cricket development groups, club events, courses on umpiring, scoring and groundsmanship, you name it and it’s there to be taken advantage of and benefit from.

Don’t miss out…

If you’re a club who haven’t sorted out your 2017 affiliation yet – or haven’t ever considered it before – then take a look at the full range of benefits with the Yorkshire Cricket Affiliation page of the YCB website.

*This article has been updated and refreshed from 2016 to reflect new developments.**