Sunday February 15, 2015 is the date set for clubs to register or re-register with, at minimum, the Toronto and District Cricket Association (TDCA) and the Mississauga Cricket League. Clubs who register after that date will face a late registration penalty, and in the TDCA late registering clubs may end up being scheduled to play on dates other than their preferred dates. An article about the approaching registration deadline for the Mississauga Cricket League appeared in a recent edition of “South Asian Focus”.
Seemingly the Cricket Council of Ontario (whose title appears as “Cricket Council of Canada” on the latest incarnation of that provincial governing body of cricket’s website) is hosting a series of meetings on February 21,2015 at a venue that is, as yet, to be disclosed. One of the meetings is geared towards the “Academies” between 4.30pm and 5.30pm, of which there are none if reliance is placed on the current drop-down option on the official CCO website. This seeming lack of academies may explain why that particular meeting is not allocated much time to discuss whatever specific agenda might exist if there were participating members and the relevant CCO executives were on hand to provide guidance, advice and counsel.
The drop-down list of Full members of the CCO also seems to have no entries, which may explain why there is no venue for the projected meetings at present. The logos of three, presumably full member leagues, do appear on the official website. A meeting of Affiliate members is also included on the overall agenda, but there is not even a drop-down option on the menu that allows discovery of who these are, or might be.
“SmartiGo” gains a mention in the website headings, The two Ontario teams that played in the 2014 Canada Cup Under-17 Championship at Centennial Park, Etobicoke, seemed to have kitbags provided by SmartiGo. People might think some kind of thank you might appear on the CCO’s website as a public gesture of appreciation. However, some may hold different ideas which may have a bearing on why sponsors slip through the nets of Canadian cricket.
It may be of interest that there is cricket scheduled at the Loyalist Rugby Club in Fredericton, New Brunswick on Saturday February 21, 2015 as the latest version of Cricket New Brunswick’s Snow Cricket 5-on-6 Festival is due to be played. The current forecast seems to suggest the snow will still be on the ground in Fredericton.
A touch of snow may fall on Saturday in Toronto, based on a Thursday weather report, when the playoffs of the Under-15 Kings Cup are scheduled for indoor 8-a-side play at Sorkkam’s facility on Ellesmere Road, Toronto/Scarborough.
Best wishes to the participating players and coaches in both these February 2015 cricketing events that are taking place during the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Meanwhile, perhaps the current executives of the CCO might need to do some work to meet the stated objectives of “open and transparent governance” before whatever meetings take place when a suitable venue has been found. One could argue that the existing situation looks rather open and transparent in a manner that would not attract potential sponsors to the sport of cricket. Major improvement is needed, in my opinion, and many of the players, match officials and the diligent scorers deserve to see such major improvements at the provincial level and within the individual leagues within Ontario.
How can invisible administrators at the provincial level provide assistance to the smaller, developing leagues to ensure sustained development and growth of cricket in Ontario?
The 2014 Final of the Elite Division of Canada’s leading league, the TDCA, took place without an advertising sign for any of the sponsors that had helped the league or any of the participating clubs. A game that ought to be a focal point from a broader perspective of just the players who took part, and some of their families and friends who turned up for the “event”.
The Loyalist Rugby Club in Fredericton entered the 2014 Aviva Community Fund competition, I only noticed that item during the course of this week. Someone provided some good reasons why the expanding club which has rugby, cricket and volleyball as leading sporting activities needs to expand and improve the available facilities for members. It appears they did not win any of the available prize money, but they will surely try again this year if Aviva runs another competition.
The Sparkling St Edmunds cricket grounds in King City, Ontario, certainly could do with some significant funding to restore the drainage system and address some other needs. Perhaps the CCO Executive should try and push the TDCA Executive into some meaningful action on this matter. Some of the people involved with the TDCA have the ability to produce a well thought out action plan and work out potential costs. Although some may be a little short on such skills. Perhaps there is a constructive need to map human resource skills to needs when selecting and electing board and executive members to the various levels of cricket governance in Canada: leagues, provinces and national levels; possibly even regional levels where developing provinces could combine to help each other.
Eddie Norfolk