Global Cooling…

That’s what they are saying at the Met Office. After decades of temperatures rising we are now being told to expect cool wet days in future Summers. As cricketers I do believe we have experienced that already over the last 2 Summers….!!
Happy New Year to you all!! I do hope that you have all been wintering well. Preparations for the new season are well underway and we, at Management level, are ‘open for business’. If either my colleagues or I can help you in any way please do not hesitate to ask. Best of luck to all clubs in 2010!

TVL AGM November 2009

The 2009 AGM raised no major issues however it was disappointing that 11 clubs did not attend the AGM. Some of these clubs did not attend the 2008 AGM. We may well have to work out a way to ‘encourage’ these clubs to attend future meetings. Don’t forget that this is the one and only meeting we have and is a chance for all member clubs to air their views.
On a brighter note the meeting was happy to acknowledge the contributions of Management member Barrie Hatch who had recently stepped down at committee level. He was presented with a silver salver to mark his many years contributing to the TVL.

Eligibility!

2009 was a quiet year on the eligibility front but even so we saw unregistered overseas players, 2 overseas players in the same team, unregistered inter club transfers, a banned player turning out for a club new to him and an Under 11 playing without League permission.
All of the offending teams were fined League points but escaped the full loss of all points gained in the games where offenders took part, due to various mitigating circumstances.
There have been no fundamental changes to the eligibility rules for 2010, although some tidying up took place at the AGM.
There is however one important administrative change for 2010 in that those who can sign forms for registering overseas players and inter club transfers on behalf of clubs has been standardised so that in future only The Chairman, Secretary or the Treasurer of the Club may sign on behalf of the club
Revised formats of both forms are now on the TVL website and must be used as any old style forms that are submitted will not be acceptable.
Apart from the arrangement to bring both forms under the same rules it has been deemed necessary to stop all and sundry signing forms and require signatures only from those senior officials who will be taking full responsibility for the legal ramifications of registering overseas players and ensuring that they have done a full background check on all new players.

Club Officers Forms!

These were sent to all clubs at the beginning of January. Please get them back to me by 28th February. Failure to do so will attract a £25 fine!!

Dinner& Awards Evening!

Our annual Awards ceremony took place on Friday 23rd Oct at Slough CC, where trophies were handed out to Divisional winning teams and individual players who performed well last season. Guest of honour for the evening was former England and Notts player, Derek Randall, who had most of us in stitches. Once again the event was ‘sold out’ and oversubscribed. This event is more popular than ever and we have now decided to change the venue to the Concorde club at British Airways. The new venue has a higher capacity which means we can guarantee places for all requests for seats this year. Our thanks to Slough CC for being hosts over so many years.

2010 Handbook/Match Ball Invoices!

Club secretaries should prepare themselves to receive these invoices by the end of February. Please advise Martin House asap if you would like these invoices forwarded to someone other than yourself.

CCPR Sports Club of the Year

CCPR’s Sports Club of the Year Awards, run in association with the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and Runningsports, recognise clubs which have made an outstanding contribution within their community. £15,000 will be split between 6 winners. The deadline for applications is 19th February.
The application form and further details are available on the CCPR website.

TVL Rep Games

The TVL rep team will be playing Harefield CC on 26th July. If there are any other clubs who would like to host a game then please do let me know asap.

World Cup 2010

As mentioned at the AGM the League have no objection if clubs want to alter start times during the World Cup. However the home team must obtain the approval of the visiting team and match officials.

Rule Changes adopted at the TVCL 2009 AGM -IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

There were a number of rule change proposals made by the Mancom that were adopted by Member Clubs at the TVCL 2009 AGM. Most significant of these is the introduction of a five points instead of £10 penalty given to Clubs on each and every occasion in Divisions 1 to 4 that they fail to provide an umpire when a panel umpire is not appointed.
A separate email with accompanying clarification document will be issued to Member Clubs and all are urged with much urgency to take the required relevant action to avoid incurring the above points penalty for infringing the newly adopted rule.

From the ECB- Club Business Rates

The cost of business rates has long been an issue for cricket clubs but some help has been available –

• Some Local Authorities have granted discretionary relief which may have been as high as 100% in some cases.
• Clubs which are registered as CASC’s are given 80% mandatory relief which costs the Local Authority nothing since it is borne out of Central Government resources.

There have been two recent developments which may increase the business rates paid by a cricket club-

• There have been instances where Local Authorities have removed discretionary rate relief
• A business rate review is being undertaken by Local Authorities with new rating values applying from April 2010. Every club which is liable to pay rates should have received notice of the new rating value.

These developments have the potential to significantly increase rates bills. The ECB would like to gauge whether as a result there will be a significant increase in rates costs for the Recreational Game nationally. Please e-mail dave.leighton@ecb.co.uk with details if your club is facing major changes in its rates bill for 2010 as a consequence of either of the above.

Sponsorship of Clubs

If your club is considering a sponsorship proposal from an offshore betting provider, be aware that problems may follow. The Gambling Commission has prepared a short advice note on gambling sponsorship to help clubs stay within the law.
Clubs that fail to adhere to this guidance are open to potential prosecution.

Important Dates!

The following dates should be noted for the coming League season, which is now less than 4 months away: -

• Feb 28th – last submission date for Club Officers form
• Apr 28th – Ball/Handbook collection evening (Slough)
• May 8th – Season starts
• Sep 4th – Season ends
• Sept 29th - Last date for submission of proposals by Full Member Clubs to AGM
• Oct 22tnd – League Awards & Dinner (British Airways)
• Nov 24th – AGM (Slough)

Wishing you a good winter! - Raj