It is always hard to assess how much impact any suggestions to improve local cricket has on the average club player. One thing about having an online presence is that opinions are expressed openly and the pace of change is greater than at any time I can remember. However the vast majority of cricketers fall into the silent camp that read but never comment on any suggestions to move the game forward. Therefore it is difficult to assess the feelings of the people who ultimately decide the future.

The NCU and the ICU have now got new boards and many of the areas of responsibility and reporting structures are still being sorted out. This is a bedding in time for the new bodies and at the moment much of the ‘nitty-gritty' is being prioritised rather than future forward planning, although much of the work carried out by the Forward Planning Directorate seems excellent stuff. I think in due course we will see a much more proactive approach by the new bodies and we will be hearing from the North West soon regarding their own Development plan.

Driving a process of change forward is a difficult thing not least as it is unclear who does the driving. The NCU AGM largely consists of proposals made by the clubs regarding rule changes. The clubs decide what goes on the agenda, the clubs vote on this and it is they who decide which changes are made and which are not. However most clubs are generally reactionary to what happened in the previous season and build upon that system. In other words we get a series of rule changes that are a bit like a modern day Tower of Babel each built upon the last. Each proposal is treated with suspicion. This is because nobody trusts the club that proposed it.

‘Why are they doing that?'
‘What's in it for them?'
‘What do we stand to lose?'

Those are the immediate reactions. However, that said, when the Union takes a lead, such as the proposals to streamline the administration with the new Directorates, the clubs generally approve and are happy to be led. By and large the clubs don't really care how the thing is run as long as it is done smoothly. It is only when it goes wrong that people go up in arms about the administrators. They in turn claim they are only following the rules the clubs themselves voted into existence.

The difficulty arises when you want to make major changes to the whole dynamic of our local game. Who drives that process, the clubs or the Union? The Union will say the clubs as they must make the proposals to come before the AGM. However I would argue that it must come from the Union itself. Clubs are completely incapable of making that decision. The reason they are incapable is because they can only relate to how it affects them and not look at the bigger picture. Any self respecting club committee will look after there own interests first and in a world where a 60% majority is required to make a change we find ourselves in limbo.

However the fact remains that although the NCU Development proposals appeared to have a lukewarm reception at the regional meetings it was never put to the vote at an AGM. Who knows what the thoughts are of the silent majority. The issues brought up by the committee haven't gone away, namely:

• The current structures are 30 years old
• Ireland will have gone from virtually no competitive cricket (30 years ago) to over 20 days worth during the 2007 season
• The NCU must play its part in producing and developing International cricketers
• There is no room within the current structure for ‘best versus best' within an Inter-Provincial structure

The conclusions they have come to is to continue discussions within the NCU and NWCU regarding the creation in the medium term of an Ulster League.

What they didn't say in their report was that in all likelihood for an Ulster League to go ahead on a proper League basis similar to the one I proposed in an earlier posting, would require a genuine merging of the NCU and NWCU. That is why we got a proposal that wasn't quite a league and wasn't quite a Cup. A merger of the two Ulster Unions would make a lot of sense especially given the way the LCU is flexing its muscle in the corridors of power within the ICU. The largest body would most definitely be in the North. The NCU, NWCU and the NICA becoming one body is as radical as it gets. It is one thing for clubs to be prepared to make sacrifices for the greater good of the game in Ireland but are the administrators themselves prepared to make those sacrifices as well?