WOW. That didn't take long did it? Sixteen months ago the Irish cricketers were bombarded with well-wishes from presidents, taoisigh and ministers galore. Cricket was the new soccer and politicians would not be ungenerous when it came to helping the game grow even faster. So, how exactly did the government keep this promise?
Last week Martin Cullen, TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism announced allocations of €50m to 682 separate sports projects under the Sports Capital Programme. So, how did the sport that provided such national joy in 2007 fare? How did the state recognise the efforts of the RTE team of the year? How exactly did they fulfill those extravagant pre-election promises. Well, Civil Service CC, the thriving and progressive junior club in the Phoenix Park got EUR6,500. And! well that's it.
'Thanks Trent, Boyd and Niall, we really enjoyed having our pictures taken with you. Here's 0.013% of our sports funding for next year.' Even allowing for the numbers playing the game, cricket gets less than a quarter of what it is entitled to per capita. And that for a game that is delivering at all levels of international competition (congratulations to Phil Simmons' charges on their third successive European Championship) and also on a community basis as the most welcoming sport to the New Irish.
The allocations were sent to the media last week with a full list of recipients. Hidden in the excel document was a list of those unlucky clubs that applied for grants, which included Avondale (perhaps not as well-connected politically as they used to be!), St Johnston, The Hills, Railway Union, Leinster, Halverstown and Co Laois.
So, what can cricketers do? Well the programme is part-funded by the National Lottery, so perhaps if individuals boycotted that form of taxation it would be a start. And should we qualify for the Twenty20 World Cup on Tuesday, Mr Cullen should be told he is not required to spew out his congratulations. And his tickets for Lord's raffled off.
A successful cricket ‘World Cup' was held in Limerick last weekend as part of the Garda Siochana's multicultural programme. Sixteen teams took part in the competition at Castletroy, which was organized by community Garda Chris McGrath. The final was won by the Pakistan Panthers who beat the Pakistan Tigers.
One of the most pointless fixtures ever to have been undertaken by an Irish side takes place in Shenley this week against MCC. With the Stormont tournament and the Intercontinental Cup overlapping, none of the 20/20 or four day squad is available. And Matt Dwyer's Under 19s are rightly taking first claim on underage players for their European Championship.
There was a bit of muttering around the grounds this week that those selected were all from north of the border, but I prefer to think that it shows that the days of horse-trading selections are gone. For far too long it was old 'four NCU, four LCU, two North-West and Jack Short'. And that is with absolutely no disrespect to Jack Short either.
All that said, it looks a weak ‘A' squad and should really be renamed Ireland ‘C'.
The new issue, No.5, of Cover Point is out now and is available in several club bars and retail outlets. It has played itself in well and the latest issue is packed with interesting articles. Particularly poignant is what is billed as the last interview given by John Wright, while there is a nice interview with Tony Ward who helped get Limerick CC off the ground back in the 1970s.