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A Worcestershire supporter, but shared sentiments 18-counties-wide.
(A open letter to the Cricketer)
Sirs,
Who exactly do the ECB and counties consider as the ‘target market’?
I ask the question because I’d consider myself as the perfect ‘target’ and yet I feel disenfranchised and irrelevant to cricket administrators.
Cricket is a huge part of my life and has been for fifty years. I played for 25 years including in the Birmingham League, I’ve been going to New Road since 1977, my daughter played age-group county cricket for four years which meant running her around to training sessions during the winter and all over the place for matches during summer.
I have three sons who all play the game too and I regularly go to internationals with my eldest, I coach and manage my club’s under nines and under 10s. I’m active on social media, discussing and sharing all things cricket with a lot of people who support other counties and England.
You’d think that the ECB might see me as someone who has some value to the game.
There are hundreds of thousands of people like me who should matter to the ECB. We’re the ones who want to attend games and put money into our counties’ coffers, and yet it seems increasingly impossible to be part of our county season – mostly because the ECB, it feels, are doing everything possible to alienate people like me.
We’re also the same people who subscribe to Sky, who in return invest so heavily in the ECB.
Some of us still have to work and have families but it shouldn’t have to be this hard to watch cricket regularly.
- At Worcester we’ve drawn the short end of the straw in 2019, with our total number of weekend fixtures consisting of one Championship day, two 50-over games and four T20s. That makes seven days of cricket from 24 weekends, due to seven Championship games starting on a Monday or Tuesday and two 50-over matches on a Wednesday. There are no weekend games during June and September.
- At least there’s a 50-over game on a Bank Holiday this year, whereas there were none in 2018, but that’s still a poor effort.
- Schedules chop and change every year, making it impossible to predict when matches are, unlike other sports where the public know when matches are on, subject to TV scheduling.
- Championship games are not given the priority they should be, and are pushed to the margins of the season
- Membership costs continue to rise as access to games dwindles, meaning supporters are being taken for granted.
- Worcester (and other county) supporters couldn’t get tickets for T20 Finals Day unless they were prepared to resort to inflated prices from ticket tout sites. The ECB, it seems, can’t even be bothered to make Finals Day accessible to supporters.
- The proposed Hundred will cause further disruption to the county schedule and, worse still, take away county players, which will devalue what’s left of the county structure and will challenge members’ and supporters’ willingness to fork out for a poorer county schedule. That is not to mention the effect it will have on sponsors, who may see their investment in counties further eroded. And all for a supposed audience that no one seems to be aware of other than the ECB.
You may have set your stall out on The Hundred but it’s ridiculous to abandon traditional supporters (the people who enjoy the game) in this way and treat them with contempt. You’ve taken your eye off the ball. At least we as a ‘market’ actually exist so it’s probably not wise to burn your bridges in a Ratneresque way.
So how exactly do I see my 2019 season panning out? I’ll still be putting whatever time I can into my under nine and under 10 squads and I’ll try to get to one or two internationals.
Attending matches at New Road will be very difficult so, as there’s very little opportunity to take the boys, it looks as though golf and tennis will take priority in 2019. At least this is something we can do together to fill in the numerous gaps in the cricket season. Cricket loses, other sports win: multiply that by many thousands of people and you have a serious problem.
2020 will be as bad or worse than 2019 so it’s depressing to think that you choose to continue down a road which ignores what the average cricket supporter wants.
For all the talk of developing various schemes to get people to play and watch cricket you seem to be oblivious to the damage that you’re doing. You don’t need focus groups to find out who the target market is – it’s people like me you should be listening to. We’ve put a lot of time and money into cricket over the years but we’re being ignored and forced out of the game.
I’m writing this an open letter in the hope that it’ll inspire others to write in too to express their concerns at the way the sport is being run and hopefully precipitate a change in leadership which is long overdue.
Regards,
Mike Andrews
Pershore, Worcs
his letter highlights a real problem with the debate that is being had in cricket. The ECB know this game needs to be grown and that there is an untapped market out there. Unfortunately, the way the ECB is going about it is completely cack-handed. Almost every UK cricket forum out there however does not hear from the untapped, target, market. They are dominated by "traditional" cricket fans, who do absolutely nothing to highlight alternative ways the game could be grown (the same applies to Mr Andrews' letter here - not how he thinks himself, a long-time county member, the "target" market, when a "target" market actually consists of those currently not watching or buying the product). "Traditional" fans are basically happy with things as they are; indeed, the only suggestions for change they offer is to play more Championship cricket (the least popular form of the game) at the weekends and in the summer holidays, and to shove that (far more popular) T20 stuff into weekdays and the margins of the season instead. One very constructive suggestion that could have been made in relation to the 2019 fixture list is that there are four consecutive rounds of the Championship in June scheduled from Monday-Thursday that could all be moved forward one day to Sunday-Wednesday. But in all the cricket forums I read (all dominated by "traditional" fans) not one person has picked up on this. They're too busy condemning the Hundred, saying the ECB are trying to destroy cricket, etc etc. Not one constructive suggestion for increasing spectator numbers. The ECB will get away with bad ideas for change if every new idea is just met by the "traditional" fan moaning and saying any change is bad - which can be dismissed as a knee-jerk reaction - rather than having better ideas.
ReplyDeleteGood to read an alternate view.To be fair, these are the changes that "Traditionalists"have accepted
Delete4 Day CC matches
T20
50 over, then 40 over then back to 50 over cricket
Fielding restrictions
Power plays
T20 in a block, then regular Fridays, then back to block
DRS
Reduction in CC matches
Need I go on ? I do not think most regular customers want to marginalise T20. Still the most popular form of Cricket are Test Matches, filling grounds as T 20rarely does. CC is essential to have a strong Test Team. Membership remains a vital income and is largely about CC. Better words for Traditionalists are Core or Regular Customers. It is difficult to no what potential new customers want as the ECB will not release the
marketing information they say they have identifying who they are. Until we know who they are, we cannot know their opinions
The letter from the Worcester member is spot on - there are many of us out there who do the same and feel the same. However as WHS cleverly alludes to above in his detailed analysis - the ECB will not listen if we just criticise and appear to rant about change. We have to play these slick business people (they aren't true cricket lovers), at their own game (i.e. football). As WHS says we need to recognise the need for change but sensible change and propose alternatives that they cannot dismiss without reasonable consideration. I applaud WHS's suggestion of a move in days. I'd be interested to know why so few CC games are scheduled for weekends nowadays though? What's the reasoning? Is it some secret pact with the players who'd rather 'work' week days or is it that the pros would like to play for their clubs at weekends? I know several pros and I've heard that the PCA have been secretly lobbying the ECB for cricket free weekends so players have 'family time'. I'm sorry but that angers me - they have most of the winter for that and in most cases CC matches don't go the full 4 days anyway.
ReplyDeleteFeel for the members of Worcs and Essex for the dreadful fixtures for 2019. They need to contact the clubs CEO's to try to find out the reason why this is the case. Is it just an unfortunate quirk in the fixtures for next season, or, have these counties 'engineered' this themselves? Last year proved Worcs can be very successful in one day cricket but will probably never have the resources to compete in Division One in red ball.Even after this success they still lost their best young player to Notts.It would disturb me if the players are putting pressure on the ECB and I hope this isn't the case. They will be the ones to whinge if less people attend matches and the resulting sponsorship reduces thus affecting their healthy contracts these days. The hundred is not guaranteed to be a success after all.
ReplyDeleteWell written letter by Mike Andrews.
ReplyDeleteWhat are traditional cricket fans to do nowadays ?
They want to watch good ,solid ,interesting County cricket when they are NOT working - so that means more of the four day stuff over the weekend - not LESS ,as increasingly seems to be the case .
Is the long term aim of the ECB to do away with County cricket altogether within the next ten years or so ? Or just marginalise it to the cold months of April and late September ?
We all have to move with the times and you cannot stand still in business . But what is happening now is a step too far and too fast .
Cricket has evolved over many decades - with the red ball !
The white ball stuff brings in the cash but it should not be the end all . There must be proper consideration given in future to the life blood of cricket - the loyal red ball fans who support their teams through thick and thin .
The ECB are operating with a tunnel vision scenario. All they can see are pound notes and mountains of white balls .
Its quite sad really .
What princess Lisa &co need to remember,is that there is a hell of a difference between running a successful cricket club at a profit &using cricket as a vehicle for making MONEY. orig anon
ReplyDeleteLisa and Co are confused in anycase between who employs them; is it Notts CCC or Venue Trent Bridge plc - the latter seems to exist at the expense of the former, increasingly.
ReplyDeleteI have said it before and I'll say it again. There is a deliberate plan to run down the county championship, and the ECB and the counties themselves are behind this.
ReplyDelete..........and so the mystery is unravelled. The remaining 50over game against Durham is at Grantham. Why they had to delay the announcement is baffling, or was it timed for fans to digest 4 days at Unwelcomebeck before then reading this early Christmas prezzie.Surely no one at Trent Bridge would be so cynical?One positive, the club are saying they will provide transport if you don't drive or want to take the Flying Scotsman. According to the DoC, at least the staff and players are happy with the venue, so that's all that counts, so stuff the fan base who may not be quite so happy with it.
ReplyDeleteThey are laying on coaches, they say - great if you live in West Bridgford, but not so great if you have to drive to WB first where weekday parking is increasingly difficult nowadays.
DeleteWill there be transport from Out-of-County homes or reimbursement of additional travel costs? I live in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire and will certainly not be travelling to Grantham. Let's face it, supporters and members now count for nothing? I urge members not to renew for 2019 - the only protest that we can effectively make.
ReplyDeleteAm I correct that in May 2019 there is NO FIRST TEAM CRICKET BY NOTTS at Trent Bridge? and in June ONLY 4 DAYS and August ONLY 4 DAYS? If so this is utterly disgraceful - what is the point in being a member when in , hopefully, the best 4 months for weather there is only 8 days of cricket? Surely someone with some passion and enthusiasm can take matters further.
ReplyDeleteDo we know of any new Nominations for the 2019 Committee?
ReplyDeleteMembership prices here at TB are interesting. Full membership is £175, over 21 and under 25 £88 and seniors (over 65) £126. Some counties start senior membership at 60. The figures also suggest the trend of Trent Bridge (do we even call it Notts anymore,the web site doesn't?) to be ageist and maybe even wanting to clear oldies out to bring in their so called, but unidentified audience. I feel that the CEO has become something of a zealot for the Hundred and everything that comes out from the ECB, and the committee are not strong enough to stand up to her.
ReplyDeleteUnlike many Clubs Notts also do not have Life Memberships available to 'ordinary' members. Given that the Reirement Age is slowly increasing I do agree that senior membership should remain at 65 - it is probably the cheapest in the Country.
ReplyDelete