East Lancs Cricket Club ??

[47er]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I think that was Bruce Dooland. Must be 60 years ago !

yep! At least!

[sympatheticclaret]

Just come back to this topic, which I posted, seems to have caused some controversy ..

Valid points made by many, I will point out that the excellent Lancashire League website reveals that whilst East Lancs 1st XV does indeed to appear to have 10/11 players who are indiginous ( for want of a better word, no offence intended ), every member of the 2nd & 3rd XI's have " Asian " names. I hope this doesn't indicate that it's becoming two separate Clubs under one name ...

Burnley CC obviously has the car parking and bar income from visiting supporters on match days to sustain it, whilst Lowerhouse has a thriving social and junior section. Lowerhouse Chairman Stan Heaton appeared on Sky a few weeks ago. An old mate, who played at East Lancs for years tells me that the Bar taking are reducing year on year, as the Asian lads just come, play and then go, not staying around for the " Craic " afterwards, which is understandable ..

Surely a chance for the Venky's or Issa brothers to sponsor, which would greatly enhance their reputations ..

[Riversider28]

8 minutes ago, sympatheticclaret said:

Just come back to this topic, which I posted, seems to have caused some controversy ..

Valid points made by many, I will point out that the excellent Lancashire League website reveals that whilst East Lancs 1st XV does indeed to appear to have 10/11 players who are indiginous ( for want of a better word, no offence intended ), every member of the 2nd & 3rd XI's have " Asian " names. I hope this doesn't indicate that it's becoming two separate Clubs under one name ...

Burnley CC obviously has the car parking and bar income from visiting supporters on match days to sustain it, whilst Lowerhouse has a thriving social and junior section. Lowerhouse Chairman Stan Heaton appeared on Sky a few weeks ago. An old mate, who played at East Lancs for years tells me that the Bar taking are reducing year on year, as the Asian lads just come, play and then go, not staying around for the " Craic " afterwards, which is understandable ..

Surely a chance for the Venky's or Issa brothers to sponsor, which would greatly enhance their reputations ..

Bloody hell,mate. EastLancs are in enough trouble without wanting the loons to “invest” in them.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 hours ago, sympatheticclaret said:

Just come back to this topic, which I posted, seems to have caused some controversy ..

Valid points made by many, I will point out that the excellent Lancashire League website reveals that whilst East Lancs 1st XV does indeed to appear to have 10/11 players who are indiginous ( for want of a better word, no offence intended ), every member of the 2nd & 3rd XI's have " Asian " names. I hope this doesn't indicate that it's becoming two separate Clubs under one name ...

Burnley CC obviously has the car parking and bar income from visiting supporters on match days to sustain it, whilst Lowerhouse has a thriving social and junior section. Lowerhouse Chairman Stan Heaton appeared on Sky a few weeks ago. An old mate, who played at East Lancs for years tells me that the Bar taking are reducing year on year, as the Asian lads just come, play and then go, not staying around for the " Craic " afterwards, which is understandable ..

Surely a chance for the Venky's or Issa brothers to sponsor, which would greatly enhance their reputations ..

The only thing that would enhanced the Venky’s reputation would be if they wrote off the debt they are responsible for and never darkened our door ever again.

[47er]

A follow up to this thread. Amazingly, an article on East Lancs Cricket Club in today's Guardian!

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/07/inclusion-revolution-how-east-lancs-cc-have-revived-asian-involvement

[rog of the rovers]

As an East Lancs lad myself for many years, a lot of what has been said is somewhat true, but there are lots of factors that have contributed.

• Changing demographics is definitely one, but the club simply would not survive without its Asian members, East Lancs would have gone years ago. Some fine cricketers like Nas Iqbal or Mini and Mo Bhada have all graced the 1st XI with distinction in the recent past, Sohail Mohammed being another.
• Volunteers, the ones who are there at the club do an admirable job (I was in that role myself for almost a decade) but finding willing helpers across the age ranges seems to becoming harder and harder. Losing people like the late Tony Rose (RIP) or Larry Pearson, who (deservedly so) decided to step down, after a lifetime of service to the club, 50+ years boy and man. These people are so hard to replace, if not impossible! Look at the successful Lancashire League clubs and you'll find an army of helpers behind the scenes that keep the club going. See Stan Heaton at Lowerhouse, I'd argue if Stan was at East Lancashire, he'd turn the club into a powerhouse (excuse the pun) in no time!
• The 'traditional' Lancashire League as a whole, the expansion has shown their shortcomings, 9 of the 12 Division 2 teams are the old Lancashire League teams. With 6 of the bottom 7 being ex LL teams.
• Talk about history and how East Lancashire are struggling....the bottom 4 teams in Division 2. Rawtenstall, East Lancs, Rishton and Nelson combine for 52 Lancashire League titles and 37 Worsley Cups!
• Players appetite and commitment. This is a huge factor in any modern day amateur sport. Tales of players cutting their holidays short to fly/drive home to play a doubleheader away at Colne on a Saturday and then Ramsbottom on a Sunday in the cup are very much a thing of the past. Work pressures, family commitments and the added value on free time is so much different than it was, even 25 years ago! You will see huge lineup changes in any double header now. With this, squad depth is tested and players naturally don't want to be seen as uncommitted to the cause, so you see huge swathes of cricketers walking away from the game. Standards naturally drop as players are then chosen to ''make up the numbers''. I ran the third team for two years, and it was almost like a full time job just trying to get 11 lads out on a Saturday! Even then you'd find most where 14-18 and were playing Saturday and Sunday at senior level, then an under 15s match on a Tuesday and/or Thursday!
• The professionals debate, another where, to be honest, I don't mind East Lancs not having a professional! Great league pro's like Ockert Erasmus are a rarity these days, but the figures quoted on South African list A players, without any experience to their name, are huge! Once of a day the gates/bar/socials would cover the cost of these pro's, but for 20/24 LL teams I'd guess this isn't the case. Gone are the days of Viv Richards, Allan Donald and Michael Holding. That standard of professional just isn't available any more.
• Shaid Afridi was my dream East Lancashire pro! If I win the lottery, I'll see what I can do!

Just my thoughts, but East Lancs is full of great people, trying their very best against all the odds. The fact that the club survives is testament to their work alone!

 

[Aqualung]

 

Sadly, these days are long gone and the standard of Lancashire league cricket has dropped remarkably since the mid to late 90s.

Such a shame. 

[47er]

On 02/07/2021 at 19:24, 47er said:

Actually he hasn't got a racist bone in his body, he's just saying what he thinks is happening, without making any judgement at all.

I think cricket is a great way in which we can all assist integration by the way. I was walking down by Avenham Park a while back with Pakistani youths playing cricket in the street ( boys only sadly) just like we did. I keep waiting for them to be well represented in our county side and for England. Only happens fitfully.

Why?

I wrote this back in early July. Looks like I've got my answer. 😬

[jim mk2]

The question was posed back then that East Lancs had declined because it was now in an "Asian area and local cricket and Muslims just don't mix". A quick google showed that the 1st XI and 2nd XIs were overwhelmingly white players.

Perhaps Blackburn Asian cricketers who ventured into East Lancs were made to feel unwelcome and didn't feel comfortable - or maybe they were racially abused - or maybe they stayed away because they knew any of those things could happen. I would hope that wasn't the case but if it can happen at Yorkshire CCC it can happen anywhere, and that cricket as a sport has a problem with inclusivity. 

[rog of the rovers]

9 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

The question was posed back then that East Lancs had declined because it was now in an "Asian area and local cricket and Muslims just don't mix". A quick google showed that the 1st XI and 2nd XIs were overwhelmingly white players.

Perhaps Blackburn Asian cricketers who ventured into East Lancs were made to feel unwelcome and didn't feel comfortable - or maybe they were racially abused - or maybe they stayed away because they knew any of those things could happen. I would hope that wasn't the case but if it can happen at Yorkshire CCC it can happen anywhere, and that cricket as a sport has a problem with inclusivity. 

Despite having spent many of the last dozen years as a member/administrator at East Lancs, I can't really answer any of your questions, the asian players themselves would have to answer those questions.

Admittedly I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to hear some, if not all, saying they experienced some sort of prejudice whilst playing Lancashire League cricket.

Edited November 17, 2021 by rog of the rovers

[jim mk2]

20 minutes ago, rog of the rovers said:

Despite having spent many of the last dozen years as a member/administrator at East Lancs, I can't really answer any of your questions, the asian players themselves would have to answer those questions.

How many Asian members does the club have and are there any Asian people involved in the running of the club? 

What efforts have the club made to reach out to the local Asian community?

[rog of the rovers]

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

How many Asian members does the club have and are there any Asian people involved in the running of the club? 

What efforts have the club made to reach out to the local Asian community?

When I left, I'd say it was about a 50/50 split.

More recently has made big strides, hence the Guardian article above.

Edited November 17, 2021 by rog of the rovers

[Upside Down]

I'll never forget the Egypt glass behind the bar. What is that for again? A regiment in world war 2 or something, I can't remember.