Following the open members meeting on Tuesday evening the committee of the club met this evening to make a decision regarding the future direction of Heywood CC.
Having taken into account the views of players, supporters and members the committee have decided to resign from the Central Lancashire League and have informed the Greater Manchester Cricket League of their intention to apply for membership for the 2016 season.
This decision has not been taken lightly particularly as the club is a founder member of the CLL and has enjoyed an unbroken stay in the league since its creation. The club is very proud to have won the CLL on 13 occasions and the Wood Cup on 11.
The club will fulfil all its commitments to the CLL until the end of the current season and would like to place on record thanks to the league for the support throughout the years.
In 2010 the club committee set out a plan to create the best facilities in the area both on and off the field for our junior players, senior players and for our supporters in an attempt to create the best opportunities for youngsters to develop and improve their cricket.
To this end the artificial nets were constructed, 14 coaches passed their UKCC2, the pavilion frontage was completely reconstructed, practice net facilities installed on the square, a new viewing patio built, the central eight wickets completely reconstructed to create one of the best playing areas in the county and a new changing room block is in the process of being built.
The committee feel that the playing structure should match this ongoing ambition and there were effectively three options for the club; join the GMCL, remain in the CLL as it currently exists or to remain in the CLL as part of a merger with the Saddleworth League, a proposal announced by the league on Tuesday evening. It was confirmed by the CLL that, in all likelihood, the full details of this last proposal would not be available to clubs prior to the 30th June deadline.
We believe that joining a structure that attempts to encompass all local cricket was the best solution to the original concerns of repetition of fixtures, continued loss of talented youngsters to other leagues and general apathy from supporters towards the current and proposed league structures.
The club now looks forward with great excitement to moving into the new GMCL structure and will be working extremely hard alongside those that have already declared their interest to ensure that junior cricket is well organised and easily accessible for 2016 in order that our thriving junior section can continue to develop.
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150 years of cricket in the CLL and 150 of memories now time to look forward to 150 plus years of new achievements and success. Goodbye CLL you only have yourselves to blame. Hello GMCL We are Heywood, welcome to the patio, I hope you are prepared.
It’s sad to be leaving the CLL, but the CLL isn’t what it was. If progress is to be made then difficult decisions have to be taken. The committee have been courageous in making this decision and players and members should be excited at being at the forefront of a new venture. As a famous man once said ‘, ‘If you do what you always did; you’ll be as you always were’. Good luck to HCC.
A momentous decision and one that was not taken lightly by the club committee. The standard of cricket played and the development of our young cricketers were always at the forefront of our deliberations. I hope that all our tremendous supporters will be as excited as I am about the new challenges ahead.
Something had to give. Access to most places in East Lancashire and Tameside is good these days, cricket clubs don’t exist near train stations any more. Although it’s great to have the local rivalries, the number of times we play the same teams has undoubtedly led to apathy among Heywood fans – there’s no variety. It’s a shame to be leaving a league I played in for 15 years man and boy and have watched all my life, but the chances have been there for the CLL to seize the initiative and initiate change and they haven’t done so.
Now, although I don’t like to live in the future and am enjoying the quality of cricket on display this year, I can’t wait for some new away days. I hope more CLL clubs come into the GMCL – all, in fact – as I would still love to go to these clubs BUT JUST ONCE A SEASON, and then look forward to a trip to Glossop or Greenmount or Prestwich or Stretford or wherever, anywhere new.
A very sad day that it has come to this, both for the club and the CLL.
We all have wonderful memories of playing our cricket in the CLL – the competition, the diverse characters, the individual quirks of each ground etc etc and it will be a shame to leave all of that behind.
But at the same time, absolutely full marks to the club/committee for taking this massive decision in the interests of moving our club forward. We have demonstrated a proactiveness that doesn’t appear to exist in some other quarters and maybe this will serve as something of a wake up call to those who have so far been reluctant to make the necessary changes.
I would think the CLL will be extremely saddened and concerned in equal portions at losing one of their founder clubs – moreover we may not be the last if others now summon up the courage to make the same bold step.
It is sad David, but inevitable for many reasons. Clubs need to have some courage and imagination and vision. The CLL history can’t be erased and won’t be, but things change, This is the 21st century, not the 19th.
Very excited to have joined the club at such a time of change as the club is looking forwards and not back. Tradition and history is important, but it should be something that is built upon, not something that restricts future development and growth. (Funnily enough I have to say similar things to the church!) Over time the GMCL should raise levels of competition across the county, whilst giving clubs of all standards promotion and relegation battles to fight as well (as was the case in Leicestershire and Surrey where I played previously). Hopefully more clubs will follow.
Follow the link to the Big H interview:
https://soundcloud.com/voice-over-guy/david-fare-interview-heywood-cc-965-bolton-fm
As an ex player who spent all his playing career at Heywood in the Central Lancashire League there is a part of me that very sad to see the association come to an end. But in truth it has been coming for a while because I have seen the ambition and enthusiasm to improve the standard of cricket at Heywood, thwarted by the lack of forward thinking by the League. Our advancement in junior cricket and the desire to provide the very best for young cricketers in our area is more than commendable, and is rightly applauded. It still needs a cricket platform and a regional pyramid system to send those cricketers on to better things and ultimately feed through to County level. I don’t suppose the early years of the GMCL will be without teething problems, but essentially it has been formed with improving standards and the future of young cricketers in the County in mind – so I believe its the right thing to do now.
The CLL have for too long now not given enough attention to moving in to a new era and have stuck with tradition and fond memories of Cricket how it used to be.
Those fond memories are not gone,( and I have plenty ) but we must as a club move forward into a new era. All players, but particularly the young, will forge new memories and life experiences in new environments. This is their time. Supporters too can look forward to a new view of regional cricket, not just from the vantage point of a new pavilion. It is both overdue and exciting.
Massive congratulations to the Committee………a brave and enormous step into a new future has been taken……………………..
A bold move by Heywood. As far as I can tell Heywood are the only from the CLL moving to the GMCL. Will they be the first… and last to do so? Good luck either way
Clifton have announced today they have joined the GMCL, citing similar reasons to our own. The chance to be in at the start of something new and exciting, or cling on to the past. I just don’t see what objections clubs can have to the GMCL, no one has come up with an argument against except ‘tradition’.
Now the dust has settled a little following the momentous decision by the club this week and following a period of quiet reflection I have just a few comments to make.
Whilst it is sad that we are leaving the CLL at the end of this season I am now very much looking forward to a new challenge in the GMCL. I feel duty bound to comment that all this could and should have been avoided, had the CLL league officials embraced what was put before them 18 months ago we would not have had to abandon what was once a fantastic cricket league.
Without doubt I have great admiration for anyone who gives up their time to organise and run league cricket, and I have plenty of time for Neville Fletcher and his obvious passion for the game, however had the league officials not buried their collective heads in the sand the CLL could have been at the forefront of the new venture.
Only time will tell if we have made the correct decision, but in all my years at the club I have never attended a meeting like the one last Tuesday where the players and membership expressed their views almost as one, before the meeting I was still sat on the fence! but certainly not after.
As you know Clifton have also come to the same decision as us and I expect one or two more to do the same, however I do not expect there to be many more at this stage as other clubs will want to give the 11th hour attempt by the league to join with the Saddleworth League a fair hearing. Sorry but I don’t see this as the future.
Our future is what we make it, we may need to be patient at first and allow time for all the new systems to gel, but lets go for it!!
The decision was made by the members, acted upon by committee. All above board, all democratic, discussed at all levels of the club. And there was a consensus. Glad to be associated with and friends of those who have made such a positive decision. Although others may see us as splitters
Just remember we are not the Judean’s People Front we are the People’s Front of Judea