ESCA AGM

[elsec]

Elsec and Statto attended the ESCA AGM on behalf of Murrayfield DAFS last night. All motions (as described at the Murrayfield DAFS AGM) were passed although the addition of the Largo 3rd XI to the ESCA league was discussed to some degree because all their home games will have to take place on a Sunday. Heriots CC also spoke up against the rule about a club NOT having the right to refuse an umpire.... they were the only dissenting voice on this matter!

However, there was one bombshell! With there still being no new sponsor for the leagues ESCA made a loss of over £2.5k last year. Therefore, ESCA put a motion to the AGM that the subscription should rise to £70 (up £10) and clubs with additional teams be charged an extra £20 per team. This was not communicated before the meeting and apparently didn't have to be. There was a good deal of discussion on this matter and a vote was forced but I'm afraid the motion was passed so our subs to ESCA for 2007 go up to £110 from £60. ESCA did point out that if a sponsor was found, the subs will be decreased again for 2008.

The new ESCA President is now Jim Brims and vice president is Tony Ostrowski. There is a vacancy for ESCA Treasurer anyone interested, kindly let me know.

Sandy Scotland also advertised the start of the Umpiring course and hinted that a ruling from Cricket Scotland that each club may have to provide at least one qualified umpire per Saturday per team is not that far away due to the shortage of volunteers and ageing profile of existing umpires - the Western region is introducing this rule for 2008. The way to avoid such draconian measures is for volunteers to be forthcoming. Again anyone interested in doing this 8-week free course (on Thursdays), kindly let me know. [will send full details to IS for website shortly].

[mggw]

How can the League make such a huge loss? Surely its only outgoings are the rep's expenses (if claimed), plus some publicity costs?

[daddy]

That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard! If ESCA are incapable of securing a sponsor for 2 years running that is their problem, it's outrageous to expect club players to stump up (no pun intended) 110 quid each to cover losses caused by the ineptitide of their committee.

A ten pound increase could be excused but the 20 pounds per extra team seems totally arbitrary and surely unfairly punishes clubs and their players who bother their arse to have some sort of club structure and/or youth development in place instead of just being 11 spuds who turn up to get away from the wives on a saturday afternoon.

Suffice to say i don't agree with this motion.

[elsec]

ESCA fund Youth cricket in the East of Scotland and as I'mn sure you are aware the cost of everyting from nets hire at MESC to the cost of diesel in the coaches to ferry team around the regions goes up from year to year. The expenditure on youth cricket in 2006 was around £12,000.

This is the reason for the loss and reason for an increase in club subscriptions. Hopefully the shortfall will be resolved for a decrease in club subscriptions for season 2008.

[daddy]

Hmph. ;-)

[elsec]

"caused by the ineptitide of their committee."

With my ESCA PR hat on....Thanks for the support guys! >:(The ESCA committee are unpaid, volunteers who spend their spare time trailing around businesses ets to get a sponsor with little reward... The ESCA is run for players by players...there is nothing to stop you getting in touch with ESCA (ie me) with a willing sponsor, or to volunteer to help...the PR Comittee should have 4 people on it...there's only me!

We are close to securing a minor deal of around £500.... but getting the full £5k (with, lets face it, little by the way of exposure in return thanks to the local and national medias complete lack of interest in this "English" game) is not easy!

[andypandy]

As fellow ESCA Committee member, agree with everything that ElSec says - and if you think you can do any better on the PR/fundraising side why not volunteer your services?

And for the record, I live in an expense claim free area!!!

[fidel]

I'm sure daddy's point is that if one area of your operation is overspending you cut your cloth accordingly and don't make other areas unattractive by overpricing them. I can say in my experience when the squash youth development programme got into financial difficulties it was solved by the parents being asked to contribute. This made absolutely no difference to the numbers or personell participating. As for the INEPTITIDE of the ESCA committees can't comment as I don't know what it means. As for raising money for ESCA sorry but far to busy raising funds for the financially sound, mighty MUFS.

[daddy]

Correct. I wasn't launching an attack on anyone personally, but merely pointing out that if ESCA have been unable to secure sponsorship for 2 years running (due to ineptitude or otherwise) that is their problem and sticking an extra 50 quid on our subs for the year is a wholly inappropriate way to make up their shortfall.

[elsec]

Perhaps Fidel and Daddy want to see a reduced Youth cricket programme in the East....this was put to the ESCA meeting and all bar one club agreed they didnt want this to happen. So £12,000 is needed and this is ESCA's response. By the way parents are now contributing to fund away game buses and kit etc. It should also be pointed out that the contributions from scottishcricket continue to DECREASE!

What i was upset with on the night was that it WASN'T on the agenda as a motion - the sub motion stated that there would be NO change to the subs for 2007. Hence there was no chance to discuss this move with MDCC at our agenda or at any other time. Statto and I took the decision to abstain in the the vote on this motion.

Again all I would say is that money was needed and this was the decision taken by the clubs on the night. We can all help ESCA by finding sponsorship (not just for our own club as even if we do find more money for the club it will go to ESCA in increased subs).

This year Fidel in particular and myself have secured a relatively huge sum of money for MDCC thru grants and sponsorship. For ESCA, as pr convenor, working more or less on my own I secured around £1000 thru the dinner and minor advertising deals. Just think what we might achieve if others helped.

Good to get a debate going finally on here....any ideas keep them coming.

Cheers Elsec

[dontarguedrinkbeer]

Hey, don't argue, drink beer and be happy ;D
hmmm beeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

[mggw]

elsec said:

Perhaps Fidel and Daddy want to see a reduced Youth cricket programme in the East....this was put to the ESCA meeting and all bar one club agreed they didnt want this to happen.

Iain, playing devil's advocate, it has to be asked just what effect this programme has the East League in general, and Mufs in particular. There seems to be very little feedback from this youth programme into the East League, and the junior players I've played against all seem to be from either public schools, or have developed directly through their clubs.

elsec said:

What i was upset with on the night was that it WASN'T on the agenda as a motion - the sub motion stated that there would be NO change to the subs for 2007. Hence there was no chance to discuss this move with MDCC at our agenda or at any other time. Statto and I took the decision to abstain in the the vote on this motion.

It seems clear from your comments that neither you nor Andy were aware of this financial shortfall before the AGM, and it so the criticism has to be that this was not communicated to ESCA committee members before the AGM. Even if the financial losses can be excused, failing to inform the committee of that fact most surely is ineptitude.

If the League's committee had been made aware of these losses through the course of the season, it is possible they could have been off-set or minimised; or at the very least, there could have been a proper debate of alternative fundraising issues with input from the clubs.