FINES FOR 2016/17

Date: 11th October 2017

The fines for non-compliance with the L&DCC Rules & Regulations from 1st October 2016 to 30th September 2017 have been compiled.

The total fines for this period is £7385, £450 less than last year's record total but still too high. Twelve clubs have amassed £250 or more, three of these £300 or more and two clubs in excess of £400.

In alphabetic order the twelve clubs are Alder, Birkenhead Park, Fleetwood Hesketh, Formby, Hightown St Marys, Irby, Liverpool, Newton-le-Willows, Parkfield Liscard, Prescot & Odyssey, Skelmersdale and Southport & Birkdale.

The great majority of fineable incidents relate to league and cup match result recording (including conceded and defaulted matches, with 1st XIs contributing £1440, 2nd XIs £1845 and 3rd XIs £3030. The remainder are for clubs failing to be represented at general meetings.

A further breakdown based on the things for which clubs were fined is given below. Approximately 900 matches were scheduled to be played.

Over 6% had summary results entered late, 20% had late MRFs and most of these no MRF received, over 15% had no confirmation of scorecard entry and 18% the failured to confirm scorecards had been checked. Some teams are still failing to provide teamsheets or if they do failing to sign them despite repeated warnings that this contravenes the Laws of Cricket. 12% of scorecards (mainly at 3rd XI) included unsure players and a worrying sign of the times 8% of teams had less that 11 players. 65 matches were conceded and 15 were defaulted for ineligible players. 14 teams were fined for not providing a scorer at 1st or 2nd XI matches and 4 2nd XIs were reported as failing to provide an umpire. An improvement from 2016 was that only 25 teams were fined for failing to submit a report on the umpires (40 in 2016) and only 2 teams were reported for not paying the umpires before the match (23 in 2016).

25 clubs failed to attend a General Meeting, some of them doing this more than once - this shows great disrespect for the league's other clubs and its committee and probably indicates why the fines are so high. Some clubs simply appear to ignore the rules or fail to ensure that their committee members.read and understand them. Last night's failure by ten clubs to attend the End of Season meeting is a case in point, already £250 to next year's fines list.

Any club wishing to see a full breakdown of its fines should email me (hadfield369@btinternet.com).

Eric Hadfield

President & L&DCC Fines Coordinator