Strathmore and Perthshire Cricket Union Handbook 2006

2 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS Hello fellow cricketers, Firstly may I say what a great honour it is to hold the position of President of such a fine cricketing set-up as the Strathmore and Perthshire Union and I hope that during my time in office I will do justice to the role. I would hope, like my predecessors, to visit as many of your grounds as possible during the forthcoming season and I hope in return to see a great many of you when you play at the Priory. Many of you will be aware that I was heavily involved in the merger of the Strathmore and Perthshire Leagues two years ago and I firmly believe that this was a positive step. From this we have seen many clubs prosper in playing terms and all clubs finding the right level to play at, making our games more competitive and meaningful. I am pleased to see the development of clubs like Breadalbane and Crieff who have blossomed since entering into league cricket and are now benefiting from the investment in coaching, as are Kinross, who I welcome to the league for the first time this year. Sadly, over the past two seasons I have seen a number of incidents in matches where players, obviously letting their enthusiasm get the better of them, have been guilty of questioning umpiring decisions and bordering on abusive on occasions. One of the main problems of the leagues in which we play is the severe lack of neutral umpires and thus we rely on players from either side to perform the umpiring role. If we allow unprecedented levels of abuse to creep in then we are going to discourage anyone from taking the white coats meaning we will be unable to complete matches. I am sure that given the potential threat of this it is in everyone’s interests to play the game in a fair and proper manner and it is the