Why have we set up OSCL?

FIRST, because we hold a deep and abiding passion for cricket; for its underlying ethos and tradition; and for the values it represents. In particular, for grass-roots, village and local community cricket and those who participate in it; together, the heart 'n soul, life-blood and future of the game in this country.

Owner: B Aitken

SECOND, because we have identified the emergence of a steadily growing number of serious problems amongst 'non-focus' and 'grass-roots' community cricket clubs (in particular) that we believe need addressing as a matter of urgency ('What we do'); for example:
  • Of all the recognised sports, cricket is by far the biggest loser in the continuing, government-sanctioned, selling off of state schools' playing fields and local authorities' recreational sports grounds for private housing or commercial development; and the concomitant failure to provide adequate equivalent - or better - replacement facilities.


  • There is an increasingly perceptible, season-on-season, decline in both the numbers of long-serving, regular, core-player, club members and, more seriously, in new player recruitment and retention, particularly amongst those in the 15 - 25 age bracket. As a result, many clubs are finding it more and more difficult to continue being able to put out even two regular full-strength sides on both Saturdays and Sundays throughout the season, as well as for mid-week competition matches..

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  • Over recent months, there has been a significant decline, also, in the numbers of corporate and commercial sponsorship opportunities available, and over recent years a significant and steady decline in National lottery ticket sales. Yet, notwithstanding, the Government has launched an Olympics Lottery as an additional fund-raising source for the London 2012 Olympics, for which Sport England has made a commitment of almost £350,000,000; a sum equivalent to more than two years' lottery income to the National Lottery Sports Fund!


  • Only the most naive will believe that the launch of this additional Olympics Lottery is not having a severely adverse effect on the non-Olympic sports' good causes or that, under the present lottery funding distribution policies, there will not be far less funding available to support community cricket (in particular).

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  • Exacerbating further this sorry situation, is a clause in the Olympics Lottery Bill that permits the transfer of National Lottery Fund money into the Olympics Lottery Fund 'in exceptional circumstances (sic)' - i.e. if - and it's a racing certainty they will - the costs of preparing for and running the 2012 Olympics exceed the current budget estimates of £9.2 billion; a figure that already exceeds the original bid estimate by 300%!

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  • The penal cost of the new Bar Licences.
    • The majority of recreational cricket clubs in Great Britain are almost totally dependent upon the profits from their bar takings to cover their basic annual overheads and to fund other essential costs such as ground, square and equipment maintenance and insurance. With the ban on smoking in pavilions; the tax increases on beer, wines and spirits levied in the last budget; greater awareness of 'don't drink 'n drive'; and the resulting, now (sadly) customary, rapid departure of away teams at the end of the match, the situation is likely to become more acute.

  • Exacerbating these problems are the new laws relating to the Licensing of cricket club bars that effectively equate them to professionally-run commercial licensed businesses that are open all year round. Whereas, previously, the club secretary used to attend the quarterly 'Brewster Sessions' at the local magistrates' court and pay £25 to obtain or renew his club's Licence, the new law is much more prescriptive. Now, the club must, first, advertise the fact of their Application for a Licence in the local newspaper (cost, £200) and, at the same time, pay to have professional architect-prepared scale plans of its pavilion/clubhouse/premises drawn up at a cost of anywhere between £350 and £650.

  • The Secretary is then required to complete and sign a 21-page Application Form and submit it, together with a complete set of the scale plans - in septuplicate - to the Local Authority (Licensing, Planning, Environmental Health and Health & Safety Departments), local fire brigade, police, et al. If the club's application is successful, they will be required to pay a fee for their Licence that is based upon their local authority's valuation of the club's land and premises. For most recreational/community cricket clubs that are open only during the season and occasional evenings during the winter for committee meetings, the cost of having a Bar Licence has risen exponentially; in some cases by as much as 1,000%.

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  • Those clubs that either do not own their own cricket ground and facilities, or do not have an historically long-standing exclusive agreement or relationship with a local authority; a cricket-loving benefactor landowner; local farmer; cricket-playing school, or the Church Commissioners, to use an established cricket facility on their land in exchange for fully maintaining it, often have to compete each year to hire the diminishing numbers of pitches available on local-authority-owned cricket grounds, or in public recreation grounds, on which to play their regular league and other matches.


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  • Apart from the problem of all-year-round fouling by dogs and Canada Geese, the quality and standards of pre-season preparation and subsequent during-the-season maintenance of the squares and pitches on such grounds are generally poor, with both left untended from mid-September to March - i.e. during the football season - and restricted to once-a-week mowing, pitch marking and occasional rolling on a Thursday or Friday during the season.

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  • In addition, very rarely are individual pitches either properly prepared or correctly marked out before matches, or properly repaired immediately afterwards; and very rarely are sight-screens, scoreboards, covers, or practice nets provided. Compounding this, the outfield either side of the square is often two football pitches during the winter months that have been left in their end-of season condition, thus adding considerably to the dangers faced by fielders, particularly on hot, sunny, dry days. The 'one size fits all' changing rooms tend to be insecure, regularly vandalised or graffitied, and the shower facilities are all too often inadequate.