CLASSIFIED | POLITICS | TERRORISM | OPINION | VIEWS

ICC Annual Grant

Peter Casie Chetty

Seven Cricket Clubs including the United Sri Lankan Cricket Association have challenged France Cricket - the Board Controlling Cricket in France - on the new formula for the National Championships in the Parisian Region. Four of these clubs have players of Sri Lankan origin.
United Sri Lankan Cricket Association's President Sharkey Jayawardena, through Maitre Alexis Ruthman states in his letter to President Olivier Dubault that the Barclays Super league is unconstitutional and illegal.

- The other clubs associated with the complaint are Balbaniens 93, Creil, Dreux, Eelavar, Mantes and Stains, USCA.

- Mr. Jayawardena complains that the notice of the National League tournament was changed without proper notice given to the teams involved in the Parisian region, arguing that proper notice of the change should have been given before the tournament began in April 2006. He also states that none of the Clubs were informed that only the clubs playing in the quarter finals of the 2006 tournament would be chosen for the new tournament called the "Barclay's Super League".

- The absence of qualified umpires, lack of proper infrastructure and the availability of many players for league matches on Saturday afternoons was brought before the tournament committee, who had made the decision to hold the new version only at the beginning of 2007.

The administration of France Cricket has come in for a lot of criticism since the game was "re-invented" here in the late 1980's. France met England in an Olympic Cricket match in the early 1900s.

Many of the teams that participated in previous tournaments opted out because of the lack of proper facilities and infrastructure.

The International Cricket Committee endeavour to promote cricket around Europe has had mixed fortunes in France. Expatriate sub-continentals make the bulk of the cricketers but French school children are not being encouraged to compete due to the shortsightedness of neo colonial committees over the years.

In the early 1990s many young children we playing in junior tournaments organised regularly for three years.

France is an affiliated Member of the ICC but has rarely had the success of countries like Holland, Denmark, Ireland or Scotland featured in the World Cup 2007. This could be attributed to the fact that the infrastructure is basic and French children are not being encouraged to play the game at schools' level.

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