Every sporting organisation I have ever been associated with down the years – and there has been quite a few I can assure you – has encountered difficult times. But you do your best to work through problems for the fairest decision overall.
Cricket Shepparton’s decision to replay its Twenty20 semi-final between Kyabram and Northerners last week brought a lot of criticism on social media.
Cricket Shepparton had owned up to a mistake and came up with what it thought was the fairest solution in the circumstances: replay the game.
Some weren’t happy with the decision and got nasty and vulgar in their criticisms of Cricket Shepparton’s administration on social media.
Cricket Shepparton reacted by giving one Northerners player a suspended two-game sentence to the end of the 2019/20 season. It also imposed a suspended sentence on the Northerners Cricket Club, stating that if it doesn’t act immediately if any of its members sound off on social media it will lose premiership points for one game in all of its grades of competition.
I applaud Cricket Shepparton for having the foresight in the first place to have rules in place to protect it and its members from unwarranted and unfair criticism on social media.
I am not into social media but as a newspaper man of long standing I’m often gobsmacked, flabbergasted and many times disappointed at how people can use this platform to publicly tear down someone or some organisation – and get away with it.
If a newspaper used a similar approach in its reporting it would have lawyers in courts 24/7 fending off libel suits.
People need to have a good think about the consequences when they start airing their views on social media, particularly if it is against administrators, clubs or groups that are run by volunteers.
Northerners edge out Ky
KYABRAM Cricket Club missed out on defending its Cricket Shepparton Twenty20 title, losing its semi-final in a low-scoring thriller to Northerners on Tuesday night of last week.
The low-scoring game at the Kyabram recreation reserve went down to the final over with Northerners getting the winning run with four balls to spare with their last two batsmen at the crease.
Kyabram’s bowlers, led by Alec Young and Kyle Mueller, were able to get their team back into the game after the batsmen had struggled. Only Cade Mueller and Alec Young were able to hang around for any length of time with the bat for Ky.
In the final last Thursday, Katandra added the Twenty20 to its Haisman Shield win from last season with a decisive win over Northerners.
Glen took 10 too
ANOTHER member of Cricket Shepparton’s ‘Ten-For Cricket Club’ has been discovered.
But unlike Numurkah’s Tim Arnel, Katandra’s Rod McLeod and Ardmona’s George Hicks, who claimed the feat at the top level of competition, this member achieved his feat of taking all 10 wickets in an innings in a minor grade.
Glen Poustie, also well known to Goulburn Valley League football fans from his days with Lemnos (now Shepparton Swans), took 10/62 playing for Karramomus’ D grade side against Central Park-St Brendan’s in 1988.
And believe it or not his team ended up losing the game.