The first steps have been taken towards the introduction of a Charter scheme for clubs in The Netherlands.

After a troubled start last year, a working party was established before Christmas to develop the scheme, and this group met for the first time this week. The committee comprises three club chairmen (Guido Dukker of ACC, who is convener, Robert Burger of Quick Haag and René Smits of HCC), Excelsior ’20 secretary Wim Schewe, and two members of the KNCB staff, Development Officer Marike Dickmann and Project Officer David Woutersen.

According to a statement published on the Bond website on Friday evening, the working party was able to agree at its initial meeting on the goals for a proposed charter, namely: improving the quality of club cricket in the Netherlands; jointly ‘selling’cricket to the Dutch public; and making co-operative agreements between clubs and Bond and defining guidelines in order to create more effective youth recruitment.

The Board’s statement continues: ‘This shall be achieved through the creation of a charter for cricket clubs, comprising different levels of attainment which clubs will be able to be measured against. The charter has two aims:
• to make manpower and resources available to clubs which wish to work towards a higher level of qualifiaction, and
• over time, to establish the possession or attainment of a particular level as a requirement for participation at the highest levels in Dutch domestic cricket.

The target is to gain the agreement of Topklasse, Hoofdklasse and Eerste Klasse clubs by the end of the 2010 season to the gradual introduction of such a system, with the intention that clubs in the lower divisions will be brought into the scheme in due course.

The first step will be an inventory of the current levels of attainment on a wide range of criteria by the clubs in the top three divisions. This audit will then be reviewed by the working party, and proposals will be developed in discussion with the clubs in the course of the summer.

‘There have been a number of “false starts” with the Charter,’ CEO Richard Cox is quoted as saying, ‘but I am confident with this working group that we will reach a suitable conclusion to getting this up and running.

‘I have been fortunate to see the Clubmark programme in the UK ensure that clubs go from strength to strength with ideas for recruiting volunteers, increasing youth players, improving the number of coaches and so on. There is no rocket science to this, and it is applicable here.

‘Let’s hope we get things moving quickly and present the first awards at the November 2010 general meeting.’