As I have already indicated in a news report, I regard the KNCB’s new policy statement (Beleidsnota) as an extremely limited document, containing plenty of interesting analysis but regrettably short on concrete goals and proposals. Its tone contrasts sharply, I believe, with the developments which have taken place over the past three months, and it gives an insufficiently sharp picture of where the Bond can and should aim to be in five years’ time.
So here is an indication of some of the more important points and targets which I think are missing:
Funding
• There should be an explicit target to raise sponsorship income to a level where income from ICC sources amounts to no more than 50% (or even 35%) of the total budget.
• An appropriate marketing strategy should, as a matter of urgency, be developed in order to achieve this goal.
Growth
There need to be concrete proposals for achieving the (fairly modest) target of 6000 active cricketers by 2014. These should include
• Use of the club charter scheme to stimulate clubs in their efforts to expand and to reward them for their achievements
• A more active promotional campaign, based on co-operation between the Bond and the clubs, to encourage interest in cricket in schools, colleges and universities (this is already envisaged in last year’s Action Plan, but missing from the Beleidsnota
• Development where necessary of new competitions to underpin these initiatives
• Tackling the ‘Randstad problem’ through the active stimulation of new clubs outside the Randstad, with a target of, say, 10 additional clubs by 2014
• Development of regional action plans, expanding what has already been done for the Eastern Netherlands, in order to cover the whole country.
Staffing
• In order to achieve these goals, and assuming a significant increase in overall income, the KNCB office staff needs to be expanded to include a full-time Events Manager, three Regional Development Officers (perhaps partially funded by local authorities?), and a (?part-time) Communications and Media Officer.
’Top sport’
• There should be an explicit target (as supported by the ICC High Performance Program) of at least one fixture against a Full member opponent per year
• More matches (preferably including some element of multi-day cricket) should be arranged against Full member A sides and county, provincial or state teams from those countries
• The A team should be involved in some way in ECB competition
• The development of links with academies in England and elsewhere (in the latter case in partnership with the clubs) should be planned and carried out
• The creation of a (semi)professional national squad should be systematically pursued in a way which gives talented young Dutch cricketers a rational and attractive career structure
• Participation of the national women’s team in the ECB county championship (which is, remarkably, completely absent from the current document) should be continued with a view to the side’s reaching the highest possible level
• The recent formation of a girls’ under-13 squad should be extended to ensure that talented young women cricketers continue to develop to the maximum of their ability.
Professionalisation
• There needs to be a thorough review of the relationship between amateur and (semi)professional status in Dutch domestic cricket.
Competitions
• Over the planning period, a regional multi-day competition should be established
• In the light of current developments in cricket and in other sports, there should be a review of whether the competitions should be reorganised with the top divisions playing on Saturdays rather than Sundays
• In order to achieve the goals outlined elsewhere, thought should be given to the development of new competitions (e.g. involving universities and colleges) on the model of the successful midweek business competition (bedrijfscricket>).
Coaching
• It should be an explicit goal to establish an integrated coaching system, with clear evaluation and reporting methods, involving national and club coaches in the development of talented young Dutch cricketers
• There should be clear targets for the development of a larger number of active Level 2 and Level 3 coaches, with clubs rewarded for their efforts in this regard through the Club Charter scheme.
Umpiring
• It should be an explicit goal to produce sufficient qualified umpires to cover, as a minimum, all matches in the Topklasse, Hoofdklasse, Eerste Klasse, Overgangsklasse, Women’s Hoofdklasse and Under-18 competitions
• Steps should be taken to improve umpire education, with a view to securing a greater Dutch presence in ICC umpiring panels
• The KNCB should support and foster the formation of a national Umpires’ (and Scorers’!) Association.
Accommodation
• As a matter of some urgency, the Bond should produce a national Accommodation Plan, identifying the number and level of grounds required in order to realise its other goals
• It should pursue, in co-operation with the clubs, a more active (and proactive) policy vis-à-vis the local authorities, seeing them (and encouraging them to see themselves) as ‘stakeholders’ in the development of Dutch cricket
• There should be a clear policy to increase the number of grounds with turf pitches (to 10, or even 12) over five years
• There needs to be provision for the training and support of groundsmen to maintain the expanding number of turf facilities.
Communication and promotion
• In addition to the appointment of a designated Communications and Media Officer, there should be a coherent plan for raising the profile of Dutch cricket in television, radio and the print media
• With the likely demise of the printed weekly Cricket there should be an explicit policy on the use of electronic media to communicate with members, players, supporters and the outside world.
Very little of this is actually new: some of it is already present in last year’s Action Plan for 2009, and it is surprising that it is not more evident in the Beleidsnota. The remaining points have, almost without exception, been discussed here and elsewhere, and, I believe, are explicit or implicit in what CEO Richard Cox has been saying since he arrived.
In the end, it all comes back to money. The policy statement is absolutely right in stressing the importance of volunteers, and in stating that the more limited the KNCB’s resources, the more vital the contribution of those volunteers becomes. That’s why the Club Charter is crucial, and why its absence from this policy statement is so disturbing.
Without a significant increase in sponsorship income, admittedly, some of the targets I’m proposing would certainly be impossible. But if you don’t set yourself clear and ambitious goals you won’t improve, and worse, you won’t ever find out what you were capable of.
There is a serious danger that at every level, from the individual player all the way up to the KNCB Board, Dutch cricket will continue to foster a culture of underachievement. There have been encouraging signs that this has been beginning to change, but this document is emphatically not one of them.
It’s up to the clubs to invite the Board to go back and think again.