The appointment last autumn of Brian O'Rourke as the Leinster Cricket Union's first full-time development officer was a tangible sign that Irish cricket is committed to long-term change. O'Rourke, a fine player himself who represented Ireland Schools as well as captaining his club, Pembroke, to victory in the Leinster Senior League, is among the few paid cricket officials in this country, and the first-ever in Leinster.
O'Rourke's official aims are somewhat akin to those of the youth development officers appointed by the Irish Rugby Football Union in the course of last season. That is to say, both the Leinster Cricket Union (LCU) and the IRFU are committed to widening the appeal of their respective sports, to actively encourage more youngsters to take them up.
But there is one essential difference. The IRFU's youth scheme is designed to attract youngsters from traditional non-rugby areas, while O'Rourke is largely obliged to confine his promotional activities to the hinterlands of already-established cricket clubs, where playing facilities already exist.
Even so, he has made some exploratory forays to other areas, including a visit to Balgaddy National School in Clondalkin. O'Rourke introduces the girls and boys to Kwik-Cricket, the Australian innovation which is designed to give newcomers to the game a start which is easy, pleasant and good fun; games last 40 minutes and all the participants get to bowl, bat, field and keep wicket.
The response from the youngsters, he says, has been "unbelievable". Since he began, about 2,000 children have been introduced to Kwik-Cricket and in addition, 60 student teachers at St Patrick's Training College in Drumcondra, Dublin, have also been introduced to the short game, have been shown how to teach it and have been awarded Kwik-Cricket teaching certificates.
Every school which O'Rourke visits gets a training course for one day a week over six weeks, a free Kwik-Cricket set - a second set can be bought for a nominal £20 - and a 20-minute training video. His labours are paying off - the Fingal Schools' Championship on Friday, June 18th, will involve 200 kids who have never played cricket before.
The centre of excellence which will be established at North County CC's new home in Balbriggan will be a further step in the on-going development, with full indoor facilities for training and squad sessions envisaged.
But the back-up of cricket clubs is vital. The LCU's Plan 2000, unveiled back in September 1997, calls for every club to appoint a development officer and to support O'Rourke's efforts, the union wants a liaison officer from each club in question to contact the local schools which he has visited, so that the kids may be drawn into under-age activities at that club.
Undoubtedly, O'Rourke, as the sole professional involved in the promotion of the game in Leinster, needs that sort of support if his hard work and his future plans are going to come to fruition and more players are drawn to cricket. And again undoubtedly, his activities would be further boosted by effective marketing of the game, a key area in which the men - and women - who run Irish cricket have long been notably unsuccessful.
Ironically, a photograph in the LCU's current handbook proves conclusively that effective marketing and sponsorship, without which no sport can survive, let alone prosper, is there all but for the asking. The picture shows the then newly-appointed O'Rourke being presented with the new car which goes with the job, and which is sponsored by the motor firm, George A Dagg Ltd; much, much more of the same should be eminently possible.
The LCU can say truthfully that its major competitions are sponsored, while Telecom Eireann came on board last summer to back the LCU Team of the Year award scheme, itself an excellent concept. But the various competitions have effectively long been handed away for sums of money which are derisory in today's terms, and little or nothing is done to expose them to a wider audience.
The same goes for the Irish Cricket Union's competitions, of course; the winners of the Irish Senior Cup, our only all-island club cricket competition, wouldn't need to hide their earnings in a secret Cayman Islands bank account. And not it was sponsored by Guinness, away back when, has the Inter-provincial Championship, the stepping stone to international recognition, had a commercial backer.
But it is not simply a question of attracting more money into Irish cricket, crucial though that aim is. A market-driven sponsor would make sure to widen the awareness of and interest in the product they are backing; advertising, posters, handbills and a concentrated press relations campaign would help focus the attention of an ever-growing audience on cricket.
All of which is not intended to be negative, let me assure the game's (unpaid) administrators, in case they're lying in wait for me, sharpened stumps at the ready. But why not a bit of innovation?
Why not sell the idea of televising the Senior Cup final, provincial and/or national, (for example) live to TV3? Or, come to think of it, why not offer the same idea to TnaG; after all, it was the original local cricket club which gave birth to the renowned Tuam Stars GAA club, prior to the formation of the GAA in 1884.
