*302 Greig and Others v Insole and Others 1977 G. No. 22461977 J ...

[1978] 1 W.L.R. 302 Page 53
[1978] 1 W.L.R. 302 [1978] 3 All E.R. 449 (1978) 122 S.J. 162 [1978] 1 W.L.R. 302 [1978] 3 All E.R. 449 (1978)
122 S.J. 162
(Cite as: [1978] 1 W.L.R. 302)
clearly means “the 17 first class county clubs,”
since in this instance there is nothing in the wording
of the subsequent rules to prevent such a construction.
The 17 first class county clubs are
“employers” within a definition contained in
section 30 (1) of the Act of 1974.
Accordingly the TCCB has in my judgment shown
that it is an “organisation … which … consists
wholly or mainly of employers … of one or more
descriptions.” It thus surmounts the first hurdle
which it must surmount if it is to show that it is an
“employers' association,” within the statutory definition.
Turning to the second hurdle, however, it
is faced with far greater difficulties. Rule 2
of its rules which sets out its functions
provides as follows: “2.
Functions
“The board shall be responsible to the Cricket
Council for:(a)The organisation and administration
of all Test and trial matches in the United Kingdom.(b)The
organisation and administration of
M.C.C. overseas tours.(c)The negotiation of financial
and playing conditions with the overseas governing
body concerned for tours to and from the
United Kingdom.(d)The receipt, as agent for the
various bodies detailed in Appendix ‘A,’ of moneys
derived directly or indirectly from Test Matches at
home, from overseas tours and from any other
matches or competitions organised by the board and
for the payment of the relevant expenses and for the
distribution of the net receipts, in accordance with
Appendix ‘A.’(e)
The administration
*361 and promotion
of the first class county championship and
any other competition concerning the first class
counties.
(f)The rules governing the
registration and qualification of cricketers in county
cricket (Appendix ‘B’).”
Mr. Kempster, by a careful analysis of the subsequent
rules of the TCCB and the appendices to
those rules, and of the evidence relating to what it
actually does in practice, has sought to show that its
“principal purposes include the regulation of relations
between employers … and workers.” I think,
however, that there is at least one fatal flaw in this
proposition.
In my judgment, the wording of the statutory
definition of an “employers' association” contained
in section 28 (2) (a) of the
Act of 1974 in its context clearly shows that, if an
organisation is to fall within this definition, it must
comprise a number of employers, who by virtue of
their common characteristic as employers of a certain
description or descriptions, have associated
themselves for purposes among the most important
of which is included the regulation of relations
between employers of such description or descriptions
and workers. In my judgment it follows from
this that the very wording of the definition contemplates
that, if an organisation is to fall within the
statutory definition, it must be responsible
to the members who have associated themselves for
such purposes . If, under the terms of its
constitution, it were made responsible for the exercise
of its functions not to its members but to other
persons, this would in my judgment be quite inconsistent
with its being an “employers' association.”
For on this footing its members would not have the
full right collectively to supervise and control the
activities of the association, which they could have
been expected to demand if they had joined together
in the association for a principal purpose, albeit
among other principal purposes, of regulating their
relations as employers with their workers.
Under the express terms of rule 2
of the Rules of the TCCB , it is made responsible
in the exercise of its functions not to its
members but to the Cricket Council. Furthermore
that this is no accident of drafting and that the
Cricket Council indeed has the ultimate control
over the activities of the TCCB is illustrated by two
further provisions of the TCCB rules. Under
rule 3 (d) , which relates to meetings
of the TCCB, a straight majority is expressed
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