ACO NEWSLETTER - Ecb - England and Wales Cricket Board

forces the umpire to fund his travel costsand match expense, in effect loaning theleagues money at zero interest rate. Thereasons (excuses) put forward are that it isinconvenient for clubs to pay on the dayand other such unbelievable reasons. It isquite possible for clubs to arrange to payumpires. After all, they do not have any difficultypaying players. Even if for simplicityclubs pay the match fee on the day at teaand then allow umpires to claim travel expensesup to end of June and then up toSeptember it would be fairer than at present.For the ACO to “kick the issue into thelong grass” and leave it to local leagues todecide cannot be acceptable to membersand particularly those who may not haveany alternative senior league to move to.The leagues can still reward members butwith the knowledge of the minimum laiddown by the ACO on behalf of its members.Qualified Scorer members should alsoexpect a minimum match expense for seniorgames in the region of £20.2 years is too long to wait for any actionand I call upon the ACO to grasp the nettleand establish a realistic and fair level of expensesfor 100 overs Senior Leaguematches for 2013 now!The other issue is for the ACO to create astandard detailed and easy to follow markingsystem for use in all leagues up to seniorleague level. One local senior leaguehas this but others have a less detailed systembased on the County version, whichfor the lower leagues is far too vague anddoes not provide any immediate feedbackto members. How can we expect captains,at senior league and below, to mark umpireswhen there is no consistency acrossthe leagues and the knowledge of manycaptains falls short of that required to providea meaningful mark and feedback. Theintroduction of mentors and assessors willcertainly help but there are insufficientnumbers to cover all games, not just seniorleagues. So the opportunity to introduce asimple yet easy to operate system is hereand it will not only provide a more consistentmark but provide invaluable feedbackto members and help them improve theirperformance. It will also alert captains tothe full duties of umpires and not justwhether an LBW decision was correct intheir mind.Umpires like all other match officials donot do the job for money but it is reasonableto expect leagues, clubs and playersto respect, value and reward us in a fairand comparative way. There is an opportunityfor the ACO to satisfy these pointsand at the same time encourage new membersand convince existing members toumpire as long as possible.Because ECB ACO can only advise: itcannot make any decisions in theseareas, we asked Paul Bedford, Head ofNon First Class cricket to respond to themain thrust of John’s letter. He respondedas follows:With regard to remuneration of officials:ECB are working with County Boards overthe next few months and asking them toconsult with players on the duration ofgame, start times and travel distance to enableas many players to continue playingas possible. A national standard rate is setfor all ECB games (usually all those appointedby the RAOs) but ECB does notdictate similarly to Counties or Leagues asto how much remuneration should be paidChanges to Vetting Checks –Update from the ECB Safeguarding Teamfor any particular League or Cup match asall are in receipt of different amounts ofsponsorship and support from local CountyBoards.With regard to a common marking systemECB would welcome the creation of an easyto follow common marking system and ifmembers want to send a template for ECBACO to test with leagues and membershipthen it would be most helpful.So there is a challenge.Do you belong to a League with a goodmarking system –send us the template; orif not send us your own template of what agood marking system looks like.You may be aware that there are going to be changes to the systems for Vetting Checks.This is to let you know of the significant changes in the immediate future. The Governmenthas said that further changes will happen in ‘Spring 2013’, so we will provide furtherinformation in the next newsletter.For now, the main changes are to do with terminology and with the application form itself.These are detailed below:• On 1 December 2012 the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and the Independent SafeguardingAuthority (ISA) will merge to form the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).• The current CRB application form will be replaced with a new ‘DBS’ application form.The new form will reflect the change of name from CRB to DBS and a new logo, togetherwith some wording and format changes. All key processes and information requiredto complete the application form remain unchanged.• DBS application forms will be available for use from 1 December• You can continue to use your current stock of CRB application forms until 31 January2013• From 1 February 2013 only DBS application forms should be used• Any ‘old style’ CRB application forms received by TMG CRB (who process the ECB’sapplications) after 1 February 2013 will be invalidWhat should you do now?Please communicate to relevant people the changes they need to noteEncourage colleagues to use the new forms as soon as they have themReturn any ‘stocks’ of ‘CRB’ forms to Lords, for the attention of Alison Faiers, by theend of December 2012If you have any queries do not hesitate to contact us at safeguarding@ecb.co.ukDuring the highly successful London & East ACO meeting whichbrought together the various County and Regional Officers, itbecame abundantly clear that scorers were looking for furtheravenues to show off their talents.One way that is possible is to enrol within the MCC ScorersRegister which enables you the opportunity to put your nameforward for any number of ‘Out Matches’ the MCC have during theseason.To do so, simply write a letter stating your scoring CV, along with your up to date CRBcertificate number and they will (should everything be okay) send you a fixture list ofliterally hundreds of fixtures for the forthcoming season.In there you will normally apply to wither the Match Manager, whose details areenclosed under the game or to the Secretary, whose address is at Lords c/o the MCC.When applying, again you state your scoring experience and wait to hear if you havebeen successful.As stated earlier, there are hundreds of different games from venues such as Lords’through to some of the top grounds and public schools in the UK.To apply to be on the MCC register, please send your details to theMCC, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London NW8 8QNe-mail us at ecbaco@ecb.co.uk 26 contact us on 0121 446 2710