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The day the obsession began
By Contestant No 6 June 10 2007
“Do all these men get paid to play cricket Dad?” A nod of the head follows accompanied by a movement of said head towards the pitch and a grunt. “Even the fat one there? Does he get paid too?” A sharp nod of the head follows “Cool! We don’t get anything when we play it in PE.”

“Concentrate on the cricket, you’ll learn more from watching Moxon bat than you will from a month of PE lessons.  And that fat one is Gatting who used to captain England.”  

A first experience of county cricket.  A wide eyed seven year old with his Dad.  A wide eyed seven year old who had 3 forenames as his Dad said “all the best openers for Yorkshire and England had 3 initials.” 

It was a Thursday and my Dad told me he would pick me up from school (novelty enough in itself) and we would go and watch the evening session of Yorkshire against Middlesex.  The excitement of the day is never to be forgotten.  The venue was Sheffield. 

Outgrounds.  Sheffield, Harrogate, Bradford, Middlesborough.  Nowhere near the size of Headingley, nowhere near the facilities of Headingley and nowhere the difficulties of Headingley.  Now, I love Headingley, correction, I love Headingley with a big crowd in, the Roses matches, C&G Trophy (or whichever bank has the sponsorship of it now), international matches, on these occasions a vociferous and partisan crowd is in creating a fantastic atmosphere.  For Yorkshire v Middlesex in the middle of May with 200 people sunning themselves around the ground is it really the best option? 

All Yorkshiremen are rightly proud of Headingley.  It is a magnificent stadium and holds some fantastic memories.  As the facilities improve it is also becoming the epitome of a 21st century sports arena and obviously the club are keen to maximise revenue opportunities.  With the growth of 20:20 cricket these revenue opportunities are ever increasing as the crowds flock for some fantastic entertainment.  Sell them a shirt, 5 or 6 pints, 2 burgers and a seat, multiply this by a few thousand and watch the profits flow in.  Headingley is the perfect venue for games of this nature. 

For several years many have debated the future of the county championship.  Whilst one day cricket has become the number one attraction in many cricketing nations, most notably the sub continent, test cricket remains the number one priority in England.  Whilst this priority remains county championship cricket will always be the most important form of the game for the ECB, unfortunately the cricketing public do not flock in their thousands to watch.  It is a sad sight to see an arena like Headingley with a couple of hundred people spread sparsely around the stands watching our lads play their hearts out for their county. 

Outgrounds.  I’ve never been to a Yorkshire match at Headingley but as a youngster I would scour the fixture list to see who Yorkshire was playing at Sheffield.  The evening sessions on school days and then hopefully a full Saturday and Sunday of cricket at Abbeydale. 

In an ever more competitive leisure market cricket has to fight to get the attention of the general public, and in particular the younger generation.  After school, an evening session of county cricket could be an introduction to the game for many school children.  How many people do the counties miss out on by playing all their games at one or two venues?  I would suggest that potentially a large number of future Yorkshire supporters are lost due to the fact that virtually all games are played at Headingley.  Leeds is an awful city to navigate at the best of times and nigh on impossible at rush hour, not many people would try to navigate their way across Leeds at rush hour to see a couple of hours cricket.  But take the cricket to the people, let them experience it for themselves, on their doorstep.  Even if it only encourages 50 more people to go and see Yorkshire this can only be a positive? 

To turn it around, would 250 people create a better atmosphere at Headingley or at Abbeydale or Bradford?  I think the answer is fairly obvious and I am sure the players would prefer a slightly smaller ground with a better atmosphere on occasions. 

Many would disagree and point out many advantages in playing all matches at Headingley and I know a very good commercial argument can be made for getting rid of the outgrounds but for me outgrounds will always have their place.  If it hadn’t been for Sheffield who’s to say whether my interest in Yorkshire cricket would have ever taken off.  Interest in test cricket has never been so strong, the Ashes have brought it to the forefront of peoples thoughts but I feel that interest in county cricket, particularly from the young, has never been so low.  By playing outside of Leeds the county would be opening up county cricket to a wider potential market.  The fact is very few people would travel from another part of the county to Leeds on a Saturday to go and watch Yorkshire but surely a few more would make the effort to go if it was in their town or city, right on their doorstep.  A few more Dads may decide to pick their sons and daughters up from school one day and go and watch a couple of hours cricket. 

The ground may be small and the facilities not up to Headingley standard but Abbeydale is a ground I will always love as it gave me my first taste of live cricket.  So close to the pitch you were able to hear the players shouting, getting a drink in the same pavilion that the players would change in.  To see them walking around the ground after they were out, seeing actual cricketers close up, was a dream come true for a 7 year old boy and I can’t help but feel that many are missing out on this opportunity and the county is missing a trick. 

I never went on to open the batting for Yorkshire and England as my talent obviously lay in other sports and not on the cricket field but my passion for cricket has only grown since that day.  And I still think Gatting was too fat however good a cricketer he may have been but I think the outgrounds are important and I just wonder how many future cricket lovers have been lost since the outgrounds died.

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