Dear Touchline

Remember the riddle of the sphinx? What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening? Man of course! Put a rugby spin on it and the answers are equally obvious: four legs: rugby props looking for their contact lenses, two legs: Jonny Wilkinson, three legs: almost all rugby officials in the unpaid game.

Blazers, alikadoos, the committee men, or most famously ‘old farts’, have been held up to ridicule for so long that most wear it as a badge of courage these days. But it does seem that this troop of willing (and often very able) people are just getting older without many signs of the new blood we are all sure the game needs.
There isn’t a County Secretary or Club Chairman who I have spoken to recently who isn’t bemoaning the lack of new recruits stepping forward to fill the shoes of an increasingly pensionable army of existing committee men. Now is this any different from 20 years ago? If so what has changed?

Certainly with strategic plans and the requirements of more accountability in commercial, health and safety and even legal areas the ‘jobs’ have become harder. I looked at the job specification for my County’s Press Officer lately and would have run a mile if I’d been offered the post!

There are less people playing at the recreational level so recruiting is from a smaller base. But there should still be a proportional number of thirty somethings getting involved but there isn’t as far as I can see.

We can all see the changes in the game since 1987 (leagues) and 1995 (professionalism). Whether we like them or not they are here to stay. The generation of thirty year olds playing now and moving inexorably towards veteran status haven’t any experience of pre-league fixture lists.

Sadly, there are a lot of those who do remember the pre-league season merry-go-round with affection and yearn for its return. Well, it isn’t going to happen! If you ask the players what they want it’s more competition not less. Too often I have heard the more crusty club and county officials representing their own views not their players.

For some counties and clubs the generational change is long overdue. But you cannot blame the incumbents for carrying on if no one is trying to push them out. So come on everyone in your 30s it’s time to stand up and be counted. And for all of you who moan about the ‘old farts’ and the decisions ‘they’ make, remember they were players too once and decided to give something back when they stopped. So if you think you can do it better …….

Andrew Manly
Surrey Management Committee