Revealing The State We’re In
The results of the Clubs’ Big Survey were presented to the Cricket Research Network conference at ECB’s Performance Centre in Loughborough. You can now access all the Survey results data and narrative* clicking on the button below.
You can now access the 5-page report The state we’re in: club cricket at a tipping point published in The Cricketer in full here:
Growth, diversity and capacity challenges
Part 1 of a Clubs’ Big Survey trilogy from the magazine article is now headlining on The Cricketer online.
One of the key finding is one third of clubs have a short lease or rental agreement on their main ground and will be renegotiating in the next 5-10 years if not already. And it’s 75% of those with second facilities. With land prices spiralling and available facilities diminishing those negotiations get ever more difficult and expensive.
Reframing the ECB’s role in recreational cricket
Part 2 of the Club’s Big Survey trilogy from the magazine article is published on The Cricketer online. The club game is seeking greate collaboration and partnership with the governing body. What does that mean and will it be requited?
What does the future hold?
Part 3 of the Club’s Big Survey trilogy from the magazine article is published on The Cricketer online and looks at the future. Which club leadership and management factors are most closely associated with performance and indicate whether a club will survive and even thrive?
Parliamentary inquiry
The Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee is so concerned about the lack of investment in local grassroots sports facilities and the consequent impact on access for local school kids to organised sport it has launched an inquiry.
Game On: community and school sport is one inquiry the club community needs to get involved in.
Alongside ECB, Chance to Shine, Sport England and 100 other organisations, the Network’s submission has been published by the Select Committee and we wait to hear if we will be invited to give oral evidence.
WIN
All respondents will be entered into a draw to win one of three annual digital subscriptions, worth £29.99, which includes an e-edition of 12 issues of The Cricketer magazine in addition to exclusive daily cricket coverage from our award-winning team online.
INFLUENCE
This is your chance to highlight your club’s experience, your hopes and concerns for the future, and help influence the direction of recreational cricket. The results feature in an article members will be able to access on the Members’ Portal in January.
SHAPE
The Network presented the survey findings, and explored how the evidence might inform its new strategic direction in a webinar with ECB on January 16 to which all survey participants were invited. We agreed the agenda was so big it needed separate standalone dialogue on each of the key themes and that is now underway with members.
Why this survey?
Designed by, with and for clubs leaders, aiming to get under the covers of the biggest issues and challenges confronting the club network. Independent, authoritative and peer driven, we’re targeting leaders in club cricket across the country. The Network has a track record of big surveys on major issues including the 1,000 club responses to our Playing Numbers survey in 2019.
About the Network
Founded by club leaders for club leaders, we’re an online community of practice of over 1,200 chairs, vice-chairs, treasurers, secretaries and other club roles, driving club development and sharing knowledge, thinking, experience, latest news and mutual support on everything and anything related to running a club. And it’s FREE!
What issues?
Clubs are in a constant struggle for survival beyond the battle for relevance faced by the rest of the game. In a series of articles drawing on multiple conversations between literally hundreds of club leaders over the past year or so we’ve identified the critical drivers of, and impediments to, the growth and future health of clubs across the country. You can read those articles here.
About The Cricketer
The oldest and biggest circulation cricket magazine in the world. The Cricketer has its finger on the pulse of the club game, not least through its tie-up with the Network. All survey respondents will be entered into a draw to win one of three FREE annual subscriptions to the magazine worth £29.99. Insights from the survey will feature in a special investigation feature in the magazine in early 2025.
Complete the survey here
The Survey if now officially closed although you can still submit but it might not count towards the final results published
It’s designed for club leaders – officers, committee members and other significant roles – with a reasonable overview of their club’s activities, ballpark numbers and likely future trends.
It’s taking on average 12-14 minutes to complete. It’s intended for completion in one sitting but it is possible to leave and return to the part completed survey so long as you are using the same device to access.
TAKE CARE to complete each section of every question. Submission will be denied if you leave parts of questions blank although, once you attempt to submit, you only need complete the highlighted missed question(s) not all the questions again even though your responses may appear to have been deleted. Your responses are saved on the system and we can recover if reasonably complete.
Please note your survey response will be treated in complete confidence. Only anonymised aggregate results data – where you or your club cannot be identified – will be published by the Network or The Cricketer. That is unless we get your explicit prior consent to use individual data or comments