HOME PAGE | FACTFILES | QUOTES | COMMENT FORM |

On Monday, April 3rd, John Isterling sent this e-mail to fellow officers of ACU&S' North-West region:-

"You will be aware that we are voting this coming week on the subject document (Tony Bastable's 'Renaissance') so that we may be properly represented by our Regional Councillor. What the document does not tell you is that as early as 2nd February 2006 three companies were registered by the Companies Registrar. These companies were:-

1. Community Network (sic - actually Cricket) Holdings Ltd
Directors: D Brandon (Secretary), J R Masterson, C N Rawson, Barrie Stuart-King

2. Institute of Cricket Umpires & Scorers Ltd
Directors: A L Bastable, S R Bennett, D Brandon, D Burns, A V B Farnfield, J Fielden, P J Freeman, K A Say, M E Warren.

3. On-Side Cricket Ltd
Directors: Denis Burns, John Richard Masterson, Alick Newman, Christopher Richard (sic - actually Norman) Rawson (Secretary).

You may recognise amongst the several directors the following:-

a) The former Chairman of ACU&S who lied to the membership at the 2004 AGM in Durham and falsely issued documents to manipulate the accounts to be presented to the AGM and thus present a false position.

b) The former Treasurer of ACU&S who was responsible for the unauthorised signing of at least one of the leasing arrangements which contributed to a deficit in the accounts for 2003/2004 of £59,270 and who resigned from his position some 48 hours before the AGM in March 2006.

c) The former Assistant Treasurer (Accounts) of ACU&S who has resigned since the Committee of Enquiry (chaired by Colin Pearson) report was issued.

d) Two members of the Committee of Enquiry (namely J Fielden and K A Say) who are both intimately aware of the transgressions of other directors.

Tony Bastable distributed his Renaissance document, which he points out is not an official ACU&S document or issued by the ACU&S Media Officer, to "...inform as many people as possible of the facts - rather than relying on speculation as to our motive and plans." I would comment as follows on this document:-

1. Section 2 Paragraph One has no basis in fact and is not supported by any evidence - in truth we are nearly insolvent because of the actions (or lack of them) by individuals on both the Finance Board and General Council and indeed the bodies themselves. no one else is to blame! But a lot of these people wish to be directors of the "Institutes".

2. Section 6 shows that the membership will have no possible way in which it can influence or bring to book the directors who will be self appointed. The final sentence of this section is truly laughable. "The probity of the entire operation is thus not only ring-fenced but also in secure hands." The secure hands of those that got us here in the first place!

3. The last straw must be Section 8, look at the names, look at the Finance Board and General Council and then look at where they have got us.

I rest my case.
John Isterling.

Either Fielden or Freeman must have copied this to little Chris Rawson (as one tends to think of him, perhaps because of that line in Brecht's 'Mother Courage' -The finest plans are always ruined by the littleness of those who ought to carry them out).
He responded later that day with this;-

"Subject: Setting the record straight
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 22.49:45 +0100
Gentlemen
Please allow me to set the record completely straight.

I am currently nothing whatsoever to do with the Institute of Cricket Umpires and Scorers. As things stand at present I have absolutely no intention of becoming involved. Such energies as I have are being devoted to the role of Regional Finance Officer (South East) of the ACU&S. As there was no one else willing to stand for the post from the entire membership (some 1200 people) within the SE Region, I offered to continue. I would have been quite happy not to stand but it would failed (sic) the membership in the region had the post gone vacant.

(Did it not occur to him that he rather failed the membership by not turning up to the AGM on March 25th to answer one or two questions? I wanted to ask him the about the nature of the 'sensitive' documents he needed to buy a shredder to destroy in January 2005, amongst many other things. As he is intent on setting the record straight, perhaps he might explain now?)

You might rightly question why my name is associated with Community Cricket Holdings Ltd. I have allowed my name to be used as a 'nominee' director to enable the company to be registered - not a particularly unusual or sinister act.

(Little Rawson seems not to understand what a nominee director is. Nor was his name required for registration as they already had more than enough directors. He is down as being the Company Secretary of On-Side Cricket Ltd. Clearly, he should read up about it fast or he may commit a blunder which will render him (and his fellows) liable to fines or even imprisonment).

My name will be deleted from the list of director's (sic) names as soon as the company starts trading. I'm afraid that you will have to take my word for that for the moment. However, your continued close scrutiny of the records at Companies House over the coming months will demonstarte the truth of that statement.

(Could be a long wait then).

I assume that the Christopher Richard Rawson whose name appears as a director of On-side Cricket Ltd must also be me.

(As we said, you are Company Secretary. Don't they tell you anything?)

Similar comments to those for Community Cricket Holdings Ltd obtain. However, it is right that you should be aware that I have some sympathy towards the aims and objectives of On-side Cricket Ltd with regard to assisting recreational cricket clubs. You may or may not be aware that, together with other family members, I have been running a fixture bureau in Kent for several years which is entirely free to users. That should help to give you some indication of my genuine interest in recreational cricket.
Chris Rawson."

So that's why he was not at the AGM! It was his turn to man the phonelines.

"Chris
Please accept my apologies for typing your name incorrectly.

As a director of both CCHL and OSCL (please excuse the acronyms) you have linked yourself with the Institute of Cricket Umpires & Scorers, to deny involvement is bizarre. If you do not wish to be associated or involved then the solution is simple - resign now. The North West Regional meeting last Monday was advised that "sponsorship was in place" but that the sponsor's name was being withheld. You must have heard that statement from a fellow director many times over the last few years although sponsorship has never materialised.

All I am trying to do is ensure that the membership is aware that this whole Institute arrago is being masterminded by the very people who got ACU&S into its current financial mess in the first place. Whether this was by accident or design is irrelevant, it is where we are today and it is time those that got us there got up and left.
John Isterling.

Our feelings entirely. We have had enough of you all. You have done nothing but harm to ACU&S, and to cricket. Please, leave now.