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The things you said - comments and feedback

"If it is abuse, - why one is always sure to hear of it from one damned goodnatured friend or another!"
The Critic, Act 1, Sc1. Sheridan.

Perhaps surprisingly, we have had remarkably few harsh words offered us and have been encouraged by some kind ones. Good news being no sort of news at all, we are leaving out the latter. Although some writers may not object to being identified, as a matter of policy we are preserving their anonymity.

To date I have only seen from both camps the attempt to break up ACU&S. This association is a world wide body and should be treated by both of you as such and not be handed over to a body like ECB that only cares for a very small but elite part of cricket, so lads think again and work to get ACU&S working again! Please.
Some people are determined not to believe it, but we had hoped all along that ACU&S might be saved. Have a look at Dave Burden's statements to General Council and at the Bartercard sponsorship item, and you will see that hope was scuppered by those on General Council working against both Dave Burden and the membership. Sadly, it is not now a case of handing ACU&S to ECB. By June or July there may be nothing to hand over.

This is not constructive - this is simply character assassination, and to what end? BS-K has gone - move on.
Because How's That? and the ACU&S website carried few or no real facts about the follies being perpetrated in our name and yours - huge debts contracted out of all proportion to our income - we wanted to inform the membership. At the AGM you have a chance to ask the officers just what they think they are up to. With respect, there is no point in shooting the messenger.
And BS-K gone? Have a look at the piece about new companies just registered. You wondered where he went? Not very far, unfortunately.

May I take issue with your comment....this website...designed to share that information with....parties who may then begin to understand how a vibrant organisation....was brought to the edge of bankruptcy. Really - brought to the edge of bankruptcy? In whose eyes, yours or professional auditors? Just what are you three charlatans hoping to achieve - what have you got to offer any organisation other than to perhaps feather your own nests?
An interested observer.
Fighting talk, sir! Well, firstly, both we and the auditors - this year at least - are of a similar view. They say "The ability of the Association to meet its day to day operational commitments in the foreseeable future is in doubt unless new sources of funding are secured." With regret, we agree with that view and, unhappily, you do not get nearer to the edge of bankruptcy than that.
As far as charlatanism is concerned, we are more than content to leave that to those who present false accounts to the members, and lie to them directly at the AGM. As a matter of interest, none of us stands to gain anything from the demise of ACU&S or from the setting up of ECBOA. In fact, the attempt to circulate proper information to the membership has cost each of us quite a lot, both in time and money. We gave that willingly, hoping that ACU&S might be rescued.

(Lunch at the Cricketers' Club was offered for anyone able to make sense of the mantra below, concerning independent officials).
Independent officlals deserve official independence (from the governing body ECB), represented by their own organisation to stand up for their interests, occasionally even against the governing bodies of the game, if needs be. This seems quite clear to me; it is a quote, my brackets, from the Editorial of 2005 Mid-Season Edition of How's That? I donate my lunch to is author - not Tony Bastable - Della Rebours. Thank you.
Ironically, that is the edition which reported that some members of General Council had questioned "the new Chairman's statement" - found elsewhere on this website - and that they had passed a vote of no confidence in him although, as it transpired, he was the only man on that Council with both the ability and the means to save the Association. Also, the lies told at the 2004 AGM are solemnly recorded. This fails to qualify for the lunch on two counts. (Three, really, if you count the fact that it nearly caused me to bring up my own lunch). Firstly, it has no explanation at all of what the interests are which need defending against the actions of the governing bodies, one of which, MCC, is the custodian of the very laws we uphold. Secondly, as we should perhaps have stated but we thought it obvious, those responsible for the destruction of the Association do not qualify. It follows that neither the ventriloquist nor his dummy are eligible, therefore.

I, as an instructor member, should perhaps have paid more attention to what was happening but like many others I relied on the Association's officers to look after our interests.
That is the pity of the situation. We should have been able to trust the officers and those on General Council. Not only did they fail us, they have so little sense of shame that none has admitted to that failure, and none has resigned. It is a complete denial of everything for which the Association stood for fifty years.

One last thing - We received one fairly slanderous comment - what's new? - from an anonymous source. This would have been easily and fully answered, but if the writer cannot be bothered to identify him/herself we cannot be bothered to reply, except to say that there are no outside sponsors of the website, and it is paid for.