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Back to an Uncertain Future?

In the film series, the hero - McFly - always manages against almost impossible odds to return safely to the present day. Reading some of the submissions to the Acumen site, and hearing about some of the postings on the new ACU&S message board, it struck us that there is a proportion of the ACU&S membership set absolutely on a return to a past from which escape may not be an option.

Colin Pearson wrote recently that he can see nothing to be gained from joining forces with ECB. Let ECB concentrate its efforts on the upper levels of umpiring, he said - for ease of reference, we are omitting scoring from the discussion, although it is very much a part of it, of course - and ACU&S can get on happily looking after the other and far larger segment. Some other correspondents, who seem to be instructors and/or examiners, have stated that they will go into retirement rather than be a part of a merged body.

Our reaction to the latter element is that, by voicing that sentiment, they may be doing no more than to reveal that efforts they put into the umpiring sector would seem to have been motivated less by love of the game than the satisfaction derived from the kind of status they felt they enjoyed in one particular organisation. Otherwise, why would they withhold their services from a new body taking over responsibility for the same functions? If that is true, then the sooner they sever their links the better. The benefit they may have brought to the game will almost certainly have been outweighed by the damage wrought by their cynicism.

Colin Pearson's view has an entirely different basis but is equally wrong for all that. We believe that Colin has allowed his deep and long-standing emotional attachment to ACU&S to cloud his thinking. Let us suppose that the ballot produces, as Colin hopes, a "No" vote. Put yourself in the shoes of someone thinking about taking up umpiring. He, or she, will be able to choose between joining one of two outfits. ECB will offer quality umpiring, both in League and Cup competitions, with the chance to progress to higher levels for a modest £20 subscription. ACU&S will offer a poorer standard of cricket, no possibility of advancement, and will charge rather more than half as much again. What would be your decision? There is surely only one answer.

If this analysis is right, then the ECB will enjoy steady expansion, with a regular infusion of young blood into the ranks, while ACU&S finds itself facing depletion of its elderly membership to a point - perhaps in as little as five years - where survival is out of the question. (The same fate, but far quicker, confronts ICUS, which is why we have not bothered to mention it so far. With just a skeleton and aged membership, its financial future is even more desperate. Two years at most will see it jostling for space in the (rather large) dustbin to which all Stuart-King's ill-fated projects have been consigned).

Will ACU&S members condemn ACU&S to a slow but unavoidable disintegration in the ballot? We hope not. Watch this space.