Fans ‘wicket’ behaviour was simply not cricket

CRICKET has been described as baseball on valium, but there was no question of sedation when Donemana supporters went bats at a senior cup fixture.

It does not always follow that a player’s behaviour on the field is a true index of his character off it – however, it was the conduct of the Tyrone club’s fans, not players, that came under the scrutiny of the committee of Cricket Ireland.

The committee decided that it was “simply not cricket” to fling drinks cans on to the field of play, even if the shot displayed certain sharp bowling skills by striking a Leinster Cricket Club player.

Other wicked behaviour included the incursion to the pitch by a spectator who delivered a kick to a Leinster fielder which is simply neither cricket, rugby, soccer nor any other team sport you’d care to mention.

The use of foul and abusive language aimed at Leinster players was the stump which broke the back of the committee’s forbearance.

The committee heard that “three separate cases of unacceptable crowd behaviour had occurred in the closing stages of what had otherwise been a well contested and well behaved game of cricket” at the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup (BKISC) final last September at Milverton, Skerries, in north Co Dublin.

It ruled that while this behaviour warranted expulsion for Donemana CC from the Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup competition under Article 8 of the tournament regulations, “which holds all clubs responsible for the behaviour of their supporters, at home and away”, it was decided instead to “suspend expulsion from the competition for three years, during which time Donemana CC would be required to play all their BKISC fixtures away from home”.

Further un-cricket like carry-on by Donemana supporters would result in immediate expulsion, Cricket Ireland stated.