Hello Comrades

I am writing from home, having taken the sensible decision to maximise on the bank holidays. For those of you at work, keep it up, brothers! I want to talk to you about membership fees and also, how those will be relevant to playing match cricket with the collective in the forthcoming season. For surely, one will not occur without the other!

There is a need to charge for membership. Why? The Soho Cricket Collective has become rather a sought after and treasured group. We are already up to about thirty members and we shall be more by the season end. Our motto, as nobody else has proffered an alternative, is FOR SOCIETY NOT GLORY. As in, we play for the society of membership and the spiritual rewards of team sport, We love to have the chance of winning and no doubt will, but Glory of the self or the team is second to the pleasure and rewards of fun, team cricket.

I want to take the Collective forward and make it more official. We need a sponsor, bank account, we intend to support several charities and i think it should also be an organisational hub for charity cricket events and one-off league events. For instance, next year the SCC should administer and take part in, a six team mini-league 20/20 weekend at a hotel with cricket pitch! All done for charity and with teams from Celebrities, Journalists, Film, TV, the SCC and A.N Other. All done for charity with a big dose of great fun thrown in.

All of this sounds like money and time, but i don’t think we should bowl fast off-spin until we get line and length right. So this year is about four matches away and four pre-match 20/20 matches to warm up. Below that is the net practices and pub/club-events to brush up on scoring and umpiring and rules! Do you need to pay now or ever? Well, if you actually want to play a match – yes. Whether 20/20 or club match you will have to be a member. If you want just the odd nets, it will be a net fee. If you just want to be on the blog and occasionally get dragged in, it’s free! (To an extent)

So i am suggesting:

• FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
  • Membership fees will be set at £30 per year. This will be payable at the commencement of the season and as we are yet to kick off, that means they are due from now. Until we have a bank account set up, you will have to contact me at phil@pogofilms.com or call me on 0207 292 0650 for payment details. We shall have an account in place very soon.
  • For each proper match set up, a paid up member will have to pay £10 for beer and tea-money. This is then paid to the hosts and/or the organisation of the match whether or not the member actively plays.
  • For all 20/20 matches which are played internally amongst the SCC or any other ‘home’ match, the fee will £5 and the Premier and Commissars will decide which match falls into which category.
  • For net practices, each member will pay 50% of an equal division of the ‘fee for the net’ by turn-out and the SCC will cover the rest. So if we pay £10 to rent a net for two hours for four people, £5 is payed for by The SCC and each player pays £1.25 – whether or not they are there for the full duration or not.
  • 10% of monies in hand each year donated to our charities of selection.
• SELECTION CONSIDERATIONS
  • For proper match team selection, we shall have to apply some schedules to selection based upon:
    • 1st choice selection is carried out up until four weeks before the game. Those offered places will be those who are:
      • Founder Members (played in our first match in 2010 at Welford) and members of The SCC
      • AND are fully paid up or who immediately pay up fully upon offer.
    • 2nd choice selection is made from 2-4 weeks before the game and to those who are:
      • Members of The SCC
      • AND Fully paid up or who immediately pay up fully upon offer.
    • Final choice selection is carried out in the last two weeks before the match amongst those who are:
       
      • Non members of The SCC but agree to Join and pay up fully upon doing so.
  • If we find ourselves over subscribed for a match the team captain, whomsoever they may be,  shall make a decision.

What will you get for your money?

• Cricket matches organised for you to join in and enjoy!
• Within the year, team badges to place on your shirt/jumpers
• Charitable assistance through participation
• Through sponsorship and charity involvement, a quarterly get together arranged in Soho, London.
• Fitness, fun and a growing and useful network.
• Tours to come in the next few seasons, maybe abroad?!
• Access to the blog and website
• Shop items – ultimately
• A glowing sense of well-being

THE FIRST MATCH IS JUNE 26TH: and that is soon. So get back to me very soon with comments and feedback, or just pay-up and get ready for the fun! I want to have 1st choice selection under way, please. So if you were there at Welford, get your cheque book out and give me a call or email now.

COMMISSARS?

To aid me in the administration and rounding-up process i have asked for volunteers to become commissars and represent a small body of players each. There will no doubt be small added duties that are relevant to each Commissars role but please read below. IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS with being a commissar as things have changed for you, please let me know. SCC cricket squads are by alphabet:

• Tim Baxter
  • Ben Radcliffe
  • Colin Arnold
  • Nick Edwards
  • Erik Janssen
• Mark Blackledge
  • Nick Jones
  • Nick Harris
  • Roger Kelly
  • Nick Green
  • Mick Robertson
• Tony Dickie
  • Shane Warden
  • Dil Dhillon
  • Ben Lavington Martin
  • Jerry Chater
• Tim Graham
  • Andrew Sewell
  • Leroy Noel
  • Charlie Richards
  • James Chads
• Jason Griffin
  • Rob Kaplan
  • Dan March
  • Darren Jonusas
• Olivier Lauchenauer
  • Rob Dixon
  • Paul Franks
  • Menhaj Huda
  • Dominic Crossley

So, if you are a Commissar as above (bold and RED) please contact your squad and say hello! You can use the EMail 2 Users plugin on the left when you login to the site or you can call them, or you can visit them with schnaps and blinis. But just say hello!

I of course demand some feedback – yet expect none to little – but we shall play cricket and we shall have fun. IT IS AN ORDER!!!

Thank you – your comrade in Colliers Wood, Yuri.

PS: Tony – chase that pitch please!