2010 News
Friday May 2010 - Child Protection: Under 12's in Adult Cricket
The league management committee discussed the issue of under 12’s playing in adult cricket at its meeting on 4th May.
The position during the 2009 season was that an under 12 could play in adult cricket provided he had been cleared to do so by a sufficiently qualified coach. During the winter the ECB and YCB published a new set of directives and guidelines which stated
‘The ECB has had several requests to clarify the guidelines issued in December 2009 on junior players in open age cricket.
The intention of merging previous guidance documents was to clarify this area for clubs and leagues to assist them with planning and fulfilling fixtures so as:
- Not to place a young player in a position that involves unnecessary risk to that young player, taking account of the circumstances of the match and the relative skills of the player.
- Not to create a situation that places members of the opposing side in a position whereby they cannot play cricket as they would normally do against adult players.
In addition the guidelines note the need for clubs and leagues to recognize the positive experience that young players should have in open age cricket and thus clubs should provide an opportunity for players to show their talents in an appreciable way. Children who are just used as fielders will not fully experience the game.
The Guidelines are designed to help clubs to decide when to select young players in open age competitive cricket and how best to help their cricketing development when they play within open age groups. For example:
Under 12 age group players and younger should not play in open age competitive cricket.
Under 13 age group players can play in open age group competitive cricket (ie players aged 12 and over) if considered qualified by a level 2 coach or above that if it is considered appropriate for their development’.
Further investigation revealed that the guidelines originated from ‘A Call to Action’, a document published by the Child Protection in Sport Unit, and endorsed by the DCMS, NSPCC, Sport England, UK Sport and the Youth Sport Trust: in other words, they have been endorsed by the government and most of the major sports bodies.
Rule 40 of the Nidderdale League’s rules states that the rules, directives, guidelines and directions of the YCA, YCB and ECB are specifically incorporated into these (the league’s) rules and shall be binding on all members of the league’.
Any club fielding an under 12 player will be in breach of the league’s rules and any infringement of the rule will be referred to the league disciplinary committee in the usual way.
Clubs are also warned that if any accident befalls an under 12 player that they have fielded in an open age competitive cricket match they will not receive any support from the Nidderdale League, the YCB or ECB as they will have done so in clear breach of all of the rules and guidelines. Should an under 12 age group player be injured, the first question the club’s insurers are going to ask is ‘what are the rules and guidelines, and has the club acted in accordance with them?’If the club hasn’t, the insurers may refuse to cover the club and the club’s officers could be left with the full liability. Some people have questioned whether a parent, having consented to their under 12 age group child playing in an open age match, would take legal action against the club concerned, but, as we all know parental views can change when they are suddenly faced with the cost of serious medical care for their children.
The management committee isn’t happy that an anomaly has arisen - a handful of children who were cleared to play in open age cricket in the league last year cannot do so this year, but in the circumstances it strongly advises clubs not to play under 12’s in open age matches: clubs who do so will face disciplinary action and will place their own club – and their own officers – at serious financial risk in the event of any litigation following an accident.