SPECIAL FEATURE: Grassroots sport coping with a pandemic... Horton House CC & Saints CC

It has been a tough 10 weeks or so for grassroots sporting clubs across the area, with all activities suspended as part of the battle to get on top of Covid-19.

Thousands of people, young and old, have been denied the chance to play cricket, football, tennis, rugby, bowls and many other sports, but there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel as restrictions are carefully eased.

The main focus has unsurprisingly been on the major and professional sports getting back into action, behind closed doors, and in the UK the Premier League is set to resume in a couple of weeks, the Cobblers are on course to get back playing by the end of the month and Silverstone will stage two Formula One GPs in August.

But what about those grassroot sports clubs?

How has the pandemic and suspension of sport affected them over the past three months? How are they coping financially?

Today, the Chron publishes a series of online articles touching on how a selection of the area’s sporting clubs have dealt with the crisis, and their hopes, and fears, for the future.

Number seven... Horton House CC & Northampton Saints CC

Horton House CC

It always helps in life when you have a few contacts... and that has certainly been the case for Horton House.

Like all cricket clubs, 2020 has to date been a write off - despite the glorious weather the country has been enjoying for weeks.

The suspension of all sport as part of the Government lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic has meant that Horton’s Denton Road ground has been eerily quiet.

The normal busy summer of cricket at youth and senior level has simply not happened, and Horton chairman Michael Macdonnell admits he is not expecting there to be any sort of competitive cricket this year.

But the recent relaxations of the lockdown regulations are going to at least offer cricketers the opportunity to practice and train, and as far as Horton are concerned they have a real coaching ace up their sleeve...

Northants head coach David Ripley has connections with the Horton club, and the Steelbacks supremo has kindly offered his services to try to raise some much-needed funds for the club at this difficult time.

“The headline news for us is that David Ripley, who is one of our parents, will be doing one-to-one coaching sessions for one morning a week for our youngsters,” said Macdonnell.

“This is a voluntary service, with £10 donations going to the club and we are very grateful to DR for giving his time up for free.

“It is a fantastic, in fact a unique, opportunity for our young players to get some one-to-one coaching with one of the best cricket coaches in the country.”

A fantastic opportunity indeed, but if you haven’t already booked up then forget it - all the coaching session slots with Ripley were booked up within just three minutes!

The money raised from that venture will certainly be welcome for Horton.

The club has also received grants from South Northants Council and Sport England, and although Macdonnell says the club will still make a loss this year - it will only be a small one, meaning Horton will be ready for that first ball of the 2021 campaign.

Macdonnell said: “We have obviously been shut down for the season so far, but the grounds team have maintained the pitch and outfield, it looks stunning with no cricketers to mess it up!

“Financially, it has been tough with very little membership income, no income from the bar, social events, club nights quiz nights – no hire of the club for functions.

“Our main sponsor, The Dental Clinic at 44 Derngate, have stuck with us and we are very grateful to them for that.

“We have applied for and received grants from South Northants Council and Sport England, which have made a difference, but the club will still make a small loss this year.

“Currently we are budgeting for the fact that there may be no cricket at all played at the club.”

But there will be those practice and coaching sessions, although Macdonnell revealed that even staging those comes with complications.

“We are launching our ‘Return to Cricket Phase 1’, on June 13,” said the Horton chairman.

“This involves the opening of nets and areas of outfield for our members to practice in household groups or one-to-one– strictly following all the ECB guidelines for social distancing and Covid 19 safety.

“It has been complicated to set up, but we have an online booking system, signage, new regulations, closed-off areas, sanitation procedures and supervision by a club official at all times.”

So it is a start, and Macdonnell is still hopeful things can be expanded upon as the summer goes on, and Covid-19 is, fingers crossed, brought under proper control.

“We have around 130 junior members and 15 qualified coaches in a normal season and run league teams at all age groups and weekly practice nights,” he said.

“We are hoping that we will be able to expand this into subsequent opening phases as the restrictions lift.”

Northampton Saints CC...

Saints Cricket Club are delighted they have been able to open their gates for the first time this summer.]

Three nets have been set up at the club’s Birchfield Road East ground, and chairman Mick Allen has been relieved to see so many junior cricketers rock up to blow off the cobwebs.

With no cricket being played, Allen admits he was concerned that some young players may just give up the sport, but he is pleased to report that is not the case

As well as running four senior sides in the Northants Cricket League, Saints has a burgeoning youth section, and Allen said: “Following an ECB bulletin we opened our net facility to existing members only to use our ground between the hours of 4pm and 7pm last week.

"With social distancing, we are able to use three nets for the week, which was half term. There were 45 hourly slots of which 31 were taken up.

“For this week we have added an hour on for Tuesday and Thursday, making 51 sessions of which 39 have already been booked.

“Things are therefore progressing well and gratefully the junior members are attending as we are concerned that with no actual games their participation may dwindle.

“Time will tell on this point, but as we understand junior cricket could be the first to return.”

There was another bonus for Saints stalwart Allen - the lockdown has given him the chance to have a bit of a spring clean!

He added: “On a positive note, you want to see the amount of rubbish we have disposed of from the clubhouse!”