SPECIAL FEATURE: Grassroots sport coping with a pandemic... St Crispin & Ryelands 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 six... St Crispin & Ryelands CC

St Crispin & Ryelands CC have got creative to try to keep the finances coming in while their cricket pitches lie unused this summer.

Chairman Kelvin Acford believes the club is in good health as it is, thanks to having built up a ‘rainy day fund’ over the years, but the members and players are also keen to do their bit.

Acford estimates that a cricketless summer will cost his club, which would normally field four senior teams in the Northants Cricket League every Saturday and also has 120 junior members, around £5,000.

That figure is made up of the ‘fixed running cost to maintain the ground including utilities and insurance’. Now that is clearly not ideal, but that fact Acford and his fellow committee men possess plenty of business experience has come in handy.

“We have always had what we call our rainy day fund as we feel we need to be in a position to react if something were to happen, and that has been our mantra,” said Acford.

“But having said that, if we use that up purely on running costs, then we need to rebuild it.”

That being the case, the club last week started up a Crowd Funding project, in connection with Sport England, with the target being to raise £2,500 - and it has a T20 cricket theme.

“We are encouraging members to do 20 of something, or do something for 20 days, to run 20 miles, bake 20 cakes or do 20 good deeds or whatever,” said Acford, who says the club have also now applied for a business grant.

“We are looking for people who would perhaps ordinarily be paying their subs to give a donation of £20, and we have got off to a good start.

“The most encouraging thing is that it seems to have hit a nerve with the whole club, whether somebody is six-years-old or 60.”

Sport England will match anything more than £1,200 that is raised, and the club is on course to do just that ahead of the June 20 closing date.

Although there has been no cricket as yet at St Crispin’s home pitches in Duston or Harpole, the recent lifting of lockdown restrictions is seeing action of sorts.

There is no revenue-making juniors night on a Friday to be staged in the near future thanks to social distancing, but players young and old can now get a bat or ball in the hands and practice.

“We have come up with a protocol for opening the nets, and that is on a one-to-one basis,” confirmed Acford.

“At the same time we have zoned the outfield for three evenings a week, and six people can book a zone.

“There can’t be coaching, but six cricketers can get together to do drills together in a socially distanced way. People have to book online, and that is kicking off this week.”

So is Acford hopeful there will be some cricket played in 2020?

“The ECB aren’t looking to start pro cricket until August, and if that’s the case I can’t see them starting recreational cricket, particularly with the pending football and rugby seasons,” he said.

“Michael Vaughan the other day was saying kids should be playing until October, but have you ever tried to get kids to play cricket when the football is on?

“Everything has its window, and I think we in cricket are going to have to bite the bullet this year.”