A Burning Issue

Fantasy Bob reads that the police in Scotland dispersed 797 gatherings on Saturday, an indication that the continuing lockdown restrictions may be increasingly disregarded by many of the population. 

Unhappily not enough of these dispersals were at the home of Poloc Cricket Club in Glasgow.  The club posted on Twitter pictures of the litter left behind by weekend picnicers and damage caused by barbeques.

This comes as no surprise to FB who has encountered similar damage to pitches with which he is familiar.  Edinburgh's Home of Cricket on the Meadows frequently suffers burn marks from disposable barbeques.  Occasionally these occur on the squares themselves which suggests a lack of awareness times two. 

 'Oh look they've left a nice bit of short grass here specially for us to sit on.  Fire up the BBQ.' 

 

FB has also encountered scorch marks in the middle of an artificial wicket at the Inch - a melted wicket.  Perhaps it was luck that they were half way down the track - anything nearer a length would have rendered it wholly unusable.  Might it be that the barbeque oparty put some thought into their positioning?  

'Don't put in on a length - that'll spoil it for the cricket'' 

 

'What do you mean - I didn't get crickets - I got burgers.'

It is too easy to be enraged by this unthinkng ignorance.  

When FB was a boy, public parks were policed by 'the Parkie,' a terrifying figure with an official cap, who would enforce acceptable behaviour and pick up litter with a stick with a nail on the end of it.  A Parkie would never have allowed a barbeque in an inappropriate sport.  In fact they would not have known what a barbeque was, but that is another matter.  Were they to come back to life, the Parkies of FB's boyhood would not understand why anyone would want to eat incinerated sausages tasting vaguely of petrol.  But then the Parkies of FB's boyhood understood cricket to a degree and cricket's requirement.  They frequently joined the bounce games for an over or two before picking up their stick with a nail on the end again and going about their business.   

Perhaps Parkies would not make that much difference these days.  It is as much that there is a declining understnading of cricket in the wider population - it is no longer on free to view TV, you rarely spot it in the sports sections among the 20 pages of football coverage (even when football is not being played).  English football is to be braodcast on free to air when it resumes post lock-down.  Surely it is time for cricket to be given similar treatment.  It's the only way to stop pitches goiing up in smoke.