University of York Cricket Club: Emmerson elaborates

Cricket had 'stagnated' at York according to Emmerson

The Yorker: Congratulations on being voted in as the new Cricket Club President. What can we expect to see from the Emmerson regime?

Andrew Emmerson: "Hopefully I'll bring a few new ideas and a bit of energy to the club. I think that over the past few years, although the club has ran smoothly, it hasn't really excelled at all, in fact you could argue that it's stagnated. I want the club to have a little more presence on campus, for example it'd be nice for people to know the first team captain or just generally know how the team's are fairing."

The Yorker: You have three teams, how do you think they'll fair this year?

AE: "With me in the firsts we'll win for sure. Just kidding! Well we haven't lost too many players from last year so we should be strong, last season we were narrowly pipped to the league title by Leeds 1sts in a game which we should have won easily. We could just do with some freshers being quick bowlers and we'll have a great chance.

With me in the firsts we'll win for sure
Emmerson in a typically cocky mood

I think the other two teams will be wanting to do a lot better this year, they've performed pretty poorly for a number of years and I know the captains are pretty desperate to improve upon that. A lot will depend on our fresher intake as with most clubs."

The Yorker: Your first games are obviously a fair way away but when will you start training and recruiting freshers?

AE: "This is going to be a big push of ours this year. We're hoping to have a more productive freshers fair in which we hope to find the freshers as opposed to the club's traditional way forward which tended to be waiting for people to come to it. As for training, we train twice a week 1600 - 1800 on a Tuesday and 1330 - 1500 on a Friday in the sports hall. We also make use of an indoor centre on a regular basis, which has great facilities and also a bowling machine. We just really want to emphasize that cricket starts now, we have focused net sessions, qualified coaches and it's never too early to push for a spot in one of the teams."

The Yorker: There was much talk last year about the relative quality of college cricket when paired up against the university teams. Would you not agree that there are too many decent cricketers at this university not getting involved with the sport at university level?

AE: "This was quite the issue last year. Firstly, I want to emphasize that there is no split between university and college and that the majority of university players play and enjoy college cricket. The problem basically arises because university first team players aren't allowed to play in college cricket AT ALL and therefore for those who play university 1sts, it's hard to actually get to know some of the college players when they don't play for university."

The Yorker: So, how do you plan to recruit them?

AE: "This year, as a club, we will be looking to supply the umpires for all of the college matches, hopefully this will allow college players to interact with the university players and can have any questions answered. This is a two-way process however and our efforts as a club will mean nothing if 'current' college players are telling freshers that they shouldn't play for the university."

The Yorker: Are the rumours true that you’ve tried to emulate FC Barcelona by having a charity on your shirts?

AE: "This year we have been lucky enough to have a sponsor who doesn't require their name on our shirts, so instead of looking for additional funds elsewhere we're looking into giving something back as a club. Saying so, we will be wearing the Lords Taverner's logo on the front of our kit. It is a charity that helps young people, particularly those with social, environmental, physical or learning disadvantages, to enjoy cricket and other sporting and leisure activities.

Some of us in the club have been able to witness some of the great work that goes on with this charity and we feel privileged as a club to sport their logo on our shirts. We hope to run numerous events throughout the year in accordance with the charity."

I’m not saying anything about Alex Lacy... it’s not worth the hassle.
Andrew Emmerson

The Yorker: Finally, Alex Lacy; what are your thoughts on his running of York Sport and the exposure he’s giving Salvation?

AE: "I’m not saying anything about Alex Lacy. I know I’m generally outspoken but it’s not worth the hassle. And like most clubs we’re going to give Salvation a chance but we hope to set foot in Ziggy’s again."

With a final sly smile and shrug of the shoulders, indicating he's got a lot to say on the Lacy front, Emmerson and his ridiculously tight and clichéd Levi's and Vans waddle off home showing how he's matured and finally learnt to watch his mouth. His fellow cricket club members gave him a chance and just maybe, the class clown can behave himself after all.

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