Taking the long view

I've had my say elsewhere about the spat that has developed between Warwickshire and Kent about the pricing policy that the Bears are applying for the Royal London Cup semi-final match between the two counties this Thursday (4 September) -see http://deepextracover.com/2014/09/02/kent-chief-executive-gets-cross-with-bears-admission-policy/#.VAXOlrtX6zs

I've had some additional thoughts about this. The short-term economics of the situation are obviously important. Kent want to get the most they can out of their 25% share of the gate receipts. Too many freebies and their “take” may be much smaller than they would have liked. On the other hand, Warwickshire will be hoping that plenty of spectators will be attracted by the cheap prices and the free offers and will not just turn up but will spend well at the food and drinks outlets and in the Club shop.

But there's a wider picture with a longer time horizon. 

Let me personalise it. I write as someone who has supported Warwickshire County Cricket Club for a very long time. To be precise, I first saw a match at Edgbaston on 6 August 1953. It was the second day of the match between the county and the Australian touring team.

I don't have any recollection of the admission charges for that match. They can't have been that excessive because there were hordes of kids there, sitting on the grass just outside the boundary. I was up in what was then the Rea Bank stand with my mother. She had cycled about six miles to pick me up from my grandmother's house and taken me on three buses to get to the ground. Neither she nor my dad had any personal interest in cricket. So she must have been indulging her number one son's latest whim. That being so, there must have been a price cut-off point at which my mother would have decided that she couldn't quite afford to take me. Without going into details, we were not wealthy. My dad made his living as a cobbler. If there was a week when not enough people wanted their shoes repaired, we certainly didn't starve; but we probably didn't eat so well and any treats were out of the question.

My point is this. What would the long-term consequences have been if the Warwickshire authorities had upped the prices beyond what my mother could afford? “Some other time, maybe next season” she would have said; and I would have accepted it. But possibly, by the following April, I would have found a new passion and my devotion to Warwickshire cricket would have been strangled at birth.

I'm not sure how much money Warwickshire have made out of me. I've been a member for well over fifty years and have spent my share of money on food and drink. Whatever the total, I have no doubts that, from my point of view, it has been well worth it. I am also sure that Warwickshire would have survived without me. But every time prices are lifted, they will exclude some youngsters who have the potential, like me, to give half a century or more of loyalty to the Club; and every time prices go down or are maintained at a realistic level, another few boys and girls may get their first chance to see the best county on the best ground in the country and may become fans for life. So the economics of these decisions go well beyond the short term calculations of the turnstile and bar takings on the day.

Maybe Kent's Chief Executive might wish to reflect on this.

As for me, when I am settled down in the Press Box on Thursday, I will glance across at what is now the Eric Hollies Stand and try to pick out the spot where that young lad and his mum sat just over 61 years ago. Possibly I'll see another boy or girl of a similar age; and maybe they will be there because they have been allowed in for free. Thursday may just be the day when they fall in love with the game of cricket and with the Warwickshire team. I hope so; and if they do, I can tell them that it's likely to be a lifelong passion. Believe me, I know.