our campaign for democratic reform is a success

 BREAKING NEWS! 04/04/22

We have some fantastic news on our campaign to get democratic representation on the Board and Members’ Representative Group (MRG) at Lancashire County Cricket Club.

As you probably know we campaigned throughout last year for democratic change at the Club. The survey we conducted, in conjunction with the Cricket Supporters’ Association (CSA), found that 98% of Lancashire fans supported allowing members to elect their own representatives.

After submitting the results to the Club, Daniel Gidney, the Chief Executive, flatly denied on the 6th of October any democratic changes to the running of the Club in a statement that we reproduced in our latest fanzine.

We, therefore, took the unique step of submitting two resolutions to be voted on at this year’s AGM to be held on April 21:

1. To force a vote to allow a process for member-nominated and member-elected appointments for the position of Members’ Representative on the MRG for all future vacancies (the Club has always previously selected the representatives with no members’ vote).

2. To force a vote for members to be allowed to elect future board members who have been chosen to represent member services and member communications (at present the Board-run Nominations Committee selects all Board members to be put forward).

After the Club and MRG engaged in a dialogue with the Action Group members who put forward the resolutions, and with guidance from the CSA, we are delighted to announce we have agreed to drop both resolutions from this year's AGM due to the Club agreeing to the following :

1. That a rule change in the constitution of the Club will allow a Member of the Board to be elected by the Club’s Membership to represent them.

2. That all future appointments of the MRG will be democratically elected by the Membership.

The AGM will be held at Old Trafford on Thursday 21st April at 6.30 pm after close of play on the first day of the County Championship game against Gloucestershire. We urge everyone to do their utmost to attend as, hopefully, moving forward the Club will allow members to be involved in the running of the Club. The apathy of members, who felt they had absolutely no influence on how the Club was run, was highlighted in the pitiful attendance at last year’s AGM when only 42 members turned up.

We thank the Club for agreeing to change its approach regarding these issues. It has to be noted that we feel that the Club’s U-turn on the matter of democratic reform has come about because of the possibility of losing a vote on the resolutions and at present we are disappointed that so far the Club refuses to acknowledge the Lancashire Action Group's involvement in this process. We note that the Club has acknowledged the work of the CSA in the AGM paperwork. They are an excellently run organisation who have been established to give all cricket fans a voice and have their rights represented. 

Nevertheless, let us hope that the above changes are the start of the process to allow Members to be properly represented in the future, a move which we feel will help the Club reverse its dramatic loss of over 9,000 members during the last 20-odd years. We will, of course, be monitoring events very closely over the coming months and years to ensure that these changes are adhered to and are not just part of a ‘box-ticking’ exercise to appease disgruntled members.

In addition to this key development, LAG member and co-editor of our fanzine, the much-respected Roy Cavanagh MBE, has met with two members of the MRG and is working closely with them to help on two key issues – the junior set-up and the heritage side of the Club.

The Action Group was formed in 2014 and has consistently stood up for members’ and supporters’ rights. On top of the above developments, we have successfully campaigned for the return of the library, renovations to the Members’ facilities, the implementation of a see-through sightscreen in the Pavilion, and have worked with disability charities to improve facilities for disabled supporters.

We have also campaigned to reduce the Club’s membership fees which were the highest in the country; for the recovery of the lost Championship Pennant from 2011; for allowing spectator access on the ground and opening more spectator stands; for the replacement of the honours board, and for the improvement of what we felt were substandard members’ facilities.

We produce the only fanzine in County Cricket. For more information please visit our website at www.lancsactiongroup.com where you can purchase our latest fanzine as well as previous issues. You can contact us at lancsactiongroup@yahoo.com, and please send us your email address if you wish to receive our regular free newsletters.

Our social media platforms continue to grow and we have more than 3,600 followers on Twitter -  @lancscccaction and there are over 800 members of our private Facebook group - Lancashire Cricket Action Group.

Thank you,

Ian Lomax
co-founder Lancashire Action Group