There has been a 40% rise in the number of players registered with Cricket Leinster. Most of this has come from the growth in the number of registered youth players, and in particular from clubs that previously had limited youth numbers and in some cases no youth section. Clubs like Mullingar, Kilkenny, Knockharley, Greystones, Clondalkin and Bagenalstown can now point to very positive trends in terms of young players taking up the sport.
Merrion has also seen its youth section expand this year, with over 100 new boys and girls joining the club. The youth section now has over 220 members.
In terms of overall membership, the total number of active Merrion players registered now stands at 268, the second largest in Leinster after Pembroke.
The one area which might still be counted a work in progress is the collection of annual subscriptions from are adult playing members. Hopefully this will improve over the next week as we look at applying the ‘no pay no play’ rule.