New rules

[Ben]

‘We will not allow Players & Umpires to smoke, drink alcohol or use a mobile phone whilst on the field on play.'

We have fireman and police officers that can sometimes only play if they can have their mobile as they're on call. Is the league really saying that I would have to take the field short of players? There may well be the situation where we need to have people who are on call to make enough players so that we have minimum of 7 players. Is the league really suggesting that we call games off instead of letting people take a phone on the field?

What benefit does this bring the league? My club voted against the proposal, I'd be grateful if the commitee could provide me with some advice.

[paul]

‘We will not allow Players & Umpires to smoke, drink alcohol or use a mobile phone whilst on the field on play.'

We have fireman and police officers that can sometimes only play if they can have their mobile as they're on call. Is the league really saying that I would have to take the field short of players? There may well be the situation where we need to have people who are on call to make enough players so that we have minimum of 7 players. Is the league really suggesting that we call games off instead of letting people take a phone on the field?

What benefit does this bring the league? My club voted against the proposal, I'd be grateful if the commitee could provide me with some advice.

I would suggest that should a call be received whilst they are on the field that they leave the field to answer it. That is a common courtesy I would expect of any player. If I was the skipper at the time I would not allow any player to take a phone onto the field of play. If I was batting at the time I would not expect to be interrupted by one ringing.

The benefit it brings the league are that the game is played by participants and officials that are not distracted by activities and events that have no place on the field of play. Also I would suggest that your liability insurance would potentially be compromised should an incident occur as a result of any of these activities. Yes it has happened in other sports and recreation situations.

As a club you will have to decide if you are able to comply with this league rule and how you intend to manage it. We have professionals at our club who would also fall under the "on call" banner it has never been an issue for us. There are sensible ways to manage any such eventualities. If it is that essential that they have immediate access to their mobile phones I would find someone to keep an eye on it. The scorer maybe, another club member. The umpire could also tend it while the game is in progress as long as it isn't used and left on vibrate?!. They can leave the field to take a call. Just some ideas..