IPL Discussions Underway As Chipping Sodbury CC Looks To Host IPL Matches
Article Date: 22nd March 2009
You may have heard in the news that the Indian Premier League (IPL) can no longer be held in India due to security reasons.
“Holding the second season of the IPL at the same time as the country's general elections was too complicated and too risky.” said the BBC website. One quote also from the BBC said: "Now the IPL faces the enormous task of recreating the same sense of excitement - from abroad".
Now that the UAE has fallen out of favour as a potential host, the IPL is looking to England & South Africa to potentially host this multi-million dollar global event.
"Officials from both Boards have held exploratory discussions to relocate the tournament to England and Wales," read the statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board, "Further meetings will be held during the forthcoming week."
Attention is now focusing on the town of Chipping Sodbury, from where Chipping Sodbury Cricket Club (CSCC) has confirmed that meetings have been held by their management committee discussing the possible staging of some of the IPL matches at the club.
CSCC's club chairman said: "I can confirm that we are assessing whether Chipping Sodbury's ground can host such a game. We have come across a number of problems so far but we hope to overcome these during the coming days."
An official club spokesman has said that they may have problems dealing with the 1000s of fans entering the ground through the small farm gate at the St John's Way entrance.
"We would have to have players from Sodbury's 4th and 5th XIs manning the gate and asking for the presentation of tickets." said club spokesman Mike Rafone. "Those players will also be there to make sure that no one gets through the nearby hedge. We've also been discussing the use of our under 9 players to retrieve any sixes which are hit into the bottom of the nearby quarry. Every year we coach cricket ball retrieving skills to our youngsters, as well as the forward defensive."
Mr Rafone also commented on the problem posed by bad light. "We want to avoid any problems with bad light and certainly don't want a repeat of the problems we saw in the recent one-dayer in the West Indies. Bad light can be a problem in the early part of the English season. We have talked to Ted the club electrician to see whether it's feasible to alter the pavilion's security lights so that they stay on for longer than the usual 1 minute."
Discussions will continue this week, with Chipping Sodbury Cricket Club hoping for a decision by April 1st 2009.
