Alan Ransome and Mike Smith received strong backing for their election campaign from coaches and umpires at the Bribar Junior British League Competition in Wolverhampton last weekend.

The Junior British League, which is the biggest competition of its kind with over 70 teams participating over the full weekend, ran well despite some teams being affected by the adverse weather conditions.

“I was surprised and delighted at the number of coaches from the different teams from all over the country who were coming up to me and wishing me success with my campaign, telling me they had read “The New Agenda” document and were fully behind all of the changes that I will make if elected.  Equally encouraging was the support from the Umpires’ fraternity who know that the proposals that I put forward to Council a year ago need to be implemented if the decline in qualified umpires in this country is to be arrested and new officials recruited.  The Junior British League was another competition that suffered from not having sufficient qualified umpires to conduct all of the matches despite vigorous work by the organisers to recruit” said Ransome