What is the future for London Jewish cricket? - The Jewish Chronicle

Can the Maccabi League be revamped or has it run it's course?

Derrick Sheldon

"Obviously it can only be revamped if there are more clubs to take part. Perhaps LMV will run a 3rd XI in 2011 and the Maccabi League would be a good starting point for them. Newlands and Northwood are still very much predominantly a Jewish club playing regular Sunday cricket and it is not inconceivable for them to return to the Maccabi League. MAL seem to be thriving and maybe they will have sufficient numbers next season to field a 2nd XI. Whilst the situation looks bleak right now, I wouldn't say the Maccabi League is dead and buried just yet."

Former Maccabi Cricket Committee organiser

Mark Landau

"I guess that this was precipitated by our decision to move to the Middlesex Sunday Cricket League to play our competitive cricket. It was effectively already dead before we left. The fear was that, if we stayed in the Jewish league, the improvement we have seen in our guys would stall. For our better players, what would be the point of playing at a level we could dominate."

Maccabi Cricket committee and MAL vice-captain

Ian Viner

"The whole of Sunday Cricket in general has been losing its appeal in recent years. Serious cricketers play league cricket on Saturdays and people just don't want to play on both days of the weekend any longer. As a game it's extremely time consuming, and people have other commitments and distractions going on which perhaps didn't exist so much a few years ago. Maccabi Cricket has followed the same pattern with less good quality players around, weaker teams and, inevitably, fewer teams."

Former London Maccabi Vale chairman and Maccabi Cricket Committee member

David Marks

"It is a great shame that the MSCL has disbanded, but it is an inevitable function of clubs wishing to 'better' themselves by playing in what they regard as higher quality competitions. Jewish cricket is a tiny and shrinking community and competition has basically run out in the face of players and clubs wishing to test themselves in bigger 'ponds'."

Former Maccabi League chairman

Jonathan Lederman

"I don't see how it can be revamped unless some teams make a comeback or the teams now playing in the Middlesex League move back into the Maccabi League, which is very unlikely in both cases. Unfortunately the attraction of the MSCL for the leading Jewish sides was a big factor in this, but if you want to move forward as a club you want to test yourself in the best."

Former Maccabi Cricket chairman

Jeremy Lawrence

"It certainly can be reinstated, but in my opinion, it will always be seen as a 2nd/3rd XI competition, due to the fact that it is not seen as a serious competition in the way that the Middlesex League is. So can it be revamped? I think not. There is no incentive to play in this league."

Team GB Junior Co-manager

Terry Hyman

"Although LMV has not taken part in the Maccabi League for a number of years, we had hoped that within our three-year plan there would be a place in the League for a development team. That plainly is not likely to happen now."

Chairman of London Maccabi Vale and the Middlesex Sunday League

Ronnie Palester

"No. As things stand, there is no future for it as the top clubs have joined the Middlesex League. The other factor is that the Maccabi Cricket Committee have been very weak."

Former Maccabi League organiser

Michael Ziff

"The League has run its course. The standard was not very good and the behaviour of some was terrible. It's unlikely to be revamped. A T20 inter-shul competition could succeed."

Team GB Cricket Chairman at 18th Maccabiah Games

Nigel Rothband

"For the moment it has clearly run its course, but I'm sure in the future it is something that can come back even stronger."

Team GB Open Cricket manager at 17th and 18th Maccabiah Games)