Greytown Cricket Club called an early stop to their Bidwill Cup final match with Lansdowne at Queen Elizabeth Park oval in Masterton on Saturday.
In a strongly-worded letter delivered to the Wairarapa Times-Age yesterday, management explained the team had "no choice" but to abandon the game when the opposition became abusive.
"When friendly rivalry between two teams turns into an ugly personal attack we must draw the line. This was not an isolated incident and one that must not be swept under the carpet any longer."
The letter also claimed on-field bullying had been an issue in Wairarapa cricket for "quite some time" with some teams declining to play in the senior competition as a consequence.
Some players were close to tears after Saturday's incident, the letter said.
"At Greytown, we enjoy the on-field battle and enjoy talking about it in a social context afterwards. However ugly personal attacks and abusive behaviour have no place on the cricket field in this region, or around the world.
"Yes, we are there to win but not at any cost."
Their refusal to resume play after tea on the first day's play in a match meant Lansdowne became the cup winners by forfeit.
However, Wairarapa Cricket had since announced it would be appointing an independent person to carry out an investigation into the Bidwill Cup final.
They would receive reports from the two umpires, representations from the two clubs involved and speak to witnesses.
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The full letter reads:
In reference to Saturday's abandoned Bidwill Cup final.
On day one an incident occurred that left players with no choice but to abandon the game. Whilst the initial discussion to discontinue the game began when Greytown was positioned at 20-1, we decided to carry on through to tea and then at that point declined to return because we wanted to make a stand. At no point on the field of play should players or officials be subjected to abuse and, unfortunately, we saw both during the very few hours of play that we had.
Cricket lost all meaning for us as a group on Saturday and, if we offended anyone in our actions at tea, then we do apologise. We feel we made the correct decision as a team. We are mates first and a team second. We will defend one of our own at all costs when required. The club has a solid code of conduct and our players live by the standards that have been delivered by the club for the last 147 years.
The decision we made as a team was not taken lightly, however our players felt so strongly on the matter that it left us with little choice. Some players were close to tears on the matter. Not to deflect from the incident on Saturday but the issue of on-field bullying has been present for quite some time now. Let's not forget that some teams in the past have removed themselves from the competition, citing bullying tactics from opposition teams. We hope by our stand on Saturday that it has raised the whole issue on to the radar now and things will move forward from there.
At Greytown Cricket Club, we play our cricket tough. We like to win but we also like to play the game with our mates and enjoy our time together. The times we spend together as mates are less frequent than they once were and, as a group, we cherish the times we are able to spend together on and off the field. The final was one of these occasions and we are sorry to say that it will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Yes, we are there to win but not at any cost.
When friendly rivalry between two teams turns into an ugly personal attack we must draw the line. This was not an isolated incident and one that must not be swept under the carpet any longer.
This letter is not meant to turn into the already seen 'he said, she said' situation, however the bottom line is that the Greytown Cricket Club will not stand for this any longer. Unless something is done on the matter urgently, this will continue. We will lose players to the game and cricket will die in the region. We are not professionals and, as it stands, this region does not have a competition that is of high enough quality to have a win-at-any-cost mentality. At Greytown, we enjoy the on-field battle and enjoy talking about it in a social context afterwards. However ugly personal attacks and abusive behaviour have no place on the cricket field in this region, or around the world.
