Chris Waters: Taking barometer on Yorkshire issues from across the ocean
Published Date: 21 June 2008
EVER heard of the White Rose Forum?
It is an independent Yorkshire County Cricket Club discussion group run by a chap in Halifax.
Nothing remarkable about that, you might think, except that Alex Roberts oversees events from his home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, some 3,000 miles away in Canada.
The site has several thousand regular users, has received around two million page hits and is a rapidly expanding outlet for Yorkshire fans and ex-pats from all over the world, including America, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Recently, the WRF had its first posting from Afghanistan.
Now before we go any further, it should be pointed out that this column has never been a great fan of internet supporters' sites on the grounds that it is not uncommon to come across posters with an IQ smaller than the batting average of New Zealand tail-ender Chris Martin.
But the WRF is different.
Not only does it consider itself, with some justification, to be a cricket discussion group as opposed to a dyed-in-the-wool fans' site, it is invariably a hotbed of entertaining and thought-provoking views in direct contrast to a great many football supporters' sites, where people seem only too willing, in fact desperately anxious, to lower the intelligence quotient.
The WRF one of only two sites of its kind devoted to YCCC, the other being the fans' site Corridor of Uncertainty is more than just a debating forum.
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It is also a useful barometer by which Yorkshire CCC can gauge the thoughts and feelings of their supporters and the type of yardstick that more and more clubs are starting to use.
Yorkshire's Stewart Regan is a regular visitor and sometime poster on the WRF and, although that neither gives credence to the site nor the chief executive, it is indicative of the seriousness with which Yorkshire take it and the role that such forums are playing in sport.
For good or bad, we live in a world in which everyone's opinion can be heard or read immediately at the touch of a button, and although there are some Yorkshire supporters who don't know their AOL from their elbows, increasing numbers are making their views known via the World Wide Web.
Roberts, 56, is a genuine cricket lover performing a role that is very much a labour of love.
Born in Leeds, he has followed Yorkshire since 1962 when he was gripped by the sight of a certain Fred Trueman tearing in at Bradford Park Avenue.
Roberts took over the WRF three years ago after the site was founded in 1999.
"We've conducted online interviews with former players such as Geoffrey Boycott, and even Yorkshire management, but it is the quality and intelligence of the posts and online commentary that makes the site so popular, and which differentiates the White Rose Forum from the typical supporters' club fan site," says Roberts.
"Our book reviews and historical commentaries, in particular, could, in my opinion, grace the pages of any national newspaper, and we operate on a strictly non-profit basis, which allows for more objectivity in our commentary and postings.
"We have given consideration to raising funds to sponsor a Yorkshire player, but have decided against it so that we can maintain our objectivity and focus.
"Some 60 per cent of our posters are from overseas and I am so grateful to everyone who gets involved."
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