How big is Cricket in the UK?

[Beny]

I've heard people on this board talking about Cricket as a 'minority sport'. I'm just interested, how popular is it? Would most people have an Idea of what it is and what's going on?

[flanflinger]

Beny,

Intersteing question mainly beacuse you use the word UK. We have four very different countries in the UK. In Northern Ireland and Scotland it is very much a minority sport, with very little invlovement or intrest.

In England and Wales it is bigger. But our Sporting world is dominated bt the great god of Soccer. I dominates the sporting pages. With sports like Rugby and Cricket fighting for small amounts of air-time/interst.

With the Zimbabwe story it has hit the headlines, but many in the UK do not fully understand the issues and often come out with some very bizarre comments.

[Beny]

Ahh yes soccer, that money machine. Have you ever wanted to bash Cristiano Ronaldo?
"Kick the bloody thing dont play with it!!"
In Aus the socceroos cant make the back page yet Harry Kewell can.

Speaking of Kewell, when the hell is he gona hit form?

[Occasional Fan]

I'll take a stab at this (unscientific, stereotyping huge groups of the population, but here goes):

Scotland (population 5 million): followed by a small but enthusiastic group of blokes, mostly in the Lowlands and Borders and, I would guess, largely centred around Edinburgh, which, being Scotland's capital city is also probably its least Scottish (or most multicultural, depending how you look at it). Played in public schools but not in state schools, and you'll hardly find a village green pitch anywhere. You will find huge swathes of the country and huge groups of the population who just haven't a clue what it's about, starting with not knowing how many people are in a team. You will also find some groups of people who will flatly refuse to discuss it purely because it's something which the English do.

Northern Ireland (population 1.5 million): hardly any following. In former times, the game in Ireland was a preserve of English landlords and Ulster protestant landowners. Unlike in other countries in the former Empire, the population which was in Ireland before the English arrived never took it up. Today in Northern Ireland the Nationalist community (broadly a third of the population) really has no interest at all and no background in the game. The Unionist community, for historical reasons, would contain what cricket followers there are in Northern Ireland. Some of the schools in the Province play the game, invariably protestant schools. In all my travels in the Province, I can't remember ever seeing a cricket pitch, though there must be some. There are a good many towns and villages, however, identifiable by green, white and gold paint on the paving stones and other street fittings, where it would be a waste of time to look. Even among the Unionist community, very much a minority game, and widely associated with the English.

England and Wales (population, I suppose, just shy of 50 million): This is the homeland of the game. Widespread throughout England, less widely spread in Wales and predominantly in the south of the Principality. Here the distribution of the game has largely, in the last couple of centuries, been driven by that old English problem - the class system. Even today, the development of the game at school level is almost entirely in the public (= fee-paying) schools. State schools' efforts in cricket development are restricted by several factors, including money (the equipment is relatively expensive by comparison to that required for other sports), land requirements and time. To clarify the last point, state schools typically close for the day between 1530 and 1600 and rarely open at the weekend. Teachers in the state sector are paid a salary which is fixed and takes no account of any efforts they put in outside the core hours. The result is that, although we have long evenings for a third of the school year when cricket training could be carried on, it generally doesn't happen in the state sector. Public schools, by contrast, with resident staff and resident pupils, have more time available in the evenings and weekends for this sort of activity.

The land requirement is also an issue. The majority of the English population these days are city dwellers, and schools in the inner cities simply to not have convenient access to cricket pitches.

Support for cricket in England & Wales varies according to a number of factors. The constant support comes from a sub-group of the population which is predominantly male, middle-aged and older, and - much as I hate to use this expression - middle class. Then there is a seasonal support which comes from the football grounds in the three weeks of the year when there's no football being played. The seasonal support also varies with England's success - at the moment, cricket has a decent following in England, but once England slide again (after we give the Ashes back to you, Beny, in about 2050), the support will die off rapidly.

Do people understand the game? Well, that's tricky. I'd say most blokes who went to school in England would understand the broad outline. If you're looking for someone to explain the lbw rule, you're down to 1 in 10. If you're looking for someone to set a good field - well, so are we! Among the ladies, support and understanding of the game is much lower - and here I am only commenting on the proportion of the population who follow the game: those ladies who do follow it are far better informed than most of the blokes! I'd say that the proportion of men to women following English cricket is pretty well reflected in the contributors to this forum. Rachael and Alison are definitely in a small group of ladies here - but you can see from their posts that they know what they're talking about, which is more than I would claim for myself.

Well, there should be something there for most groups of the UK population to seize on.

[Pabs]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Scotland (population 5 million): followed by a small but enthusiastic group of blokes, mostly in the Lowlands and Borders and, I would guess, largely centred around Edinburgh, which, being Scotland's capital city is also probably its least Scottish (or most multicultural, depending how you look at it). Played in public schools but not in state schools, and you'll hardly find a village green pitch anywhere. You will find huge swathes of the country and huge groups of the population who just haven't a clue what it's about, starting with not knowing how many people are in a team. You will also find some groups of people who will flatly refuse to discuss it purely because it's something which the English do.

Hi OF - what you say is broadly true, but just a couple of additional points on cricket in Scotland:

1) There's a strong tradition of cricket in the west of Scotland, helped in recent years by the Asian influx in the Glasgow area. There was a crowd of 3,000+ at Hamilton Crescent for Scotland v. Pakistan last year, roughly half of whom seemed to be supporting Pakistan! The majority of the Saltires squad play their club cricket in the west of Scotland.

2) Cricket is also very big in certain parts of the Highlands, especially Aberdeenshire which has more clubs per head of population than Yorkshire, and (supposedly) a higher proportion of active cricketers than anywhere else in the world apart from Calcutta!

Pabs

[flanflinger]

Originally Posted by Pabs

especially Aberdeenshire which has more clubs per head of population than Yorkshire, and (supposedly) a higher proportion of active cricketers than anywhere else in the world apart from Calcutta!

Now that I never knew... I have been to Aberdeen once, but do not recall seeing any clubs.. but I was too busy being blown over by the scenery...

[Goatman]

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

I'll take a stab at this (unscientific, stereotyping huge groups of the population, but here goes):

I think your arguments would probably stand up to scrutiny! However, your point below seems to show a woeful southern (strictly, south eastern) bias I just can't let slide.

Originally Posted by Occasional Fan

Even today, the development of the game at school level is almost entirely in the public (= fee-paying) schools. State schools' efforts in cricket development are restricted by several factors, including money (the equipment is relatively expensive by comparison to that required for other sports), land requirements and time.

Support for cricket in England & Wales varies according to a number of factors. The constant support comes from a sub-group of the population which is predominantly male, middle-aged and older, and - much as I hate to use this expression - middle class.

Now, I'm a middle class lad. No doubting that. So, in loose terms, I fall into your arguments rather well. I went to a state school, which played virtually no cricket - which also fits. In fact, we played virtually nothing but rugby. In the lovely Dearne Valley soccer is a non-entity, I am glad to say. However, every community in South Yorkshire and north Nottinghmashire has a cricket club, no matter how small they are. And participation in cricket was high during my youth, particularly amongst the mining communities. They are gone now, and participation is sliding. The dark spectre of soccer looms like the 5th horseman of the apocalypse. But my kid brother still lives in the lovely Dearne Valley, and he assures me the participation is still high, not least amongst the young. Given the economics of the region, it comes as no surprise that the majority of cricketers in those clubs were and are of working stock, went to state school, left at 16 and though thier fathers worked in the mines, they now work in call centres. And thus will soon be unemployed. AGAIN!

Look at the test cricketers from the S. Yorks /Notts coalfields:- Geoff Boycott, Darren Gough, Fred Trueman and Harold Larwood are the big names. Add Dicky Bird. These are not David Gower-alikes. You will find that each of these cases come of true coal-mining stock. In much of Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire cricket is a working class game. The same goes for the frozen wastes of Durham and Tyneside. Think of the Geordie test players there have been :- Harmison, Collingwood and Peter Willey do not fit a stereotype of the middle class cricketer. As in my part fo the world, they will have leanrt the game at a small local club.

I understand a similar trend is found in Lancashire, though it is diluted from two sources:- the Grammar schools and the fact that cricketers in that part of the world need to be strong swimmers. The cost of a bouyancy aid is often prohibitive to the poorest in society. However, the bias towards the middle-classes does not remotely resmble the extent I have had the misfortune to observe is the case in the London area. While at University in London, I found myself so unfamiliar with the atmosphere surrounding cricket - where I had always been the "posh boy" amongst the miners sons (because the old man was a teacher), and suddenly found myself unable to understand the consonentless braying of the club members, and was so marginalised as "a northerner" (read common person, with the wrong sort of accent) and "not one of the chaps" - that I quit playing.

Moving west from London into the Southampton area, I was grateful to note that the hoorahs had largely vanished. Theres certainly a middle class bia in Hants but the brickies and the farmers play in large numbers too. The forces also play in surprising numbers, though it has to be noted that the captain is always a braying tosser officer type. I understand that by the time you get out to Gloucestershier, cricket is once again a large working class persuit.

So summarise: 1) cricket is not only learnt at schools. 2) It has a much larger following than you would think if you look at only the big population centres such as London and Birmingham, where it is near absent. 3) Soccer is the work of the Devil!

[Richie Benauds Love Child]

Hit the nail on the head there Goaty. You drive past many a miners welfare (although alot are being rebranded into "family clubs")in Derbyshire as well and pound to penny, they'll be at least as likley to have a cricket pitch behind them than a football pitch.

Surprised you never mentioned freddie flintoff in this - in an interview he said he never played at school and went through a local club. That seems to be the norm in my neck of the woods as well.

[Occasional Fan]

Thanks for that bit of education, Pabs! Didn't know it was a West coast thing at all, and the Aberdeenshire statistic is a real surprise.

[Goatman]

Originally Posted by Richie Benauds Love Child

Surprised you never mentioned freddie flintoff in this - in an interview he said he never played at school and went through a local club. That seems to be the norm in my neck of the woods as well.

Never saw that! Proves the point that the same holds true on the damp side o' hills.

The whole mine-closure effect is really odd. I used to play for Rossington Main Colliery CC. Now, Rosso pit is one of the few that has NOT closed. But because the miners welfare society has folded, the cricket club is now plain old Rossington CC and the miners welfare club has been sold off and become the Welfare Tavern and is no longer attched to the cricket club (which hense has no pavilion any more!). Bastards!