Australia - Cricket
Cricket has been an established team sport for hundreds of years and is one of the most popular sports in the world. It originated in England and is now very popular in countries such as India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, the West Indies and South Africa. Competitive cricket is essentially a bat and ball sport. It is played by two teams on an oval and involves batting, fielding and bowling. There are 11 players a side and a game can last anywhere from several hours to several days. Cricket can be played both socially and competitively, by males and females of all ages. While competitive cricket is mostly played on a field, cricket just for fun can be played in backyards, parks, streets or on the beach.
Naturally popular in a British colony, cricket made but little progress in Australia before the arrival of an English professional eleven in 1861-1862, which carried all before it. Subsequent visits, and the coaching of imported professionals, so promoted the game that in 1878 a representative eleven of Australians visited England. The visits were repeated biennially till 1890, and then triennially. The visits of the Australian teams to England aroused unparalleled interest and acted as an immense incentive to the game. A great sensation was caused when the first team, captained by D. W. Gregory, on the 27th of May 1878, defeated a powerful M.C.C. eleven in a single day, disposing of them for 33 and 19, the fast bowler F. R. Spofforth (b. 1853) taking 6 wickets for 4 runs, and H. F. Boyle (b. 1847) 5 for 3. Their prowess was well maintained when in September 1880 Australia for the first time met the whole strength of England, such matches between representatives of Australia and England being known as " test matches," a term that was applied later to matches between England and South Africans also. Although in 1880 the old country won by 5 wickets, the honours were fairly divided.
Cricket is as much a part of the Australian summer as backyard barbecues and sunburn. The earliest test cricket footage held by the NFSA dates back to 1910. The 'Golden Age of Cricket' is often considered to be before the First World War but it was between the wars that cricket produced the greatest batsman of all time – Donald Bradman.
Cricket Australia is the governing body of the game in Australia. It is made up of six member associations: Cricket New South Wales; Queensland Cricket; South Australian Cricket Association; Tasmanian Cricket Association; Cricket Victoria; and Western Australian Cricket Association. The Australian Capital Territory Cricket Association and the Northern Territory Cricket Association are affiliate associations. With the composition of Australia’s population rapidly changing, so too is the attention given to different sports in this country. While cricket may have a strong place in Australian culture today, it does not mean that it will remain that way unless the game evolves and continues to remain relevant to the broad community.
Cricket Australia understands that 25 percent of Australians are born overseas and many have arrived in the country without any knowledge of cricket, its rules and its culture. Part of Cricket Australia’s Strategic Plan ‘From Backyard to Baggy Green’ acknowledges the need for cricket to embrace the changing population, to encourage participation and involvement from non-traditional cricket groups, and to develop strategies to foster greater participation and inclusion. The 2005–06 Australian Cricket Census showed that there were 4,094 cricket clubs, 35,189 club and school cricket teams and 543,433 participants in Australian cricket competitions and programs (of at least four games/sessions) in 2005–06. Of these participants, 486,639 (or 89.55%) were males and 56,749 participants (or 10.45%) were females. These figures do not include cricket matches or competitions arranged by organisations other than cricket clubs, associations, or schools, nor does it include participants in social/informal cricket activities.
Cricket Australia was highly embarrassed by the racist taunts directed at visiting cricketers during the 2005–06 international series, which led to an International Cricket Council (ICC) investigation into the behaviour of Australian crowds. The racist sledging of players by spectators started during the Perth Test in December 2005, when some South African players were referred to as ‘kaffirs’ by a small section of spectators in the crowd. Similar taunting was also reported by the South African players in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Members of the Sri Lankan team were subjected to calls of ‘black c . . .‘ from spectators at the Adelaide Oval during a One Day International match on Australia Day. Players haven’t been the only targets. The International Cricket Council’s regional anticorruption and security chief, John Rhodes, was punched by a drunken spectator at Melbourne’s Telstra Dome after being identified as South African.
Cricket Australia acted quickly to reinforce its zero-tolerance policy towards racist abuse, with security staff ordered to eject any perpetrators from the ground and heavy fines for racist behaviour. They are also considering following the example of European football and devising a register of ‘undesirable’ fans that would be distributed to gate attendants in a bid to stop those identified spectators entering international venues.
It is now a condition of entry into the ground or matches for Cricket Australia’s 2006–07 international cricket season that patrons do not ‘engage in any conduct, act towards or speak to any player, umpire, referee or other official or other patron in a manner which offends, insults, humiliates, intimidates, threatens, disparages or vilifies that other person on the basis of that other person’s race, religion, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin’. Patrons can be refused entry to the venue or removed from the ground if in breach. They can also be prohibited and disqualified from purchasing tickets for, or entering into any match played under the auspices of Cricket Australia and/or have legal action taken against them in connection with such matters.
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