Asian immigrants fire up Italian interest in cricket
Cricket is finally getting noticed in Italy, more than 100 years
after it helped introduce soccer to the country.
A group of British expatriates set up Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club
in the Italian port in 1893 and it was only when English doctor James
Richardson Spensley joined a few years later that soccer was added to
the programme. Spensley became known as one of the fathers of Italian
football and the sport swept the nation, leaving cricket with little
recognition except for its continued presence in the full name of
top-flight soccer side Genoa Cricket and Football Club.
Now a new breed of expatriates in Italy - from India, Sri Lanka,
Pakistan and Bangladesh - are putting cricket back into the limelight.
The lucrative new Indian Premier League found its way on to Italian
satellite television in June and famed newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport
has carried stories about the game.
"There are loads of people playing cricket in the streets," the
Italian cricket federation's president Simone Gambino told Reuters.
Around 400,000 people from South Asia live in Italy and the
federation estimates that further arrivals, despite the government's
crackdown on illegal immigration, could lead to 1,000 new clubs.
The national team, made up largely of players from Asian, Australian
and South African backgrounds, hope one day to qualify for the World
Cup.
They beat the Netherlands, who have played in three World Cups, in
the International Cricket Council's (ICC) European Division One
championship in Ireland in July.
"Thirty years looks to be about right for us to reach the World Cup.
We are about 27 in the world rankings and all it takes is for the World
Cup to expand and for us to improve a bit," Gambino added.There are only
10 full members of the ICC where the funding is concentrated. Italy are
associate members along with nations such as Ireland and Scotland, who
have reached World Cups.
Gambino is irked by the fact that Zimbabwe remain full members
despite having to practically pull out of international cricket because
of the political crisis there.
"Take Ireland and Scotland. They are now definitely better than
Zimbabwe. If Zimbabwe played Italy in a series of five matches, we would
certainly win one game yet they are full members," he said.
The lack of funding in Italy is most noticeable when it comes to
pitches. Cricket, even the one-day version, takes up a lot of time, as
well as space which Italian parks do not generally allow for.
The growing number of cricket teams often have to share with baseball
sides or grab whatever piece of land they can.
Kamal Kariyawasam, 50, is captain of Italian second division
champions Kingsgrove.
"Pitches are the biggest problem," said the Sri-Lankan born player,
who has seen cricket in Italy grow from four or five teams in the early
1980s to a three-division league today.
MILAN, Tuesday, Reuters |