Boosting participation and growth in cricket seems to have fallen short with this year’s Cricket World Cup now looking like a missed opportunity by the ECB while hosting a grand game in their own backyard.
In the space of two years, England and Wales have hosted not
one, but three major international competitions: the 2017 Women’s World Cup, the
2017 ICC Champions Trophy and now the 2019 Men’s Cricket World Cup.
Promises were made and heard about attracting a million more
children aged between one and twelve between now and the next year by the ECB
back in September 2018 using this years’ domestic Cricket World Cup as its
basis.
A success story we have seen once before with Chance to
Shine’s initiative to deliver and make cricket accessible to state schools and
communities, equipping staff with key skill qualifications to deliver the game
more independently has thrived since 2005, prior to the Ashes and immediately
after the success it flourished.
England won that series and a whole nation was gripped.
Chance to Shine took the initiative ever since and has reached more than four million children in over 14,000 state schools and 165 community projects with 45% of those children being female.
But the disappointment of empty seats is a real cause for concern for the ECB, who plan to take cricket in England and Wales to a new level with the World Cup and The Hundred set to launch next summer.
Could they have been allocated tickets at various venues
around the country, as opposed to the sponsors who failed to turn up?
Barmy Army co-founder Paul Burnham is amongst one of those speaking up about the importance of capitalising on the opportunity provided by a domestic World Cup.
In its 25th year, the supporter’s club has been a huge generator of attracting more supporters, renowned across the world for being England’s twelfth man by both the media and England team.
Despite praising the ICC on following the 1992 format with
all teams playing against each other and the top four entered into the
semi-finals, Burnham felt aspects of the organisation process needed more
consideration.
Burnham said: “The empty seats have been difficult to watch.
There is always a way you can have a reserve day.
“To have all those empty seats and not have a contingency plan if those seats are not filled to bring people in, I realise it is not the summer holidays, but families could be informed that there is an area nearby and if there are some empty seat maybe they can get in.”
“You have got to create an atmosphere, we have got to take
the advantage this year of putting cricket at the forefront of people’s minds
before you know it, it will be Wimbledon, and I think they have missed an
opportunity in these early games.”
Barmy Army senior member Andy Thompson offered cricket
correspondent Alex Stockton a solution based on the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Thompson said: “Backfilling empty seats with a pool of
volunteers who would make sure the venue was always full.
“Assuming there was a convenient marshalling area, there
could easily be a pool of genuine fans who attend on the off chance they may
get in.
“Each stand has a volunteer spotter noting empty seat
numbers and, thirty minutes after play starts (when it’s reasonable to assume
most attendees would have taken their seats), the spotter instructs the
marshalling area to send across the required numbers to fill the stand.
“All volunteers could have an accreditation or other
identifier. Stewards will have been briefed to expect this.
“If the genuine ticket holder arrives late, the volunteer
gives up the seat and heads back to the marshalling area.”
With no back-up days in the tournament, spectators have
questioned the ICC’s decision over scheduling.
The breaks between games and range of venues should, theoretically, allow for reserve days at this early stage and provide teams with more opportunity to fulfil their fixtures.
It is clear that empty seats and washouts slightly detract from an otherwise fantastic spectacle; if something can be done to improve this tournament for players and fans alike, it’s worth consideration.
JOTI KAUR / Photo: Getty Images
