The web site for the Global T20 is slowly getting fleshed out- and not before time with only five weeks before the first scheduled match. Player registration is open, with a deadline of 22 May – with a draft proposed for May 26. Players have the opportunity to sign up and set a minimum “reserve” price from $3,000 to $90,000 – presumably the lowest compensation that the player would consider.
The six teams have also been announced– the Toronto Nationals, Montreal Tigers, Vancouver Knights, Ottawa Royals, Winnipeg Hawks and Caribbean All-Stars.
The Caribbean All-Stars makes a degree of sense, given the apparent commitment of the West Indies to have one team composed dominantly of their players but the association of the other five teams with cities is puzzling. All teams are going to be based in Toronto, all games are played in Toronto, and players will be drafted, not assigned from regions, so why Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa have been selected as team names makes little sense. They don’t represent cricketing centres in Canada – Manitoba is a relatively minor player compared to Alberta, and Ottawa cricket flourishes but is far behind Calgary. They are not even the largest cities in Canada- Calgary is the third most populous city in Canada but mysteriously doesn’t appear on the list. Is this just a random list, or does this reflect underlying plans or politics to put franchises in these cities in the long term?
The choice of team names is also strange – or does not display a great deal of originality or thought. The Nationals/ Royals/ Knights/ Tigers/ Hawks seem to be generic franchise names culled from a quick perusal of college basketball (in Canada you can find the Humber Hawks, the Douglas Royals, Niagara Knights, and Dalhousie Tigers) or junior hockey franchises (Windsor Royals, London Knights, Hamilton Steelhawks, London Nationals). There seems to be little attempt to link the characteristics of the city or the sport to the name. Why are the Toronto team the nationals? Do they represent the Canadian national team in any way?
Googling the “Toronto Nationals” leads to a Wikipedia entry which does lead to a degree of concern about the long term viability of the team:-
“The Toronto Nationals may refer to the following sports teams:
– Toronto Nationals (soccer) (1983), shortlived association football club which participated in the shortlived Canadian Professional Soccer League of 1983.
– Toronto Nationals (hockey) (1970–80), a pair of defunct II Junior “A” & Junior “B” ice hockey teams from Vaughan, Ontario, Canada
– Toronto Nationals (lacrosse) (2009–10), a defunct Major League Lacrosse team”
There is a longer-lived Nationals team in Toronto, the Toronto Nationals hockey club– on the go since 1967, devoted to hockey development.
The Ottawa Royals is also an interesting choice. Ottawa is the nation’s capital, and is where the Governor-General- the Queen’s representative in Canada, is based (and cricket is played in the grounds of the Governor General’s residence). Perhaps the Ottawa Governors might be more accurate- or perhaps the Capitals? There are already Ottawa Royals soccer and baseball clubs actually based in Ottawa.
Coming up with original names for sports franchises is not easy, but it would be good to see at least some thought. Here are some suggestions (based on 10 minutes with Google):-
– Vancouver Hummingbirds: Vancouver’s official bird is not the hawk – in fact they vote for one every year, and in 2017 it was the Anna’s Hummingbird (it was previously the black-capped chickadee).
– Toronto Beavers: The Toronto coat of arms features a golden eagle, a bear, and a beaver- the Toronto Beavers has a solid Canadian sound to it.
– Winnipeg Bisons: The bison is the provincial animal of Manitoba, and again, far more Canadian than the generic Hawks.
– Ottawa Capitals: self explanatory
– Montreal Snowy Owls: the snowy owl is the official bird of Quebec – and the team can play in whites!
Back to the web site. The about section contains some interesting interpretations of cricket history. To quote:-
Canada has a long cricket history, dating back to the 1800s when it particpated in the first ever official International cricket match staged in North America vs the USA. That three day match garnered thousands of spectators watching Canada win a thrilling fixture over the British Empire. We have moved from the dress whites and fine teas to bring a revolutionary culture change to the global game culture of the new age cricket game back to its roots.”
The 1844 Canada-USA game was in fact a two day match (although extended over three due to the second day being washed out). “Thousands of spectators” is accurate- likely 20,000 or more watched the game (a figure that the Global T20 would love to see for their matches). It is highly unlikely that the game was played in whites, of course, with the convention of white clothing for cricket only becoming settled towards the end of the 19th century, and with $120,000 of bets placed on the game (the equivalent of perhaps $2 million today), one suspects there was more beer drunk than tea. Whatever inaccuracies in clothing and duration pale in significance compared to the suggestion that Canada’s win was over the British Empire, however, an assertion that may well be seen as an insult by our friends south of the 49th parallel.
The heading of this section “Cricket Comes Home” also shows a profound lack of understanding of the long and continuous history of cricket in Canada- cricket can’t come home if it never left. Perhaps this implies that our domestic cricket shouldn’t be considered “real” cricket.
Apparently “the Global T20 Canada game is poised to catapult cricket as the world’s leading sport” – a highly ambitious statement, when you consider that the world’s leading sport by far is soccer, played in 200 countries and followed by an estimated 4 billion people. Stating that a three-week 20-over competition in Toronto is going to have cricket match or overtake soccer is likely the product of an excitable publicist trying to drum up interest in the event, but such hype acts only to undermine the credibility of the venture.
A match schedule (without teams identified) is presented, with matches nearly every day from June 28 though to July 15. Weekday matches start at 5 pm- with sunset at around 9 pm an early start is needed but it will be challenging for people with regular office hours to make it out to King City for the games. Weekend matches start at 11 am.
It is easy to find fault or otherwise take shots at this venture- to be fair there’s a lot of work being done under intense time pressure, and the web site is only part of what’s going on. Carping aside, there clearly is much to be done- and if we see two teams taking the field on June 28th, including the appropriate number of Canadian qualified players in the squads, everyone involved should be congratulated.