By Minshu Mo
Scorekeeper, player, umpire, school builder, league founder— these are some of the rolesFrederick Heather played in a lifetime of promoting his beloved game of cricket. Heather, who once lived in East York, was inducted into the Cricket Hall of Fame in
the United States earlier this month. Before this tribute, he was honoured by Sport Ontario with the Syl Apps Special Achievement Award, and recognized by the Pier 21 Museum in Halifax for his contribution to Canadian nation-building through sport.

So although the Canadian cricket legend passed away in 1976, his legacy lives on today. Born in England, where cricket is a popular and well-established sport, Heather emigrated to Canada as a young player in 1921. After moving to Toronto, he played with local clubs, winning several championships in the 1920s.

Heather’s nephew, Chris Redford, a school teacher in Ottawa, said cricket was his uncle’s offering to his adopted country. “He was sharing the sport from his homeland with his new country, Canada,” he said. Upon retiring as a player, Heather embarked on a career as an umpire until 1967, making him the longest-serving umpire in Canada. Anticipating the sport’s future, Heather started a school for cricket umpires, setting a high standard for umpiring in Canada. He also co-founded the Toronto Junior Cricket League, which grew from 18 teams from its start in 1931 to over 100 competitive teams today.
Cricket, which started in Canada 225 years ago and was even declared the national sport by Sir John A. Macdonald, continues to thrive in this land of diversity. Besides the junior league in Toronto and the District Cricket Association, there are more than 150 competitive cricket teams playing at various levels.

Moin Parekh, president of the East York-based Kholvad Cricket Club, reckons cricket is getting more and more popular, especially in immigrant communities.
“Over the last few years… a lot of participants started coming from a lot of Commonwealth countries,” Parekh said.
Bilal Mirza, coach of the cricket team at Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, started his school program five years ago.
He tries to make cricket a spor for everybody and, in his view, the game is gaining momentum. “That’s something you cannot stop,” Mirza said. “The only matter is to establish a good, solid program in school.”
In the end, the work done by Parekh and Mirza to promote cricket in Canadian communities and schools picks up where Heather’s efforts left off.
“I think my uncle’s last wish was to see cricket become a mainstream sport in Canada, where the kids grow up to experience and enjoy the game,” Redford said.