Joe Friesen
\nFrom Saturday’s Globe and Mail
\n“The players arrange themselves for a group photo with the boredom typical of athletes anxious to start play. The power brokers of Toronto cricket and a candidate for mayor, eager to insert themselves in this multicultural tableau, step to the fore, relegating the players to backdrop. Joe Pantalone, candidate for mayor, addresses a camera operated by his campaign staff, promising that, once elected, he will make construction of an international-level cricket facility one of his top priorities. It\u2019s the surest sign that Toronto\u2019s changing demographics are having an impact on the city\u2019s sporting scene. As the historian C.L.R. James put it, describing the infinite ways in which cricket and politics intertwine, \u201cWhat do they know of cricket who only cricket know?\u201d
\nCricket is spreading like wildfire, according to Mohamed Shaikh, president of the Toronto and District Cricket Association. His league has mushroomed to 172 member teams this year, up from 100 teams five years ago. The Brampton-Etobicoke league has 110 teams and the Commonwealth Cricket Association, 40 teams, which adds up to more than 300 competitive teams of at least a dozen players in the GTA, and participation is growing beyond capacity.
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\n\u201cI would still say immigration is driving the growth, people coming in from South Asian countries,\u201d Mr. Shaikh said. \u201cWe still need more mainstream local participation, but it\u2019s mostly new immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gentlemen of Upper Canada College and The Toronto Cricket Club who were its protectors saw it decline through much of the 20th century. Immigration from the Commonwealth, particularly the West Indies, sparked a mini-revival, but the number of West Indian cricketers in Canada is declining as immigration from that region slows. The Canadian-born children of West Indian immigrants are not taking up the game in great numbers, organizers say.<\/p>\n
Leslie Soobrian, who came to Canada from Guyana, has poured much of his free time into running the Commonwealth Cricket Association for the last 30 years. To his mild bemusement, his own Canadian-born children never played the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey played the traditional sports, basketball, baseball,\u201d he said. But cricket just didn\u2019t appeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the South Asians it\u2019s a kind of religion,\u201d Mr. Soobrian said. \u201cThat\u2019s where all the growth is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corporate sponsors have certainly noticed. The Royal Bank and Scotiabank both have sponsored cricket in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing with RBC is we\u2019re using cricket as a cultural market, and a bit of a hedge on hockey,\u201d said Bob Stellick, who runs a Toronto sports marketing company. \u201cHockey is a bigger-budget mainstream sport for RBC. With cricket we pick certain niches like Brampton, Surrey B.C., places in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg where there are South Asian communities. From a corporate perspective we really want to engage our customers where they\u2019re comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonight\u2019s match features Brampton Masters\u2019 top team versus Apollo. Playing for Brampton is Mahendra Nagamootoo, a former top international spin bowler who played 30 times for the West Indies, a cricketing powerhouse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good cricket here. The elite division is really high level,\u201d Mr. Nagamootoo said. He is one of several semi-professional players who are brought in on special immigration visas every year, lending prestige to the events.<\/p>\n
Tonight he\u2019s regularly walloping shots over the boundary for six runs. It\u2019s a style of play observers say is evolving in Canada as a reaction to municipal groundskeepers who are deaf to the needs of a cricket pitch. The grass is as long and shaggy as a hipster haircut, which means batted balls lurch to a halt if played along the ground.<\/p>\n
Mr. Soobrian sighs a resigned sigh and gestures to a beautifully maintained, purpose-built soccer pitch across the way. He can remember when that area belonged to cricket. The soccer pitch was built thanks to a highly mobilized and politically connected Italian-Canadian community group, he says.<\/p>\n
Cricket may get there yet.”<\/p>\n