Howzat! More Romanians bowled over by game of cricket

A new buzz can be heard in local sporting circles, although sometimes you have to listen carefully to discern it over the din of the ubiquitous football clatter. It’s neither in your face nor the subject of talk shows or titillating scandal but despite that it’s there, and growing. Cricket has picked up its red leather ball in Romania this year, and run with it.

By Andrew Begg

Readers that haven’t grown up with cricket should note the distinction between cricket, the subject of this article, and croquet, as it’s surprising how frequently the two are confused. Yes, both originated in England and are played with an upright club and ball, but while many people know croquet from the fantasy version in Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland, in which players used hedgehogs for balls and flamingoes for bats, cricket is another thing altogether.

After football cricket is the world’s second most popular game, a game that at the highest level fills stadiums and shopping malls whenever national players materialize. National teams of the major cricketing countries comprise household-name superstars to which companies attach themselves like limpets to push their products. Idolized, lionized and extremely well compensated, every kid looks up to them, every young adult wants to be them, and every father wants his son to one day become them.

In Romania cricket doesn’t quite hold the national psyche in its thrall, but it’s early days yet. The sport is overseen by Cricket Romania, a pioneering group that is nurturing a structure for cricket and a foundation on which the game can grow and flourish, and CEO Rangam Mitra is encouraged by what he sees. “We – Cricket Romania, and its member clubs – set out not to introduce cricket here, but to impose a long-term view on cricket, which will foster the transformation of the game from an almost exclusively expat pastime to, we hope, mainstream acceptance,” he says. That will take time, of course, but as more and more Romanians become involved, the profile of cricket can only grow in status and popularity.

The steady growth is no illusion. There are currently eight member clubs of Cricket Romania (three based in Timisoara, one in Cluj and four in Bucharest) and several more joining from other cities in 2013. For the last three years the clubs have competed in a national championships in which native Romanians have been present on the field to an increasing extent, and in both tournaments in which Romania’s national team performed – the inaugural Tri Nations tournament in Bucharest and the Euro Twenty 20 tournament in Sofia (Romania won the former and finished second in the latter) – native Romanians made substantial contributions to the overall success of the team. Importantly, cricket tournaments have been covered by Eurosport on television, which has given fans real-time access to the game at the highest level. Courses in coaching, umpiring, scoring and introductory courses to cricket for PE teachers have been rolled out, and substantial investment continues to be made in a cricket playing surface at Moara Vlasiei, which will become the home of cricket in Romania and be ready for action in spring 2013.

Cricket is distinctive from other sports in that it is regulated by a set of laws, not rules, and framed by a playing code known as the Spirit of Cricket, which enhances and promotes qualities such as mental and physical discipline, teamwork, leadership, honesty and respect for teammates, the opposition and authority figures (umpires). Perhaps the advancement of these qualities is what is making cricket popular amongst Romanian school children and their parents, teachers and school authorities alike. More than 500 boys and girls aged between 10 and 14 in Bucharest and Timisoara have undergone regular coaching classes in cricket over the last year, which also included a Kwik Cricket tournament and a summer camp. Violeta Dascalu, director at Scoala Gymnaziala Ferdinand I in Bucharest, says that cricket has benefited her students. “The sport has developed an understanding of teamwork amongst the students, and perseverance, fair play and pride,” she says. PE teacher Diana Lazar, who oversees cricket classes run by a Cricket Romania coach at Colegiul German Goethe, says her students are thrilled to have the opportunity to demonstrate that they have athletic ability in a sport other than those traditionally taught in Romanian schools, and adds that parents are “super-excited” that cricket is being taught there.

In years to come, these students may form the backbone of the Romanian cricket club scene and national squads and, as their prowess and skills increase, benefit from Romania’s membership of cricket’s equivalent of FIFA, the ICC (International Cricket Council) and from government acceptance of cricket’s federation status. Applications for these procedures have been lodged, and likely to receive a positive outcome in 2013.

So there is much to look forward to. Gabriel Marin, an entrepreneur and president of Cricket Romania, speaks of a situation in which everyone benefits. “Cricket is a win-win situation,” he enthuses. “It’s good for the country – all sport is good; it’s good for players, because cricket is a character-developing game that nurtures a set of qualities that are useful to have throughout your life, and it’s good for spectators who will continue to watch exciting, high-quality cricket matches played here.” Roll on 2013!

For more information see www.cricketromania.com or Cricket Romania on Facebook.