Cricket - a game for the masses??

For as long as the game has been around, the focus on playing cricket wasn't just playing for a crowd.  Instead over the years, many have played for the game for the sheer enjoyment and camaraderie that goes with the game, be that at street level, school level, club level, domestic level and even international level.  The game was (and is) about participation and enjoyment, stats and records.  Nothing more.

To hear non cricket followers, especially sports jocks that have no understanding of the game, lament crowd issues when dealing with the sport it really does show that they don't have an understanding of those little nuances.  Cricket is about the game.  Streets cricketers will have a small number of avid watchers, probably the same number that frequent a domestic game (especially here in New Zealand).  The followers of cricket are too, avid about the game.  The ones you see at the grounds will have all their little trinkets to follow the game.  Binoculars, drinks, a scorecard, and probably Wisdens or some other means of following stats (nowadays more likely to be a tablet with wifi).  They are few and far between BUT they attend every game, just as the Mums and Dads attend every school game.

A sports jock that says something like "Ford Trophy shunted to the back end of the season" has no

understanding of why that would happen?  Suggesting that a 50 over match played in summer holidays will grab more crowds is being ill informed.  The likes of 50 overs matches are played for the enjoyment of the players and also to get form players in the mix for international honours.  Yes I did hear the same Jock lament the lack of international players playing in that competition and that's a reason NZC doesn't get crowds.  If that same Jock had done his homework he would have seen quite a splattering of current and former internationals playing in the competition.

But back to the crowds.  Rightfully, crowds turn out for international games.  It's Us versus Them and they want Us to win.  The same thing happens to a certain extent in most sports here, crowds for second tier level below international and lower are sparse.  Clubs get club followers, domestic teams get regional followers, school cricket gets Mums and Dads and some other school supporters.  I had the good fortune to see my old High School, Palmerston North Boys High School, play a cricket match and a rugby match last year, and there were few watching.  I dare say every weekend the same applies to most sport.

In reality cricket is a hard watch.  It requires enormous amounts of time and patience, even in the shorter forms.  It's not a 90 minute game.  It's a game about the players, not the crowd.  It's a game about improvement, succeeding, failing, getting back up and fighting on. It's about numbers (not the ones on the shirt, the scorebook ones), it's about passion.  All one has to do is go down to a beach one sunny summers day and see a family playing beach cricket.  Even though that family may not go to a test match, you can bet they are following it.
 That's the game!!