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Daniel Brettig
October 26, 2011
Australian cricket can no longer rely on the iconography of the Baggy Green to draw fans and players from an increasingly diverse community, the Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has said.
On the eve of CA's annual general meeting in Melbourne, to be followed by the board meeting at which the chairman Jack Clarke will handover his post to the former Test batsman Wally Edwards, Sutherland spoke to ESPNcricinfo about the body's strategic plan for the next four years.
Unlike the previous editions of the plan, it will not be titled 'From Backyard to Baggy Green', a tacit acknowledgement of how cricket must broaden itself to reflect Australian society, culture and financial reality.
Instead, the plan stresses the need for cricket to better reflect the wishes of fans, be they families with an entrenched annual pilgrimage to the MCG for Boxing Day, or recent immigrants with no particular affinity for the national team and its players.
"There's an element of truth that comes through in our research that shows there are a whole lot of people in Australia who don't necessarily relate to the Australian cricket team in the way that many other cricket fans do," Sutherland said. "That's largely because of their background, culturally in terms of coming from a different country or alternatively just that they didn't grow up with cricket as a sport and develop an affinity with the team.
"That's not the only way a fan can connect with and relate to cricket, there are lots of other ways. It could be in terms of grassroots, club or school cricket, or it could be in terms of entertainment, perhaps engaging with or supporting a BBL team and going along on a Thursday or Friday night to watch a BBL match and have a bit of fun and enjoy the game and follow your team."
"One of the critical parts of putting fans first is realising we've got a vision to be Australia's favourite sport, and to be that you need to be a sport for all Australians. If we want to lay claim to that, then we need to be able to boast a fan-base that is diverse and covers males and females, young and old and people from all backgrounds, cultural and others. We see the BBL can do that in an even better way than international cricket can and perhaps ideally it can also serve as an entrée to an appetite for cricket in other forms."
The place for the national team will be honored, as seen in the rapid implementation of recommendations of the review Argus. But Sutherland has admitted his success was now seen more as a means towards the end of the growth of the game in Australia, rather than ends in themselves.
"A sport like cricket or rugby for that matter, where the national team is the flagship of the sport in the country, there will often be a temptation to judge the success and health of a sport by the performance of the national team, "Sutherland said." To some extent this is true, but we see the success of the Australian cricket team to be extremely important, but not the only thing that is important, and yes, to some extent, this means it is a means to an end.
"The real health, real indicators of how cricket is strong and healthy as cricket is, is the extent to which cricket is committed with the Australian Community and the fact that all kinds of levels, not only through the Australian team . Whether you are a junior participation in the program or the BBL or the Boxing Day Test, engaging with the fans of cricket and the Australian Community is what we're talking about. "
The Big Bash Twenty20 League, to be contested in December and January, just in front of the Test series against India, is the boldest expression of CA to repel a wider audience. It is also central to another key theme in the plan - namely to raise a large amount of local revenue, so that cricket more self-sufficient.
"There is no doubt that we can look at some of the other sports in Australia and are part of self-sufficiency," says Sutherland. "Saving in a different way, with the possibility of having better control of their destiny. Not to say that we have not, but it is a global reliance international cricket, the ICC member countries and has relationships and bilateral relations with all.
"It was something that has stood the test of time in cricket, but at the same time you do not see where there are no obstacles for this to happen, and we see on the one hand, reduced risk, but on the other, and not have the same as the AFL or NRL in our own league that offers a high level of commitment from the fans and we truly believe BBL is an excellent opportunity to take steps to have a league that encourages cricket fans, but also to expand our reach. "
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