CRICKET: Jon Swift
IT IS politic, with the release of next season’s cricket=20 fixtures as early as the eve of the Rugby World Cup, to=20 examine the drive to put a million bums in stadium seats=20 during the summer still to dawn.
It is an ambitious project. “But,” says Ali Bacher,=20 managing director of the United Cricket Board, “it’s=20 achievable. It just means we’ll have to work to get to it.”
Indeed Bacher and the provinces scattered about the country=20 will truly have to get motivated and moving to reach the=20 magic million.
Bacher and all those involved with administering the game=20 are faced with these interlinked problems. First, this=20 country’s return to international cricket has meant a=20 dramatic shift of interest, leaving the provincial=20 competitions as the raggedy pants orphans left behind by a=20 public basking in the newly discovered joys of the game at=20 Test level.
While many could tell you who holds the Castle Cup or the=20 B&H title, it is arguable that many professional cricket=20 enthusiasts could tell you accurately where their=20 provincial side finished in both competitions.
And second, as the emphasis has shifted in spectator=20 appeal, so has it moved apace in the character of the=20 spectator, with corporate suits playing the dominant role=20 in funding the grandiose new stadiums around the country. A=20 ticket, a meal and a beer to watch a touring side in=20 comfort has many more attractions than queueing and lining=20 up for a boerewors roll during the lunch interval.
But then this doesn’t work for the provincial matches. The=20 suits stand, unlit and staring blankly out over the field=20 for most of the four scheduled days of Castle Cup play.
As with many things in this fast-moving, modern world, the=20 glorious game seems to have lost its inherent attraction,=20 being replaced by the baying obesiance to our instant=20 international heroes. For most, a fast 40 from Fanie is=20 more attractive than watching Jimmy Cook craft his way to=20 yet another 100.
Bacher, for one, realises this. “There are hundreds of=20 schools out there, in the advantaged and disadvantaged=20 areas, who we should be getting in on a Friday,” he says,=20 identifying immediately the spectating future of the game=20 in this country. Bacher is right. The kids hold the key.=20 Only a finite number of them will ever grace a corporate=20 box, but all of them are ripe to bring into joyful ethos of=20 a day in the sun.
“We should also be instituting things like having one of=20 the players — say Richard Snell — come down and talk to=20 the kids during the break. We should also give some thought=20 to a family day where the moms and kids all come along.”
Bacher is right in this respect too. Building a family=20 spirit goes a long way towards instilling the pride in the=20 provincial side. “We have to get more provincial,” says=20 Bacher, travelling the reverse route from the path embarked=20 on in building pride in the South African side.
“Only Western Province have the type of crowds — 5 000 to=20 6 000 over the four days they are getting in Australia for=20 Sheffield Shield games. It’s because they have this fierce=20 loyalty to their team in Cape Town.”
This is an unassailable fact of life beyond the Hex River=20 Mountains. And that even after the Western Province union=20 butchered the Oaks to make way for yet more concrete.
With England coming for a five-test series and seven one- day outings on the agenda, Bacher is looking to half a=20 million people watching our boys pour it on the Poms.=20 That’s 120 000 up on the number who watched the Aussies in=20 a far more compact tour last year.
It’s an ambitious target. But as Bacher notes, an=20 achievable one. Add to that the 300 000 which is the target=20 for B&H games — “We’ll be looking at a later start to=20 accommodate workers,” he says — and more than doubling the=20 70 000 who came to Castle Cup games last season, and the=20 million is within reach.