Cricket suicides

[BoyBrumby]

From reading further, another issue is that the author seems to have left Asia out of his study (I'm not sure if the West Indies were included or not). Would this drag the percentages up, or down? They play an awful lot of cricket on the subcontinent. A focus on Anglo countries (at least, in terms of who's predominantly played the game in the countries he's mentioned - Australia, NZ, England and South Africa) suggests that far more may be at play than just cricket.

I don't have anything against such a finding - I'd probably just think "wow, that's heavy". I'm just not convinced that such a small number of deaths over the course of a century can tell us a great deal, particularly when whole swathes of cricket playing peoples are not included in the study.

To be fair tho, even if it is a phenomenon solely limited to Anglo cricketing nations it is still worthy of serious consideration. Cultural factors must play a part too; stronger extended familial bonds in the sub-continent off the top of my head!

I'm definitely gonna ask Santa for a copy!

 

[Richard]

'T'would be so much better to ask someone who exists...

 

[Slow Love™]

To be fair tho, even if it is a phenomenon solely limited to Anglo cricketing nations it is still worthy of serious consideration.

Even if the stats don't make sense? Just to give some context to the proposed figure of 1,875 club cricketers and above (for the 4% figure to be anywhere near accurate from the amount of deaths recorded) playing in South Africa over the course of an entire century: 316,000 club cricketers alone (not including higher level competitions) were active in Australia over the course of one season in 2001/02.

Now, let's say we were talking specifically about South African test cricketers only - for the 4% figure to be accurate, you only require 12 deaths related to suicide over the entire century. How meaningful is that? It's just too small a sample to extrapolate meaningfully over.

It just sounds like such an example of an "invented" phenomenon to me, given the numbers being quoted - unless what is actually said by Frith is being completely misrepresented in reviews of the book. If Frith is making the claims described, oh well, I guess he's entitled to try and make a buck like the rest of us.

 

[Deja moo]

He did compare to the boxers for this particlar reason and found the cricketer's rates to be far higher.

The two cant be compared.

Cricketers may be frustrated by certain aspects of the game, but they cannot go on the field and throw punches at the opposition players to give vent to their fury.

Boxers can.


Guess which group ends up more frustrated?

 

[odyssey]

Tail enders running b/wkts

 

[BoyBrumby]

Even if the stats don't make sense? Just to give some context to the proposed figure of 1,875 club cricketers and above (for the 4% figure to be anywhere near accurate from the amount of deaths recorded) playing in South Africa over the course of an entire century: 316,000 club cricketers alone (not including higher level competitions) were active in Australia over the course of one season in 2001/02.

Now, let's say we were talking specifically about South African test cricketers only - for the 4% figure to be accurate, you only require 12 deaths related to suicide over the entire century. How meaningful is that? It's just too small a sample to extrapolate meaningfully over.

It just sounds like such an example of an "invented" phenomenon to me, given the numbers being quoted - unless what is actually said by Frith is being completely misrepresented in reviews of the book. If Frith is making the claims described, oh well, I guess he's entitled to try and make a buck like the rest of us.

Having read a quick precis of the book I think Frith's scope is limited to the FC game. I don't know the veracity of the stats quoted, but the subject appeals for some reason! If the suicide rate in higher amongst cricketers than footballers it can't all be because they're Marilyn Manson fans!!

If nothing else, it's another book by David Frith, which I can't see being a bad read!