CarlsbergXpress
U19 Vice-Captain
Who do you play for Tom, I was in that area also and have played for (too) many years!
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Will we see a greater shift in momentum now that we move north?
- Thread starter Whistler
- Start date
chris.hinton
International Captain
Don't get me started on the ECB
CartyDurham
International Captain
There were 100 of these lapel badges made and I’ve got one
it was even printed in the Daily Telegraph as someone made a flag with it on.
it’s also on the front of this book
im quite proud of being involved with the making of the badge
It's because it is a middle/upper class sport at the moment. It isn't a perception, as you just said it is reality. Even where I am from in West Mids a pretty deprived area, in the top division the teams are dramatically disproportionately in salubrious bits of areas.
https://bdpcl.play-cricket.com/website/division/109031
In Birmingham Prem the only team from Birmingham proper is Moseley (which is a very hipster/gentrified area and outside of the proper footballer bits the most middle class) the other Birminghamish team is Solihull which is the richest area close to the city and where footballers from lots of the midlands clubs live.
England House Prices, Crime & Population Stats in Maps and Graphs
Interactive maps and analytic dashboards of England house prices combined with population and crime. The latest and most reliable UK government public data.
a.plumplot.co.uk
Check the house price data for West Mids,
4 teams from Worcestershire; population around ~600k and higher house prices/more middle class for median population
3 teams from Warwickshire; population ~550k but 0 from Coventry which represents well over half of the counties pop and is very impoverished and diverse.
1 team from Shropshire pop 300k , one of the wealthiest towns in the county (possibly the country overall).
4 teams from West Mids conurbation (including Halesowen - which is me being very generous by not including them in Worcestershire) population 2.6 million
Let's also not make any bones about it, West Mids is one of the most diverse parts of the country yet most of those teams are in much more predominantly white areas vs than overall demo of the area.
Ombersley a sleeply little village outside Droitwich has a team in Birmingham Prem. Population 599 per 2021 census. Chelmsley Wood, the largest council estate (public housing) in Birmingham hasn't even got a cricket club. Population 13k.
Kenneth Viljoen
International Regular
There is about 27 million people living in Australia, you're basically saying 1 in every 3 people are playing club cricket ..
Root went to Worksop college on a sports scholarship for (I think) the last four years of his education.
While this is true, the phrase 'there isn't enough funding up north' could be used in many cases for roughly 60 years or more.
One aspect people forget is that cricket is essentially a rural sport. That's where the infrastructure is. Rural life in the UK is becoming more and more middle/upper class as the land has become de-industrialised. My family has routes in parts of Norfolk which historically had a large working class contingent yet have now been entirely replaced by wealthy londonites. You will never get many people in cities playing cricket over football or indoor sports. Too expensive. I used to live in London and played in the amateur leagues there. It was a running joke with our team that the quality of pitch/conditions got progressively better the further we travelled out of the city.
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Southgate adelaide, we are just inside London but play in the herts league whereas our neighbours next door Southgate cc play in the middlesex LG.
Who have you played for?
weeman27bob
International Vice-Captain
Really good post. Although maybe a little harsh to suggest Smethwick isn't Birmingham proper?
CarlsbergXpress
U19 Vice-Captain
Nazeing for many years, we played you on numerous occasions. Then Watton for the last 7 or so they are in the Herts league also, before retiring. Would have probably met on the field at some point
slowfinger
International Debutant
I used to play for Ombersley many moons ago, and you're correct its a very affluent village with a steep cricketing heritage. If by birmingham proper you mean closer to the city center then you'd be right, the best team these days Barnt Green? is also one of the most expensive places to live in Birmingham.It's because it is a middle/upper class sport at the moment. It isn't a perception, as you just said it is reality. Even where I am from in West Mids a pretty deprived area, in the top division the teams are dramatically disproportionately in salubrious bits of areas.
https://bdpcl.play-cricket.com/website/division/109031
In Birmingham Prem the only team from Birmingham proper is Moseley (which is a very hipster/gentrified area and outside of the proper footballer bits the most middle class) the other Birminghamish team is Solihull which is the richest area close to the city and where footballers from lots of the midlands clubs live.
England House Prices, Crime & Population Stats in Maps and Graphs
Interactive maps and analytic dashboards of England house prices combined with population and crime. The latest and most reliable UK government public data.a.plumplot.co.uk
Check the house price data for West Mids,
4 teams from Worcestershire; population around ~600k and higher house prices/more middle class for median population
3 teams from Warwickshire; population ~550k but 0 from Coventry which represents well over half of the counties pop and is very impoverished and diverse.
1 team from Shropshire pop 300k , one of the wealthiest towns in the county (possibly the country overall).
4 teams from West Mids conurbation (including Halesowen - which is me being very generous by not including them in Worcestershire) population 2.6 million
Let's also not make any bones about it, West Mids is one of the most diverse parts of the country yet most of those teams are in much more predominantly white areas vs than overall demo of the area.
Ombersley a sleeply little village outside Droitwich has a team in Birmingham Prem. Population 599 per 2021 census. Chelmsley Wood, the largest council estate (public housing) in Birmingham hasn't even got a cricket club. Population 13k.
Predominantly because private schoolers tend to play cricket at adult level so that's the kind of culture that gets fostered here
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Cricket will always be less popular than other sports here i.e., the UK) though. The barriers to entry are enormous, and that's without (directly) considering factors like elitism and race.
Realistically, a young person wanting to get into cricket will need some, if not most, of the following:
- bat
- ball
- gloves (and WK gloves perhaps)
- pads
- helmet
- club membership
- access to facilities
All this does not come cheap (at all), and a lot of it will need to be replaced with age/growth etc.
This is to say nothing of the time commitment required (i.e. because cricket is a long game).
Whereas, to get into football a young person needs the following:
- ball (or a friend who has one)
Realistically, a young person wanting to get into cricket will need some, if not most, of the following:
- bat
- ball
- gloves (and WK gloves perhaps)
- pads
- helmet
- club membership
- access to facilities
All this does not come cheap (at all), and a lot of it will need to be replaced with age/growth etc.
This is to say nothing of the time commitment required (i.e. because cricket is a long game).
Whereas, to get into football a young person needs the following:
- ball (or a friend who has one)
QUOTE="CarlsbergXpress, post: 5007730, member: 30404"]
Nazeing for many years, we played you on numerous occasions. Then Watton for the last 7 or so they are in the Herts league also, before retiring. Would have probably met on the field at some point
[/QUOTE]
Yes no doubt we did! I liked playing against watton. Its a great league and still going very strong with a simular amount of teams as 30 years ago.
Nazeing for many years, we played you on numerous occasions. Then Watton for the last 7 or so they are in the Herts league also, before retiring. Would have probably met on the field at some point
[/QUOTE]
Yes no doubt we did! I liked playing against watton. Its a great league and still going very strong with a simular amount of teams as 30 years ago.
I honestly don't know any club who would make it mandatory for a child or senior player to own their own bat or pads ect before joining.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Yeah maybe, but how many kids are realistically not going want all their own stuff when all their friends do etc.?
Factors like this have a big impact.
I am hardly from any sort of impoverished background, and had loads of priveleges growing up, but I remember showing up to try out for a local club when I was 10 or 11 or something, and noticing how everyone else had their own nice new looking gear, all kitted out etc. and I didn't even have any whites, let alone a bat/helmet etc. Immediately felt like I didn't belong, and it deterred me from taking any real interest in cricket again until I was well into my teens.
Factors like this have a big impact.
I am hardly from any sort of impoverished background, and had loads of priveleges growing up, but I remember showing up to try out for a local club when I was 10 or 11 or something, and noticing how everyone else had their own nice new looking gear, all kitted out etc. and I didn't even have any whites, let alone a bat/helmet etc. Immediately felt like I didn't belong, and it deterred me from taking any real interest in cricket again until I was well into my teens.
Barnt Green is in Worcestershire technically and not counted in the West Mids conurbation hence me separating it out. The best 4 teams interestingly are actually all urban teams inside the conurbation, but I mean they are so scantly populated with teams that they should be.
100%, I played for a team that was pretty middle class and I remember we'd turn up to teams from poorer areas and they'd be wearing AstroTurf trainers or sometimes tracksuit bottoms and some of my teams parents would be laughing at them. It can be a very, very unwelcoming game.
On the racial aspect, I went to school with a lad who picked game up at 15 but was a serious pace bowling prospect (not saying like professional potential or anything).
He was 6'5 back then and an awesome athlete so generated pace naturally. He's black and went to a try-out for county, the coach said they were interested in him trying out a bit more but "we would struggle to arrange lifts to pick you up", my friend was baffled and asked what he meant and he clarified that it was tough to pick people up who couldn't get transport.
His Dad is a dentist who'd attend with him, but the bloke was just assuming he grew up single mom, council estate etc. Obviously there is nothing wrong with that background, but he never went back to another trial because he explained to me that would just be tip of the iceberg and he couldn't be bothered dealing with it.
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Cheers!
It's in Sandwell Council not Brum & one of the old Staffordshire towns. I grew up in area and never considered it Brum but it is directly connected to areas of Brum so perhaps fair to say. I counted it in the West Mids conurbation pop breakdown I did.
I grew up in an upper working class household - we weren't poor in that we were always well fed and clothed and never went short on anything but there wasn't money for a whole load of cricket gear either.
Not that it mattered as the game was never really open to me. We didn't play it at school, we played in the local park with our mates. The park did have a cricket field but we weren't allowed to play on there.
The local park sides did have a junior section and I did go for a while but never felt totally at home even though I only lived 5 minutes from the park.
There was no attempt by the clubs to engage with local schools etc. We used to watch the local park sides play at the weekend but there was never any attempt to get us involved with the club, except when the clubhouse burned down and they wanted us to post flyers to local houses to try to raise money. We did this and they gave us a few old cricket balls but it was never why don't you come next week to the junior section. 90% of the juniors were related to the senior players.
Football on the other hand was open to everyone. If I had been good enough, I would have played for the school, then the district etc etc. Loads of lads from our school have played football professionally, but there's never been a professional cricketer.
Not that it mattered as the game was never really open to me. We didn't play it at school, we played in the local park with our mates. The park did have a cricket field but we weren't allowed to play on there.
The local park sides did have a junior section and I did go for a while but never felt totally at home even though I only lived 5 minutes from the park.
There was no attempt by the clubs to engage with local schools etc. We used to watch the local park sides play at the weekend but there was never any attempt to get us involved with the club, except when the clubhouse burned down and they wanted us to post flyers to local houses to try to raise money. We did this and they gave us a few old cricket balls but it was never why don't you come next week to the junior section. 90% of the juniors were related to the senior players.
Football on the other hand was open to everyone. If I had been good enough, I would have played for the school, then the district etc etc. Loads of lads from our school have played football professionally, but there's never been a professional cricketer.