Cricket fans - Are you envious of the global reach of the football World Cup?

[Markhor]

I'm a football fan but cricket was my first love, and I admit I'm slightly envious of the staggering audience this football World Cup has reached. Here in England, we are seeing street parties in nearly every major city. There's wall-to-wall coverage on free to air TV and celebrities/journalists who may be ordinarily clueless about sport are now tweeting about the football.

To give you an idea of how widespread World Cup fever is - 24.4m saw Eric Dier slot home the winning penalty against Colombia. That was the UK's most watched television event since 2012 Olympics and represents SIXTY NINE percent of the share of TV viewers. To put that in perspective - 8.4m was the peak figure for the 2005 Ashes when cricket was last truly "mainstream" in the UK. 9 out of the top 10 trending Tweets in the UK are about the World Cup.

The promotion and marketing of cricket meanwhile looks bush league by comparison !

The football World Cup touches every part of the globe with EVERY continent represented whereas the CWC will only involve the former British colonies and ICC has contracted the tournament to 10 teams. Of course cricket has a different history being a product of the British Colonial era. Football is a simple game that can be played from the poorest mudhuts of South Sudan to the richest parts of the globe, cutting across all ages, genders and class which greatly helps participation. It is seen as a sport of the masses whereas cricket has had a more middle class reputation outside Asia.

The only region of the world that can compare in such levels of devotion for cricket is of course the SC with India and its billion plus audience, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But outside those countries, cricket is in competition with other local sports.

However with the Cricket World Cup set to be hosted in England next year - how does the ECB spread cricket fever amongst the nation like football has done ? What marketing tools can be used ? Or do we just have to accept cricket will always play second fiddle here ?

 

[Markhor]

Just to reinforce the TV point - not a single match at next year's Cricket World Cup will be televised live on Free to Air Television in the UK.

Every match will be behind a paywall on Sky.

 

[Rinnegan Sasuke]

Definitely, I was never enamored with football but absolutely adore cricket. Seeing how big this world cup is and comparing it with how the last cricket world cup went, it certainly leaves a lot more to be desired as a cricket fan.

 

[Slog]

Forget that...

Football WC gets a fair amount of attention even in footballing backwaters such as Pakistan and India which dont even have a chance in hell of qualifying for the event any time soon

On the other hand, the cricket WC barely registers in some countries which play the damn event

Theres no comparison really.

Sometimes when I meet English or Aussie people abroad I sometimes feel as if cricket is a minor sport in their country. Especially with English women but even generally speaking. They barely know about the existence of the sport. Naming even one active cricketer is a challenge

 

[Nelson on]

It’s silly comparing the 2

 

[sam_ahm]

Forget that...

Football WC gets a fair amount of attention even in footballing backwaters such as Pakistan and India which dont even have a chance in hell of qualifying for the event any time soon

On the other hand, the cricket WC barely registers in some countries which play the damn event

Theres no comparison really.

Sometimes when I meet English or Aussie people abroad I sometimes feel as if cricket is a minor sport in their country. Especially with English women but even generally speaking. They barely know about the existence of the sport. Naming even one active cricketer is a challenge

Wow! Top post. Very true.

 

[KingKhanWC]

It's just hype in football. The majority of people who watch England play in the World Cup know very little about the game. All they see is two sets of people playing with one ball, aiming to get it into the goal. When your country is winning in front of the whole world it makes people happy. The hype gets too much with even commentators, pundits getting carried away losing their ability to analysis due to their emtional passions running wild.

Less hype in cricket due to the nature of the sport but for cricket fans this isn't a bad thing. They can enjoy the game they love without having casual fans turning up talking nonsense.

 

[hadi123]

I wouldn't say I'm envious. Not the right word as I like football too. But what I find amazing about football WC's is that there are 32 countries from all over the world. Completely different cultures, completely different languages, completely different genetics etc and obviously all fans - no matter how much they like football or not get behind their country

 

[Hasan123]

Very good point by OP. Cricket isn't even making much effort to expand whilst football is always looking to expand and grow into new markets.

 

[Shutdown Corner]

Personally, I dont understand why soccer is so popular. A bunch of guys kicking a ball around for 90 mins to maybe score twice seems like a huge waste of time.

 

[Xoib]

Cricket will always be a sub continent sport while being a niche sport in mother nations just accept it and move on.

 

[Snow]

I just wish that if we had a strong cricket team from South America and one from East Asia.

 

[Hawkeye]

Why would you compare the two?

I don't know of any basketball or badminton player trying to compare their audience with cricket, or football.

Completely different sports, completely different audiences and participating countries. But... are you asking that if we fantasize and dream that cricket will be played/watched in as many countries?

Then.. yeah, what's wrong in fantasizing?

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

Its better organised without bias. Cricket is too political. The tension with Russia and everyone still played the world cup there.

2 people show up in a crowd and India don't want to play Pakistan. Its pathetic.

 

[CricFan2012]

I prefer football to cricket now these days. World Cup opened my eyes.

Realized how dumb cricket has been. Games last for hours on end, football is way quicker and its popularity will never die down unlike cricket.

 

[KingKhanWC]

I prefer football to cricket now these days. World Cup opened my eyes.

Realized how dumb cricket has been. Games last for hours on end, football is way quicker and its popularity will never die down unlike cricket.

Different sports give you different types of enjoyment. You could watch a game of football 90mins + 30 mins exta time and see no goal or even no shot towards goal and then game is won on penalties . Football has many flaws too.

Test cricket is for the genuine passionate cricket fans but in T20 and ODI there's always some action every few mins.

Both are great sports but football is more popular as it's easy to play and easier to understand.

 

[Tusker]

Not really. Don't give a rat's behind for football or any other sports popularity. There is just nothing like cricket. The greatest team sport there is.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

I wish that there is a day when cricket has as much global recognition as football, but the administrators and overseers of cricket need to come up with new ways to engage audiences in markets like China and USA.

 

[PakLFC]

No coz most Cricket fans are also Football fans. Cricket will never be anywhere near Football when it comes to international appeal. Cricket is to time consuming for most people, even a T2O match lasts longer then a Football one.

 

[Syed1]

I wish the Brits introduced us to football rather than cricket

 

[Balthazar]

Not really into football and I don't understand why anyone want to compare these two sports as they are completely different. Cricket is more restricted because of its complexity, it's highly impossible to be a successful team without any proper infrastructure. And because of its lengthy duration, fans don't want to see one sided games.

 

[BDfanforever]

Football is only best during world cup, otherwise it is really boring to watch league games. One good thing about football is there are many good teams that can win the tournament, whereas in Cricket its only Australia and maybe India to certain extent.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Soccer will be the only sport that has that kind of popularity. No other sport can really compare to it. Its simplicity is something the other sports don't have especially not cricket. Also the short duration and it's cheap and accessible for even kids of third world countries ( all you need is a ball) means that it will enjoy the kind of popularity that other sports can only dream of. No point comparing.

 

[BDfanforever]

I wish that there is a day when cricket has as much global recognition as football, but the administrators and overseers of cricket need to come up with new ways to engage audiences in markets like China and USA.

USA dont even care about football, how will Cricket have a chance? We make our own sports and own rules, and it generates crazy amount of revenues on its own.

Cricket will gain popularity in Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, etc lol.

 

[AssassinatedDevil]

USA dont even care about football, how will Cricket have a chance? We make our own sports and own rules, and it generates crazy amount of revenues on its own.

Cricket will gain popularity in Nepal, Afghanistan, Bhutan, etc lol.

No one is saying it will rival the NBA or the NFL in terms of popularity, but it can have a proper niche much like what soccer does in the states. The number of immigrants from the subcontinent is on the rise in north america, and they would still be crazy about cricket, which means there is a likelihood that their kids would also be interested in cricket. All we need is a wealthy Indian businessman to start an above-average T20 league in the states and that should be a good push to introduce american audiences to the sport.

 

[Robert]

Not at all. Football is Britain’s national sport. Cricket is third, behind Rugby Union.

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

No, even if Cricket is not played by anyone except India. I see these kind of threads on PP often by Brit Pakistanis, frankly we(cricket fans) shouldn't bother.

 

[Ab Fan]

No. It doesn't really matter.

 

[Arham_PakFan]

Yes,I love football too but I would be lying if I said I was not envious of the sheer number of fans football has the the number of countries in which it is a major sport.

 

[cricketindiafan]

If number of viewers is a metric, then usung numbers from subcontinent to compare football vs cricket popularity, it can be shown cricket is bigger!

Sony expects FIFA WC to generate total viewership of 100 million in India.

In comparison recently finished IPL had a total viewership of 1.4 billion+! Only digital viewership on Hotstar app alone was 200 million+.

Football is a global game, cricket is slowly inching towards shedding the image of being a game olayed by 10 nations.

 

[boomboomcheema]

I wish the Brits introduced us to football rather than cricket

Then Pakistan would have become an insignificant Football playing Nation which will qualify for FIFA WC once in thirty years and get smashed in the first round . What is the glory in becoming a Tunisia and Panama at the World Cup while South Americans and Western Europeans keep winning it ?

 

[Markhor]

I think cricket fans are too complacent about the appeal of the sport. Yes YOU love the game and its complexities - that's why we're on this forum. We are amongst kindred spirits.

But go explain the new Test Championship to your friends or younger relatives with no clue of cricket. Try explaining why they should even watch 8 hours of a 50 over match, let alone a 5 day Test match.

IMO the 2019 World Cup is a defining moment for English cricket - if the tournament delivers we can inspire a new generation like after the 2005 Ashes. If it's a damp squib it's another opportunity squandered.

No, even if Cricket is not played by anyone except India. I see these kind of threads on PP often by Brit Pakistanis, frankly we(cricket fans) shouldn't bother.

That's rather short sighted - how can a "global sport" be such if it only thrives in one country or one region ? I'll give some context to explain my concerns.

The latest statistics shows only 278,600 people in the UK regularly played cricket – almost half of what it was 20 years ago. Many club teams up and down the country can't even make up the numbers and field complete teams.

The counties are in a mountain of debt and are wholly dependent on the Sky broadcasting fees to stay afloat. If you went into a classroom of kids in London, Manchester or Birmingham with Joe Root in tow - I doubt even half would recognise he's the English Test Captain. Now this is meant to be the birthplace of cricket !

I can only speak for England - the decline of cricket in the West Indies is well documented. In South Africa, there"s a struggle to enhance the popularity of the sport amongst the majority black population. Australia and NZ face competition from other sports. Yes cricket is doing just fine in South Asia but it faces a struggle to hold its own competing with other sports outside the region.

This isn't about comparing the merits of football vs cricket as sports but what we can LEARN from football in terms of its marketing and promotion, especially with a World Cup next year. Surely there's something we can take inspiration from ?

Hope that explains the premise of the thread better.

 

[big_gamer007]

Cricket started as a 5 day event, any sport which goes on for 5 days and at such a slow pace can’t compete at a global level..

Cricket is comparable to golf..

Football is comparable to sports like rugby, hockey, basketball etc which finish under 3hours.


If cricket started as T20 and not tests things might be different.. Now it’s too late you just can’t force a new sport into a new market where they already have plenty of sports.. They can put cricket in Olympics and hope more countries take it up..

The whole analogy and thread is comparing apples to oranges.. Doesn’t make sense

 

[Abdullah719]

A community that lost its love of cricket

Mike Atherton, chief cricket correspondent

About his earliest memories of Jamaica, Raheem Sterling recalled two things: splashing about in puddles while playing football in the rain and Grape-Nuts ice cream. “Having the best time,” he remembered, in a revealing and moving first-person piece penned on The Players’ Tribune.

Few of us contextualise our earliest years and so it is not surprising that it was these simple pleasures that came to mind. Rather them than the broader experience of Maverley, perhaps, a rough-and-tumble neighbourhood in Kingston, where Sterling lived with his grandmother in a three-bedroom bungalow until he moved to England when he was five years old.

Although Sterling is the only member of the World Cup squad to have been born abroad, he is not the only one to have the Caribbean in his blood. Eight players have a parent, grandparent or relative who was born there: Sterling, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Ashley Young and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all have Jamaican roots; Jesse Lingard’s paternal grandparents were from St Vincent; Marcus Rashford and Fabian Delph have relatives from Saint Kitts and Guyana respectively.

There has long been a Caribbean infusion through English football. This year is the centenary of the death of one of the earliest pioneers, Walter Tull, the son of a carpenter from Barbados and grandson of a slave. Tull played for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town, before enlisting for the Duke of Cambridge’s Own Regiment in the First World War, with whom he was killed eight months before the Armistice was called.

Many have followed pioneers such as Tull, often in the face of disgraceful racial abuse, but in the four decades since Viv Anderson became the first black player to be picked for England, that number has increased markedly, as the racism, thankfully, has abated. In 2010, nine of the 23-man World Cup squad had Caribbean roots.

This being a cricket column for the most part, you can probably guess where I’m going. As the influence on English football of those with Caribbean links has grown stronger, so it has diminished in English cricket to the point where it is almost non-existent, a relic of the past. There was a time when, as a matter of course, the first and second-generation descendants of Caribbean immigrants would have been interested in cricket primarily, but not now.

Reflecting on this decline in a paper entitled Losing the Heritage: Falling out of love with Cricket, the academic Russell Holden writes: “Whereas in former times, cricket was central to the lives of many in the Afro-Caribbean community, enthusiasm for the history and love of the game has withered.” It is hard to disagree, both anecdotally and empirically.

This influence on English cricket was at its strongest in the 1980s and early 1990s. When the England football team last played a World Cup semi-final, 28 years ago, there were three black footballers in the squad, all of Caribbean heritage — John Barnes, Des Walker and Paul Parker. That same year, Graham Gooch’s squad to tour West Indies included four players with strong links to the Caribbean — Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small, Ricky Ellcock and Phillip DeFreitas — plus another, Chris Lewis, who was called up halfway through as a replacement.

That influence has declined. When Chris Jordan made his Test debut in 2014, it doubled the number of cricketers of Caribbean descent selected to make their debut for England this century. And Jordan, like Jofra Archer, who may follow him in time, is as West Indian as rum and water — poached by, rather than produced in England.

The strength of this Caribbean connection in the late 1980s and early 1990s was mirrored in the county game as a whole, as well as the broader recreational game. Middlesex had a cohort of black cricketers — Neil Williams, Roland Butcher, Norman Cowans, Wilf Slack and the overseas player, Wayne Daniel. Research suggests that in 1994, there were 33 England-qualified players of Caribbean extraction plying their trade in county cricket — almost one in ten of professional players.

A decade later that number had fallen to 18; a decade after that, there were just seven throughout the entire county system. In the broader game, there has been a similar decline. Caribbean cricket clubs have reduced in number, from about 100 in the 1970s to fewer than 20 today, with many having broadened their membership base or combined with other cricket clubs to keep going.

As cultural assimilation occurs, people often move away from the game of their fathers and forefathers. But there are other factors at work as well; after all, the crowds at the recent one-day matches against India suggest that first and second-generation British Asians are as enthusiastic about the game as those from the Caribbean community once were.

Recently, the ECB launched its South Asian initiative — sheer numbers and potential commercial opportunities dwarf those within the Afro-Caribbean community — and as the black role models have disappeared, so those of South Asian descent, such as Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, have replaced them. The ECB may be responding to evidence and opportunity, but its focus may result in permanent alienation where the Afro-Caribbean community is concerned.

Whereas India is the powerhouse of the game, the decline of West Indies must have had a dampening effect. It is a long time since West Indies had any success in England (the Champions Trophy in 2004 springs to mind). County cricket has become a stranger to West Indian overseas professionals and so role models are not immediately accessible. Even within the Caribbean, it is not certain that cricket is king any longer. The Oval used to thrum to a vibrant black community for whom cricket was a first love, but that was a long time ago.

South London is home to one of the few cricketers of Caribbean descent playing county cricket. Daniel Bell-Drummond, of Kent and England Lions, is a throwback: born in Lewisham to a Jamaican, cricket-loving father, he grew up watching and admiring West Indies as well as England and held Brian Lara, then in his prime, as his hero. He played at a club, Catford Wanderers, with a strong West Indian influence. He had one other advantage not given to most: an education at private schools — Dulwich Prep and Millfield — that took cricket seriously.

To encourage other potential Bell-Drummonds out there, he has started an initiative this summer called the Platform, aimed at bringing cricket back into the Afro-Caribbean community from which it has retreated. Last month, 450 children from 14 schools took part in an event run by Platform at Deptford Park.

The hope is that he can help to shift perceptions, but it may be that the clock cannot be wound back. Times change, habits change, sports change. Some years ago, Rodney Hinds, the sports editor of The Voice, acknowledged this fact: “Away from social reasons, in simple terms, life has moved on. Football has taken over.”

Within the Caribbean community in England that is undeniably true, even more so now than then. Watching the skill, athleticism and intelligence of the players in Gareth Southgate’s team, it is clear where the role models now lie for the Afro-Caribbean community, as the ties that once bound them to cricket weaken further. Cricket’s loss is football’s gain.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/9870a394-851d-11e8-b7ab-42d55e61ad8f

 

[TM Riddle]

I wish the Brits introduced us to football rather than cricket

They did. Some of the Indian football clubs are older than the ones they have in premier league.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Hell no. Soccer is world's premier sports for a good reason. Cricket never got popular because of the farce known as test format. Nobody has time to follow a single match for 5 days knowing there might not be a result.