Cricket, more than a game in the West Indies
THE WINDIES men’s cricket team started the tour of India with the first Test on Wednesday of this week. It was natural, then, that this week , while teaching the topic ‘Nationalism and Sports’, I tested students’ knowledge about West Indies cricket – one of the most significant sports that has unified us as a region, and helped to perpetuate a sense of pride and nationalist feelings. They struggled to identify things about the current Windies team, like the name of the captain or players other than Jamaicans (since the class is comprised of 100 per cent Jamaicans). I then used the opportunity to introduce them to CLR James’
Beyond a Boundary and the documentary Fire in Babylon.
While these students may not be a large sample size for research, their responses, and the responses of the 60-70 students I have taught each year for the past five years, make me wonder to what extent the love for cricket, especially West Indies cricket, is dying in the region. In fact, it is only through these documentaries that most of my students understand the impact of cricket in “deconstructing the culture of sport”. I won’t start assigning blame, but I believe that it has more to do with globalisation, and a shift in our ideologies.
The truth is ,my students aren’t as excited as I am, and probably will never be, about the impact of cricket in shaping Caribbean identity and cultural retentions. Many youths now focus on other sports as forms of entertainment or issues for discussions. It saddens me particularly because in the British West Indies, cricket played such a vital role for many of us. Cricket helped to shape my knowledge of the region called ‘West Indies’. I felt the same struggles as the players; I felt each wicket and got upset when we lost Test matches.
TEST CRICKET FLAVOUR LOST
With the advent of limitedovers cricket, Tests have lost their flavour, but certainly, in the 1980s and early 1990s, the successes of West Indies cricket ignited our passion. A win for the team meant a win for us as we took on the identity of the team. In a way, sports helped us to identify with the struggles of the cricketers, and they themselves used the sport as a form of resistance against colonialism, neo-colonialism, classism, racism and oppression.
These days, we aren’t winning many matches. First-class games rarely get support, and very few people turn up to cricket venues anymore. As my students say, there’s a move from ‘revolution to evolution’, meaning that the focus now is building on what exists and not necessarily fighting a fight, similar to what obtained in the 1970s and 1980s. So, cricket is no longer used for that. Cricket is on life support in the Caribbean. Our T20 players are still among the best globally , but there is a lot wrong with development of our ‘national’ sport.
Most persons will say it’s the fault of the governing body, Cricket West Indies, but the jury is certainly out on that. In my view, we are all at fault, from territorial boards and members, tertiary institutions and media to past and current players and governments. Each of us has a responsibility to keep our history alive, to protect our heritage, to tell our stories and engage our young people. Don’t believe for one minute that my students are going to go out of their way to learn the history of West Indies cricket unless they are taught its significance. Cricket itself is colonial, representing part of British culture. However, the way we later played the sport and the way our sporting heroes used it to champion causes should be shared with future generations.
Cricket was used to break down barriers of race, class, and socio-political challenges facing us in the British Caribbean. Sadly, I’m not sure how much of it will be taught. So, as we prepare to face the Indians, I will smile at the role cricket played in my life. Like CLR James, I too see cricket as “first and foremost a dramatic spectacle. It belongs with theatre, ballet, opera and the dance.”
But this art seems to be dying, less celebrated, and not recognised for its importance in contemporary Caribbean society.