Bringing people together
P.E.I. Cricket Association looks to extend interest in sport to more communities
Cricket wasn’t a big deal on P.E.I. when Tazul Riad moved here from Bangladesh in 2005.
During the first season he was involved, 11 players took part in 15 games. The next year, it grew to 115 games.
Enthusiasm for the game has continued to spread on P.E.I., and today Riad is president of the P.E.I. Cricket Association, a league of eight clubs with 250 players and 50 non-playing members.
But, they’re not done growing yet.
“I know it’s a lot of immigrants that are playing, but we think it will not grow if we don’t attract the Islander kids,” he said. “So we are trying to promote a kids program.”
The kids program – which allows youth to try the game just for fun at Tea Hill in Stratford – wasn’t possible last year, Riad said.
“We ran it the last couple of years, but last year we couldn’t do it because of the pandemic. Schools were not allowing (it).”
With the pandemic under control in P.E.I., Riad said volunteer Manpreet Tiwana will be able to run the kids program again.
“He gives a lot of time for our organization.”
Apart from that, the league is trying to make the weekend games more fun for young people, Tazul said, noting anyone who wants to try the game for free can contact the association through its Facebook page.
“We try to accommodate some food for the kids and everything. It’s like a kind of picnic.”
While Riad said the game has been important for newcomers to have a place to meet, he wants other demographics to experience cricket too.
“You want to come to the field and be happy. That's (basically) the motive,” he said, explaining how people spend all day at work or at school.
“At the end of the day, if you come here on Saturday, Sunday or Friday evening, you have a happy three hours,
and you are mentally fresh.”
REGIONAL BRAGGING RIGHTS
More youth programming is not all the P.E.I. Cricket Association has in store this summer.
They will host a regional tournament July 23-25 at Tea Hill with teams from P.E.I., New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
“We have declared our provincial team on our Facebook
page,” Riad said. “We have declared our schedule and we have declared 22 people.”
For Riad, the tournament is about promoting cricket on the Island, but it's also about competition and winning something for the home team's fans.
“If you come any Saturday or Sunday, you will see how enthusiastic we are,” he said. “We are here in P.E.I. since 2005. Let’s give something back to P.E.I. now by winning something.”
The players on the provincial team share that enthusiasm.
“It is very exciting to represent P.E.I.,” said bowler Tasnif Ahmed, mentioning the tough selection process. “We have a large pool of very talented players and the competition is very high.”
MAKING IT WORK
The team was chosen by the association’s board of directors, he said.
“They put a lot of time behind the scenes to select the players according to their merits and make the best team possible.”
While he was hopeful of making the team after a strong performance, Ahmed said he is also a bit nervous for the tournament.
“This year, we are actually expecting to bring the trophy home, so players are trying very hard. They’re trying a lot behind the scenes as well.”
And the trophy – with its bragging rights – truly is the prize, Riad said.
“We don’t give cash prizes for (the tournament). We have a trophy for that, which is worth more than the money.”
One of the reasons for this is because the league is a non-profit and their funding comes from sponsorships, vice-president Parth Patel said.
“We, as a board, tried to get as many sponsors as possible, so then people don’t have to pay the costs. So we can cover everything.”
Those sponsors include Kenmac Energy, Spicey Chef, Pizza & Donair Hub, the Town of Stratford and the provincial government.
While it may take some time for cricket to grow in the wider Island communities, the newcomers who play it now are finding social benefits.
“All the immigrants come (to P.E.I.) and nobody knows anyone,” Patel said, explaining how the game has become a platform to gather people with a shared interest.
“On top of that, they know each other after (playing cricket), so basically it becomes a family. And after playing here for one year, the next year I knew like 40 per cent of immigrants in P.E.I.”