MELBOURNE, 22 December 2023: With around 1.5 million Australians with South Asian ancestry, including 673,000 Indians, 132,000 Sri Lankans, 123 thousand Nepalese, 90,000 from Pakistan and 51,000 from Bangladesh, in 2021, Cricket Australia’s (CA) new ‘Multicultural Action Plan 2023-2027’ launched today at the MCG, aims to make their traditional love for cricket, the focus of multicultural inclusion fully reflected across all levels in the sport.
The action plan based on research and engagement comprises a set of ten simple and pragmatic, high-impact actions to make Australian cricket a sport for all communities. The ten actions are as follows:
1. Bespoke social cricket programs, products and tournaments;
2. Community coach and volunteers leadership program;
3. Working withy foundations and partners to enhance Talent Pathways;
4. Elite coach and umpire bursary scheme;
5. South Asian mentoring and leadership program;
6. Cultural awareness and unconscious bias training;
7. New multilingual ambassador program;
8. Engage new media channels with positive storytelling;
9. New cultural festivals and enhanced match experience; and
10. More personalised engagement through enhanced data capability.
The action plan, said Nick Hockley, CEO Cricket Australia, “we encourage people from every cultural background right across Australia to get involved in cricket, whether that is playing, officiating, coaching, volunteering or coming to the matches.”
Addressing the media, batsman Usman Khawaja said how despite Cricket Australia being a great supporter of multicultural Australia, participation at the highest levels has been lacking and that is where the multicultural plan comes into the picture. Participation, he said, is not just getting the players but getting the multicultural communities involved. We need multicultural participation in the boards, staff, coaches and for the first time there is a plan to make this a reality, he said.
Cricket’s unique opportunity to further engage cricket-loving South Asian communities was highlighted during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 when more than 150,000 fans attended two games at the MCG featuring India and Pakistan.
Accordingly, Australian Cricket has set the goals of doubling the number of people from South Asian backgrounds who attend cricket matches in Australia each year from 100,000 to 200,000 and increasing the number of those registered to play cricket from 70,000 to 100,000 by 2027.
The number of players with South Asian backgrounds in junior pathway teams across Australian Cricket has grown substantially in recent years to 18% of all players.
The aspiration is to increase the number of players from these backgrounds in First Class, State and Territory and W/BBL teams from the current 4.2% to 8% by 2027.
READ HERE Cricket Australia’s ‘Multicultural Action Plan 2023-2027’.
