Lessons From an Overseas Failure: How Grassroots UK Cricket can learn from New York State’s grounded “Empire Cricket Task Force”

Description

Grassroots cricket efforts, such as The Grangetown Street Project and Community Cricket Cup in Cardiff, have presented a model enviable across the world. Five-thousand kilometers away, a remarkable grassroots cricket effort, rooted in EDI, made its way through the New York State legislature. After three years of legislative wrangling, the New York State Senate passed a bill in June 2019 authorizing the creation of a “cricket task force.” The proposal mirrored community efforts in the UK, advancing the project through collaborative engagements between municipal cricket clubs, international governing bodies, and community leaders within South Asian (Pakistani, Sri Lanken, & Indian) and Caribbean (Jamaican & Barbadian) diasporas. However, the American-version, which had passed both the upper and lower legislative chambers with significant support from across the aisle, failed to woo the governor who promptly vetoed the proposal. Concerned with budgetary restrictions, and over objections from lawmakers convinced of its fiscal feasibility, the project was shelved.

In the wake of the ICEC report this past June, it is worth revisiting the failure of the American task force. This presentation will highlight the political barriers grassroots EDI efforts face – on both sides of the Atlantic – and how UK cricket can avoid similar fates.

Period	Feb 2024
Event title	Cricket Network Conference
Event type	Conference
Location	Cardiff, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International