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The surge of refugees seeking asylum in Germany has resulted in a surge of interest for the sport of cricket in the county which is football dominated.
The influx of asylum seekers into Germany, from Pakistan and Afghanistan where cricket is the most popular sport, has meant that Germany now houses plenty of passionate cricket fans, many of who seek a place to play the game they love and are perhaps used to playing back in their country of birth.
Of the 476,649 people who applied for asylum in Germany last year, 31,902 came from Afghanistan alone, with a further 8,472 from Pakistan. This has seen the German Cricket Federation (DCB) flooded with a simple question: "Where can I play?"
The DCB's chief executive officer, Brian Mantle, says they have been swamped by enquiries through their website (Deutscher Cricket Bund - Cricket in Germany - Cricket - wo Schläger Gentlemen sind!Deutscher Cricket Bund – Cricket in Germany | Cricket –...) to set up new clubs across the country, supply equipment and point new arrivals to their local team. Mantle, who is based in the western city of Essen, runs the DCB with only an additional part-timer for assistance.
When the Englishman took over in 2012, there were around 1,500 cricketers in Germany playing in 70 teams. Now there are 4,000 registered cricketers playing in 205 teams and last week the DCB welcomed its 100th new club, from Bautzen near the Czech border. The numbers continue to grow.
"We've been getting up to five enquiries per day from groups wanting to set up new clubs," Mantle told AFP. "Often it's from social workers, who had never even heard of cricket before groups of refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan started asking where they could play it. They had been offered volleyball or football, but most just want to play cricket."
Thanks to donations from existing German clubs of bats, balls and cricket clothing, including 35 boxes sent by the Lord's Taverners, the UK's leading youth cricket charity, the DCB has recently sent out its 400th box of supplies to help new clubs. But now there is nothing more to donate.
"That was the last box, we have run out. We're desperately looking for sponsorship or funding," added Mantle.
The biggest challenge facing any newly-formed group of cricket-playing refugees is to find a ground that suits their needs. A standard 22-yard-long (20-metre-long) pitch costs up to 10,000 Euros (USD 11,400) to install.
As a temporary solution, the DCB has found a German supplier of coconut mats, costing 650 Euros each, which, when laid on wooden boards, behave like a normal pitch.
Cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council, has provided 15,000 Euros of extra funding to help the DCB meet the fresh demand. They also receive 177,000 Euros annually from the governing body.
Mantle, 44, is excited about the future. "The biggest problem is getting refugees to speak German, but this is a good way to integrate them through the sport they know."
"At the moment, our national Under-19 team is half made up of Afghans, who have qualified here through residency and that number will grow. It can only raise the playing standards here and in years to come. We could follow the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan, who are knocking on the door of Test-level cricket."
http://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/79788/cricket-on-the-rise-in-germany-thanks-to-refugee-influx
The influx of asylum seekers into Germany, from Pakistan and Afghanistan where cricket is the most popular sport, has meant that Germany now houses plenty of passionate cricket fans, many of who seek a place to play the game they love and are perhaps used to playing back in their country of birth.
Of the 476,649 people who applied for asylum in Germany last year, 31,902 came from Afghanistan alone, with a further 8,472 from Pakistan. This has seen the German Cricket Federation (DCB) flooded with a simple question: "Where can I play?"
The DCB's chief executive officer, Brian Mantle, says they have been swamped by enquiries through their website (Deutscher Cricket Bund - Cricket in Germany - Cricket - wo Schläger Gentlemen sind!Deutscher Cricket Bund – Cricket in Germany | Cricket –...) to set up new clubs across the country, supply equipment and point new arrivals to their local team. Mantle, who is based in the western city of Essen, runs the DCB with only an additional part-timer for assistance.
When the Englishman took over in 2012, there were around 1,500 cricketers in Germany playing in 70 teams. Now there are 4,000 registered cricketers playing in 205 teams and last week the DCB welcomed its 100th new club, from Bautzen near the Czech border. The numbers continue to grow.
"We've been getting up to five enquiries per day from groups wanting to set up new clubs," Mantle told AFP. "Often it's from social workers, who had never even heard of cricket before groups of refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan started asking where they could play it. They had been offered volleyball or football, but most just want to play cricket."
Thanks to donations from existing German clubs of bats, balls and cricket clothing, including 35 boxes sent by the Lord's Taverners, the UK's leading youth cricket charity, the DCB has recently sent out its 400th box of supplies to help new clubs. But now there is nothing more to donate.
"That was the last box, we have run out. We're desperately looking for sponsorship or funding," added Mantle.
The biggest challenge facing any newly-formed group of cricket-playing refugees is to find a ground that suits their needs. A standard 22-yard-long (20-metre-long) pitch costs up to 10,000 Euros (USD 11,400) to install.
As a temporary solution, the DCB has found a German supplier of coconut mats, costing 650 Euros each, which, when laid on wooden boards, behave like a normal pitch.
Cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council, has provided 15,000 Euros of extra funding to help the DCB meet the fresh demand. They also receive 177,000 Euros annually from the governing body.
Mantle, 44, is excited about the future. "The biggest problem is getting refugees to speak German, but this is a good way to integrate them through the sport they know."
"At the moment, our national Under-19 team is half made up of Afghans, who have qualified here through residency and that number will grow. It can only raise the playing standards here and in years to come. We could follow the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan, who are knocking on the door of Test-level cricket."
http://m.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/79788/cricket-on-the-rise-in-germany-thanks-to-refugee-influx
