zimcricketforums.com

Hello all. I'm a fairly new member but what I've noticed on this forum is that there seems to be something of an obsession with race and ethnicity. Why is this? It seems to crop up constantly, and shows a staggering level of immaturity. There also seem to be posters on this forum who are not Zimbabwean (they seem to be from the sub-continent), trying to stoke the fires as it were, and create hatred. Surely the admin team can delete these accounts?

I grew up in Bulawayo and I have to say that I generally found race relations to be very good there - better than other countries I've lived in since, so I'm struggling to see why this issue keeps coming up. Can someone enlighten me? I mean, as Zimbabweans do we not all want the same thing i.e. for the Zim team to be competitive (and win)? Is ethnicity that important? Do you seriously applaud a century or a 5 fer less depending on someone's colour or background???

IMO the mal-administration of Zimbabwean cricket over the past decade or so seems to be down to the downright greed and incompetence of political appointees rather than their ethnicity. Similarly there is nothing to say statistically, that one ethnic group make better players or administrators than any other.

It seems that, like South Africa, we are ignoring the central problem / failing and that is this: Cricket is still an elite game played by very few people, primarily based in towns and cities. Elite groups who may be white, black or other. Very little effort is being made to expand the player base, especially in the countryside/rural areas - it remains the preserve of the few; a bourgeois elite as it were - regardless of their colour. That means all of us on this forum!

Surely we should be focussing on how we can make cricket the summer game of the people, how we can train teachers as coaches, how we can raise money for cricket equipment and facilities in the rural areas and poorer urban areas, and how we can organise tournaments at various age-group levels to showcase talent? Little discussion is occurring on this forum regarding this issue, which is disappointing as it is a vital one! India has a couple of hundred million players in their country. Australia and England have hundreds of thousands. How many do we have?

I'd like to hear your thoughts / comments, especially if they are constructive and will help us to do better in the future.

What's the preoccupation with spreading cricket to everyone in every rural area in Southern Africa? What's the preoccupation with cricket itself? SA have an over abundance of talent, most of them are just not allowed to be selected. They would be practically unbeatable if they had non racial selections and were allowed to grow the junior game without having to sideline good kids in favour of less good ones on the basis of race. The majority of people here simply don't want to play the game so leave them be. Why not force them to play badminton for example, it will cost a whole lot less. Cricket is too expensive to set up everywhere and to preach the cricketing gospel is pointless, so why not consolidate it rather? We can't organise concentrated quality cricket so why expend resources on anything else?
There's potentially a massive correlation between maladministration and ethnicity. All evidence points to this fact, it may well just be a coincidence though. Let's appoint some white guys and test this theory.
I'm sorry but when a working system is completely destroyed because it is perceived as unfair but then that same modus operandi is perpetuated tenfold and then you call for everyone to pull together to save the day at the 11th hour you must expect us to be less than charitable.

The focus should be on breaking ZC's stranglehold in Zimbabwe, appointing accountable, reputable, respected administrators and consolidating the game in twenty or so cricket playing schools so we have quality as opposed to quantity, only then will we move forward. We can't even put decent structures in place in our supposed national sport, which is soccer, and all you need is a five dollar ball and 4 posts and two cross bars.

Offshore power boat racing is an elite sport as well, let's dismantle that and take it to the people. Better yet, polo! Now there's a sport with shocking colonial overtones- the galloping horses, the gin tents and the despised British women twirling their parasols, whilst their menfolk discuss native affairs over a cold one. I think this is the epitomy of British colonialism much more so than cricket, and this should have been the priority. Mmmm.... I think it's just a question of getting the hands on the cash and not much else.

100% agree.
Sick of these poor scabs in the bush always trying to think they are Brian Lara.

Also sick of white elites making money of our game.

The answer has always been so simple to me.
Rich Shonas!
They like the game, can afford the game, and arent always pestering me for food money so I can watch the games in peace.
Id say Ndebeles as well but they dont know how to make money and are therefore never rich.

I would presume its because the majorit of posters here are white by race, and most of those dont have any physical or genetic links to Zimbabwe. Most people here seem to be fans due to what Zimbabwe represented: the newest Test nation, full of scrappy, hard working cricketers, and some players with true world class potential. I didn't understand it before, but since Afghanistan have come up, I now know how that feeling is. Afghanistan represents in the 2010s what Zimbabwe represented in the 1990s. I do have a very teency actual link to Afghanistan in that I am a Bangladeshi who is also an 8th generation descendent of an Afghan merchant who settled in Bengal. Apart from that, I do have Afghan friends (none of whom know about cricket, lol) and I think Afghanistan has already established itself as the 10th best cricket nation across formats, going past Ireland and even Zimbabwe.

But as a neutral observer, I too get excited to see a talented white Zim player because it represents something from a time when the system was working.

Kriterion_BD wrote:I would presume its because the majorit of posters here are white by race, and most of those dont have any physical or genetic links to Zimbabwe. Most people here seem to be fans due to what Zimbabwe represented: the newest Test nation, full of scrappy, hard working cricketers, and some players with true world class potential. I didn't understand it before, but since Afghanistan have come up, I now know how that feeling is. Afghanistan represents in the 2010s what Zimbabwe represented in the 1990s. I do have a very teency actual link to Afghanistan in that I am a Bangladeshi who is also an 8th generation descendent of an Afghan merchant who settled in Bengal. Apart from that, I do have Afghan friends (none of whom know about cricket, lol) and I think Afghanistan has already established itself as the 10th best cricket nation across formats, going past Ireland and even Zimbabwe.

But as a neutral observer, I too get excited to see a talented white Zim player because it represents something from a time when the system was working.

Word up.
You read the play well here.

Bulawayo Boy wrote: the mal-administration of Zimbabwean cricket over the past decade or so seems to be down to the downright greed and incompetence of political appointees rather than their ethnicity. Similarly there is nothing to say statistically, that one ethnic group make better players or administrators than any other.

I know you mean well, but in Zimbabwean cricket, race is intertwined to alot.

ZIMDOGGY wrote:

Bulawayo Boy wrote: the mal-administration of Zimbabwean cricket over the past decade or so seems to be down to the downright greed and incompetence of political appointees rather than their ethnicity. Similarly there is nothing to say statistically, that one ethnic group make better players or administrators than any other.

I know you mean well, but in Zimbabwean cricket, race is intertwined to alot.

Let's just stop the race thing and start afresh . It really doesn't matter which race is better when the team is not winning we are all people at the end of the day .

Googly wrote:The focus should be on breaking ZC's stranglehold in Zimbabwe, appointing accountable, reputable, respected administrators and consolidating the game in twenty or so cricket playing schools so we have quality as opposed to quantity, only then will we move forward. We can't even put decent structures in place in our supposed national sport, which is soccer, and all you need is a five dollar ball and 4 posts and two cross bars.

Rural is a bit too far fetched but I think they r other schools which are not part of the 20 that may lose out if cricket is consolidated to a few private schools all I'm saying is if there are other gvt schools that want to get involved they should be given a chance