April 26. 2010
Rotary cricket on display in Atlanta....
Rotary cricket was well represented at the Rotary conference last weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. The Rotary club of Emory Druid Hill which was chartered only six months ago, was responsible for arranging the superb display. Rotarian Upendra Bhatt, a member of that club, has undertaken the huge task of establishing Rotary cricket in North America.
Rotary cricket in North America may not be just a dream....
IFCR Rotary Districts of North America region covers all Rotary Districts included in the following countries.
Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Clipperton Island, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Isla Aves, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Navassa Island, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Petrel Islands, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint-Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Andrés y Providencia, Serranilla Bank, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States and United States Virgin Islands.
Cricket is not a popular game in this part of the world and it is correct to say that the majority of Rotarians have little or no interest in the game of cricket as they do not know how the game is played.
While some time it is said that Rotary is a club of senior citizens with the average age of members being close to 60 AND while all sports activities are formatted on a commercialised business model in North America we recognised the need to locate a group of local Rotarians who love cricket and who can be the facilitators with a sense of commitment to introduce and launch the game successfully in the Rotary world of North America.
Rtn. PP Dr.Upendra Bhatt has put forward an ambitious plan to introduce cricket in this No Cricket Land.
'The reason I volunteered for the cause was to make the project happen and have it continue even if I am not there tomorrow. The entire operational design is unique as the traditional format cannot work in this part of Rotary world'. said Rtn. Dr.Upendra.
1. Our first task was to locate a city where Rotary Clubs are very active and open to support new fellowship ideas and ready to take a leadership role. Atlanta is also a city home of 2 Rotary Districts 6900 and 6910, where there are many local cricket loving immigrants but they are all not members of Rotary clubs but they create a breeding environment for us.
PP Dr. Upendra Bhatt belongs to Rotary Club of Emory Druid Hills based in Atlanta, Georgia (the place of 1996 Olympic Games) in District 6900. This district is designated as a pilot district in the Rotary Foundation's Future Vision Program.
2. The next task is to appoint the Chairman of the IFCR Rotary North American Cricket Council who will co-opt the council members to develop an organised structure of operation.
Rtn. PP Dr. Upendra Bhatt has been nominated for this position and he will co-opt some informal Council members in the team to promote our project. The names of the committee officers will be communicated to you soon. Over a period of time more committee members will be co-opted from various Rotary Districts of North America.
The temporary headquarters of IFCR North America will be situated at the address of PP Dr. Upendra till for the time being.
3. The IFCR North American informal Cricket Council will designate the consenting Rotary District to be part of a pilot project district to test and refine the strategy and the operating model of the IFCR North American Cricket Council.
4. During the first year we plan to consider and place emphasis on upon 5 main activities.
a. Work out a way to develop a format for an exhibition one day game series and invite Rotarians to attend the game where a commentator will not only explain what is going on to the ground but also provide explanations on how the game is played.
b. Use this opportunity to bring younger cricket-playing youth to Rotary membership offering them the opportunity to explore their talent in the sport of cricket in a friendly environment, not only in North America, but in all cricket playing nations of the world.
c. Assemble a working group of at least 30 plus cricket-loving dedicated Rotarians as well as non Rotarians in a form of 2 teams. Also market the availability of these 2 teams as being ready to play exhibition games in the surrounding Rotary Districts in Georgia and other states around while also attracting local talents in neighbouring Districts.
d. Promote Cricket Training Camps for younger children and youth organised with a professional coach and to have this as a fund raising project working towards it being self financing.
e. Invite at least one International team of IFCR members to take part in a tournament played for a sponsored Cricket Cup.
When we have established a presence in multiple Rotary Districts, the democratically elected council will take over at a time to be fixed during next 3 years.
'My task will be mainly to introduce and promote the game of cricket and thereby to promote Rotary Fellowship and Friendship in the region of North American Districts' said Dr. Upendra Bhatt.
If the pilot program is effective in producing a working model for promoting cricket in non-cricket-playing countries, it can provide a guideline for the expansion of Rotary cricket throughout the Rotary world.
'IFCR North America Cricket Council will make its best efforts to form chapters in a number of Rotary Districts in North America so as to develop the awareness of Rotary fellowships in general' Dr. Upendra Bhatt said.
A feature from www.rotaryinternational.org
Who doesn’t love cricket?
Mike Jackson is a Rotarian on a mission. The affable Brit is determined to enlighten his American colleagues about his favorite sport: cricket.
“I feel it is unfair that American Rotarians are being deprived of the pleasure,” says Jackson, former secretary of the International Fellowship of Cricketing Rotarians and a member of the Rotary Club of Fordingbridge, England. “So I am going to devote my life to educating America about cricket.”
Sensing a tough sell, he sweetens the pot, vowing to donate $1 to The Rotary Foundation for every American Rotarian who joins the fellowship.
Like baseball, cricket involves bats, balls, runs, fielders, and umpires. But the player an American would call the pitcher is the “bowler,” and the term pitch itself refers to the center of the oval playing field.
Cricket’s origins go back at least to 14th-century England. As the British Empire expanded, cricket spread with it, and the game is now very popular in former British holdings such as Australia, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.
Past RI Director Geoffrey Pike founded the fellowship in 1993. Since then, every few years the group holds a world festival, where Rotarian teams from the major cricketing countries engage in a week of friendly but spirited competition. Sri Lanka is set to host the fifth world festival this month.
The events also generate opportunities for volunteer service, bringing together Rotarians from nearly a dozen nations. For example, after the South Asian tsunami ravaged the Indian coastline in December 2004, clubs from Australia and the United Kingdom partnered with clubs in India on relief and recovery projects because of connections made through the cricket fellowship.
Now, says Jackson, it’s time for U.S. Rotarians to get in on the action.
“I personally invite you to our next world festival,” he says. “No previous experience needed, and we’ll even provide coaching from world-class players. Are you up to the challenge, America?”
And don’t forget the $1-per-head “bounty” for the Foundation.
New IFCR Website
Welcome to the IFCR website. Building on the tremendous work by Richard Groom in developing the original site, the Mk III version is being managed by Robert Lee in New Zealand, with Richard Groom continuing to handle all the Australian section, Euan Stirrat editing for GB&I, Rtn.Sarathy for India and John Dean for New Zealand. Editors for the other countries are yet to be appointed. Richard will also deal with most of the International input.
The new site can handle scores, statistics and databases, which will run on Robert Lee's systems. It is a decision for each member country as to whether or not to publish detailed scores
The new website allows greater flexibility and will be extended to include more information than ever before. However, we gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Rotarian Andrew Donald of www.motile.net in designing, developing and hosting earlier versions of the site, without which the new site might not exist.
It will also tie in with the Yahoo! Group (contact Ravi to join). Members who wish to keep up to date are encouraged to join the group