Engaging South Asian communities with cricket
ENGAGING
SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITIES WITH CRICKET
AN ECB CONSULTATION DOCUMENT 2017
FOREWORD
Cricket is in my DNA and my passion for the game goes back to my earliest memories as a new migrant to the UK in the 1960s. My love for the game is not unusual; it is shared widely across much of the UK’s South Asian communities. Yet today we are only scratching the surface of the potential engagement with cricket from the UK’s South Asian communities. For ECB and the wider game of cricket, this presents a huge opportunity to grow the game. This is core business, not just an afterthought. However, to make a difference and ensure that we can do something about this, rather than just talk about it, we must change our relationship with South Asian communities across all aspects of our work. This is the step change ECB Board is committed to making. We want to do this by underpinning our work with robust and clear analysis, basing our decisions on solid evidence. More importantly, we want to do this by engaging interested communities and working with them to understand what they think we should do. We want to hear from people in South Asian communities who play or follow cricket, but also from those who don’t. We want to ensure that anything we suggest will work at a local and national level. We want to provoke an open conversation which will help us to shape our work in this area. Getting this right will be good for cricket, but I also firmly and passionately believe that, if we can better engage with South Asian communities, the wider societal benefits could be extraordinary. Today, we
face tough challenges around mental health, obesity and social cohesion; cricket offers an effective means to address these. We recognise that we cannot do this by ourselves and are keen to work with partners, whether they have an interest in sport or not, to work with us to seize this opportunity. Of course, there is no single South Asian community; the term encompasses a complex mosaic of people, cultures, languages, faiths and ways of being. But that is why this is so important; understanding and being sensitive to these differences has been fundamental to the work ECB has done so far, and underpins the ambitions and goals we have set out in this document. I would like to offer my thanks to our Chairman, Colin Graves, and our CEO, Tom Harrison, who have put this project at the heart of ECB’s agenda. Their vision to make cricket a game for everyone is critical to the future success of the game. I urge you to get involved, to tell us what you think and to contribute. We want to work with you, we want to partner with you, to help us deliver a step change in this area. So please, get involved.
Kamlesh Patel
Professor Lord Patel of Bradford OBE
3
CONTENTS Introduction Context 09 Why ECB? and what is Cricket Unleashed? 10 How does this consultation fit with Cricket Unleashed?
SECTION ONE Market & Findings 14 Cricket & South Asian communities 18 Initial findings and barriers
SECTION TWO nalysis, Suggested Actions A & Consultation Questions 24 Recreational cricket 28 Elite cricket and professional coaching 30 Attendance 32 Media engagement 34 Administration and culture 36 Partnership 37 Summary: Our consultation questions
SECTION THREE Get Involved 41 Consultation process and how to get involved
5
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for engaging with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in this consultation process. To set up the consultation we want to give you a 7 point guide to what is happening and why. This should provide you with valuable context as you go through the rest of the document.
the governing body for cricket in England 1 As and Wales, ECB is responsible for leading and growing all cricket from grassroots to the national teams.
grow the game, we have a shared 2 To framework called Cricket Unleashed. It is an
ambitious plan to get a bat and ball into more hands, introduce more people to the power of cricket, and show a new generation how to get involved. It is making cricket a game for everyone. You will find more detail on Cricket Unleashed overleaf.
3
Our work so far tells us that one of our biggest opportunities is to engage better with South Asian communities. As you will see in section 2, a third of our recreational playing base, and over 40% of Champions Trophy Ticket purchasers, are of South Asian origin. We want to foster the extraordinary passion for cricket among South Asian audiences.
next three years present a wonderful 4 The opportunity to engage people with cricket. We have the Champions Trophy and the Women’s World Cup this year, India and Pakistan will tour in 2018, and 2019 sees the World Cup and a home Ashes series.
far, we have analysed data collated from 5 So surveys with tens of thousands of respondents,
and databases with hundreds of thousands of entries. We have engaged with experts from across the game, and beyond, to evaluate over 500 aspects of engagement with cricket. This has led us to a set of suggested actions about how we can best increase engagement. You will find more detail on our findings so far in section 2.
6
has also taken steps to understand the 6 ECB make-up, similarities and differences in the
different South Asian communities across the UK. We aim not to generalise, but rather recognise and understand cultural and religious differences. To support this, we have collaborated with University College London (UCL) to create a ‘heatmap’ of all South Asians living in the UK. The tool provides street-level detail on the ethnicity, age, employment, language, religion, level of deprivation and density of the UK population.
want to take this project to the next stage 7 We by consulting on our assessment so far. It is imperative that we engage as much as possible with the wider public, with the many different and diverse South Asian communities, and with potential delivery partners to make sure that all views are considered properly.
The purpose of this document is to stimulate conversation around the case for change and to elicit feedback, challenge and debate on our initial findings. You can find out how to get involved in the Get Involved section.
We aim to use the feedback to this consultation to create a national strategic framework to improve South Asian engagement in playing, watching, following and working in cricket. By doing so, we believe that we can grow cricket and use it to increase social cohesion in England and Wales.
7
CONTEXT Why ECB? ECB has a unique scope amongst major UK sports bodies as we are responsible for the entire game, from grassroots and recreational cricket all the way through to the international arena. As the governing body for cricket in England and Wales, it is our responsibility to ensure that the game thrives and that we lead by example.
What is Cricket Unleashed? Cricket Unleashed (www.cricketunleashed.com) is our game-wide strategic framework that sets out a common direction for ECB, its stakeholders and partners. It is our strategic framework to the end of 2019 and is built around five key pillars:
Good Governance and Social Responsibility
M O R E P L A
Y
Strong Finance and Operations
G R E A T T E A M S
Our ambition is to make cricket a game for everyone I N S P I R E D F A N
We are working to break down barriers and show cricket in a new light. We want cricket to be a game which brings all people and communities together from across the rich spectrum that makes up our society.
S
9
CONTEXT
How does this consultation fit with Cricket Unleashed? This consultation and Cricket Unleashed are both game-wide initiatives. Engaging with South Asian communities is a key strategic priority for ECB that fits across this framework. We must understand the needs and desires of this significant part of our audience to ensure that we provide the right opportunities for South Asian communities to play, watch and work in cricket. Whilst our primary aim for this work is to engage more people with cricket, we also believe that our work engaging South Asian communities has potentially wider societal benefits. We want to use cricket to achieve greater social cohesion and to use the power of sport to bring communities together. Partnerships and collaboration are vital to the success of this strategy; the skills, passion and expertise of our current and future partners will greatly enhance our reach and capabilities. Therefore, throughout this process we will engage with relevant partners who can support us in the delivery of our ongoing strategy. We recognise that there are further key issues facing South Asian communities, that are shared by the game as a whole. We acknowledge that these need to be addressed, however in this work we are focusing on those issues most critical to South Asian communities in the UK.
10
Our aims are to: 1
Create more opportunities for South Asian communities to engage with cricket, be it through playing, supporting or working in the game.
2
Remove the barriers to involvement and participation in cricket for South Asian players and fans by providing a clear strategy and leadership.
3
Build strong relationships between South Asian communities, ECB, the counties, clubs and other parts of the cricket network, building on the current work and best practice around the country.
4
Use cricket to contribute positively to many of the building blocks of stronger communities such as better physical and mental health, higher educational attainment, lower crime and anti-social behaviour.
5
Use cricket as a means of supporting the achievement of greater social cohesion for communities across England and Wales.
This project covers the entire game, therefore our approach has been to split engagement with cricket into several areas. Our findings are presented in line with these areas:
Recreational Cricket
Cricket that is played for enjoyment by anyone – whether within ECB’s established cricket playing communities, or outside them.
Elite Cricket & PROFESSIONAL Coaching
The players, potential players, and support networks for all representative programmes from county age group cricket through to the senior international teams.
Attendance
Media
Visiting a stadium or fan park with the intention of watching a live cricketing event.
Engagement with and participation in communication channels, and preferences for tone and content.
Administration & Culture
The ethnic and cultural diversity of employees in any cricketing organisation and the representation of the customers it serves.
11
SECTION ONE Market & Findings
12
13
4.9%
MARKET Cricket & South Asian communities
of the total population
The South Asian population of the UK
South Asian communities are extremely diverse in that they encompass a wide variety of cultures, languages, faiths and generations. This creates a complex myriad of views that we must appreciate if we are to create a coherent strategy. By using the catch-all term ‘South Asian’ in this document, we do not intend to ignore or underplay this complexity; rather we use it to aid simplicity of reading and narrative flow.
1,451,862 Indian
1,174,983 Pakistani
451,529 There are roughly three million (5%) UK residents of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan or Afghani ethnicity (2011 Census). Indian and Pakistani communities are the largest of the black and minority ethnic groups in the UK and they are one of the fastest growing. Currently they are mostly urban dwellers.
Bangladeshi
200,000 Others (Sri Lankan, Afghani, Nepali)
Total 3,078,374
3
MILLION
2011
+186% The South Asian population in the UK is expected to grow to 5.6 million by 2031.
14
5.6
MILLION 2031
15
MARKET The South Asian population and cricket Over a third of the current playing population in England and Wales are from ethnic minorities, mostly South Asian. This number may be even higher if you count the informal leagues and teams and the specific Asian leagues and teams with which we have not yet managed to establish coordinated communications.
Estimated South Asian spending on cricket in the UK Currently there are approximately 1m South Asian cricket fans in the UK
Value of British South Asian Pound to Cricket Economy in UK.
£334m Play
£254m Follow
£97m
South Asians make up 1/3 of our recreational playing base.
Attend
79% of which play every week, compared to only 50% of White British players. South Asian players White British players
50%
79%
UK
Total spend on cricket
Understanding and appreciating complexity ECB has partnered with University College London (UCL) to create a ‘heatmap’ of all South Asians living in the UK, and overlaid this with all known cricketing facilities. The tool provided us with street-level detail on the ethnicity, age, employment, language, religion, levels of deprivation and density of the UK population. This enabled us to conduct our analysis to a fine level of detail. This tool can be seen at www.southasianheatmap.ecb.co.uk
£685m
£100m Play
£19m Follow
£2.2m Attend
South Asian Total spend on cricket
£120m
This makes it surprising that, across all cricket, only
3%
of ticket purchasers are South Asian while
40%
of Champions Trophy tickets buyers are of South Asian origin.
18% of the cricketing economy in the UK is contributed by fans of South Asian origin. Source: Two Circles and ECB analysis
Source: Two Circles and ECB analysis
16
17
FINDINGS
ATTENDANCE
Initial findings and barriers
RECREATIONAL CRICKET of those asked stated that they would play more recreational cricket if the right offer was available (vs 43% nat rep).
of those asked would find domestic cricket matches that feature international cricket superstars much more appealing (vs 16% nat rep).
ELITE CRICKET AND COACHING
31%
42%
of recreational players do not believe there are opportunities for the best players in their communities to progress to professional standard.
71%
of recreational cricket players want coaching but only…
42%
of South Asian players in community leagues are dissatisfied with quality of their facilities (vs 23% nat rep).
21%
receive it (vs 43% nat rep).
of players are not aware of anyone from their local community progressing to compete at elite level.
25%
15% 10% 5% IPL
BBL
T20 BLAST
RLODC
LVCC
Domestic Tournaments IPL - Indian Premier League BBL - Big Bash League T20 BLAST - Twenty20 BLAST family TICKET
stated that a dedicated family offer at cricket matches, including a family ticketing structure and family sections within the ground, would make attending cricket matches more appealing (vs 45% nat rep).
RLODC - Royal London One-Day Cup LVCC - Liverpool Victoria County Championship
42%
of South Asians are Sky Sports subscribers (vs 27% nat rep).
ADMINISTRATION Some counties with a significant South Asian population have
SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITIES WITH CRICKET
AN ECB CONSULTATION DOCUMENT 2017
FOREWORD
Cricket is in my DNA and my passion for the game goes back to my earliest memories as a new migrant to the UK in the 1960s. My love for the game is not unusual; it is shared widely across much of the UK’s South Asian communities. Yet today we are only scratching the surface of the potential engagement with cricket from the UK’s South Asian communities. For ECB and the wider game of cricket, this presents a huge opportunity to grow the game. This is core business, not just an afterthought. However, to make a difference and ensure that we can do something about this, rather than just talk about it, we must change our relationship with South Asian communities across all aspects of our work. This is the step change ECB Board is committed to making. We want to do this by underpinning our work with robust and clear analysis, basing our decisions on solid evidence. More importantly, we want to do this by engaging interested communities and working with them to understand what they think we should do. We want to hear from people in South Asian communities who play or follow cricket, but also from those who don’t. We want to ensure that anything we suggest will work at a local and national level. We want to provoke an open conversation which will help us to shape our work in this area. Getting this right will be good for cricket, but I also firmly and passionately believe that, if we can better engage with South Asian communities, the wider societal benefits could be extraordinary. Today, we
face tough challenges around mental health, obesity and social cohesion; cricket offers an effective means to address these. We recognise that we cannot do this by ourselves and are keen to work with partners, whether they have an interest in sport or not, to work with us to seize this opportunity. Of course, there is no single South Asian community; the term encompasses a complex mosaic of people, cultures, languages, faiths and ways of being. But that is why this is so important; understanding and being sensitive to these differences has been fundamental to the work ECB has done so far, and underpins the ambitions and goals we have set out in this document. I would like to offer my thanks to our Chairman, Colin Graves, and our CEO, Tom Harrison, who have put this project at the heart of ECB’s agenda. Their vision to make cricket a game for everyone is critical to the future success of the game. I urge you to get involved, to tell us what you think and to contribute. We want to work with you, we want to partner with you, to help us deliver a step change in this area. So please, get involved.
Kamlesh Patel
Professor Lord Patel of Bradford OBE
3
CONTENTS Introduction Context 09 Why ECB? and what is Cricket Unleashed? 10 How does this consultation fit with Cricket Unleashed?
SECTION ONE Market & Findings 14 Cricket & South Asian communities 18 Initial findings and barriers
SECTION TWO nalysis, Suggested Actions A & Consultation Questions 24 Recreational cricket 28 Elite cricket and professional coaching 30 Attendance 32 Media engagement 34 Administration and culture 36 Partnership 37 Summary: Our consultation questions
SECTION THREE Get Involved 41 Consultation process and how to get involved
5
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for engaging with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in this consultation process. To set up the consultation we want to give you a 7 point guide to what is happening and why. This should provide you with valuable context as you go through the rest of the document.
the governing body for cricket in England 1 As and Wales, ECB is responsible for leading and growing all cricket from grassroots to the national teams.
grow the game, we have a shared 2 To framework called Cricket Unleashed. It is an
ambitious plan to get a bat and ball into more hands, introduce more people to the power of cricket, and show a new generation how to get involved. It is making cricket a game for everyone. You will find more detail on Cricket Unleashed overleaf.
3
Our work so far tells us that one of our biggest opportunities is to engage better with South Asian communities. As you will see in section 2, a third of our recreational playing base, and over 40% of Champions Trophy Ticket purchasers, are of South Asian origin. We want to foster the extraordinary passion for cricket among South Asian audiences.
next three years present a wonderful 4 The opportunity to engage people with cricket. We have the Champions Trophy and the Women’s World Cup this year, India and Pakistan will tour in 2018, and 2019 sees the World Cup and a home Ashes series.
far, we have analysed data collated from 5 So surveys with tens of thousands of respondents,
and databases with hundreds of thousands of entries. We have engaged with experts from across the game, and beyond, to evaluate over 500 aspects of engagement with cricket. This has led us to a set of suggested actions about how we can best increase engagement. You will find more detail on our findings so far in section 2.
6
has also taken steps to understand the 6 ECB make-up, similarities and differences in the
different South Asian communities across the UK. We aim not to generalise, but rather recognise and understand cultural and religious differences. To support this, we have collaborated with University College London (UCL) to create a ‘heatmap’ of all South Asians living in the UK. The tool provides street-level detail on the ethnicity, age, employment, language, religion, level of deprivation and density of the UK population.
want to take this project to the next stage 7 We by consulting on our assessment so far. It is imperative that we engage as much as possible with the wider public, with the many different and diverse South Asian communities, and with potential delivery partners to make sure that all views are considered properly.
The purpose of this document is to stimulate conversation around the case for change and to elicit feedback, challenge and debate on our initial findings. You can find out how to get involved in the Get Involved section.
We aim to use the feedback to this consultation to create a national strategic framework to improve South Asian engagement in playing, watching, following and working in cricket. By doing so, we believe that we can grow cricket and use it to increase social cohesion in England and Wales.
7
CONTEXT Why ECB? ECB has a unique scope amongst major UK sports bodies as we are responsible for the entire game, from grassroots and recreational cricket all the way through to the international arena. As the governing body for cricket in England and Wales, it is our responsibility to ensure that the game thrives and that we lead by example.
What is Cricket Unleashed? Cricket Unleashed (www.cricketunleashed.com) is our game-wide strategic framework that sets out a common direction for ECB, its stakeholders and partners. It is our strategic framework to the end of 2019 and is built around five key pillars:
Good Governance and Social Responsibility
M O R E P L A
Y
Strong Finance and Operations
G R E A T T E A M S
Our ambition is to make cricket a game for everyone I N S P I R E D F A N
We are working to break down barriers and show cricket in a new light. We want cricket to be a game which brings all people and communities together from across the rich spectrum that makes up our society.
S
9
CONTEXT
How does this consultation fit with Cricket Unleashed? This consultation and Cricket Unleashed are both game-wide initiatives. Engaging with South Asian communities is a key strategic priority for ECB that fits across this framework. We must understand the needs and desires of this significant part of our audience to ensure that we provide the right opportunities for South Asian communities to play, watch and work in cricket. Whilst our primary aim for this work is to engage more people with cricket, we also believe that our work engaging South Asian communities has potentially wider societal benefits. We want to use cricket to achieve greater social cohesion and to use the power of sport to bring communities together. Partnerships and collaboration are vital to the success of this strategy; the skills, passion and expertise of our current and future partners will greatly enhance our reach and capabilities. Therefore, throughout this process we will engage with relevant partners who can support us in the delivery of our ongoing strategy. We recognise that there are further key issues facing South Asian communities, that are shared by the game as a whole. We acknowledge that these need to be addressed, however in this work we are focusing on those issues most critical to South Asian communities in the UK.
10
Our aims are to: 1
Create more opportunities for South Asian communities to engage with cricket, be it through playing, supporting or working in the game.
2
Remove the barriers to involvement and participation in cricket for South Asian players and fans by providing a clear strategy and leadership.
3
Build strong relationships between South Asian communities, ECB, the counties, clubs and other parts of the cricket network, building on the current work and best practice around the country.
4
Use cricket to contribute positively to many of the building blocks of stronger communities such as better physical and mental health, higher educational attainment, lower crime and anti-social behaviour.
5
Use cricket as a means of supporting the achievement of greater social cohesion for communities across England and Wales.
This project covers the entire game, therefore our approach has been to split engagement with cricket into several areas. Our findings are presented in line with these areas:
Recreational Cricket
Cricket that is played for enjoyment by anyone – whether within ECB’s established cricket playing communities, or outside them.
Elite Cricket & PROFESSIONAL Coaching
The players, potential players, and support networks for all representative programmes from county age group cricket through to the senior international teams.
Attendance
Media
Visiting a stadium or fan park with the intention of watching a live cricketing event.
Engagement with and participation in communication channels, and preferences for tone and content.
Administration & Culture
The ethnic and cultural diversity of employees in any cricketing organisation and the representation of the customers it serves.
11
SECTION ONE Market & Findings
12
13
4.9%
MARKET Cricket & South Asian communities
of the total population
The South Asian population of the UK
South Asian communities are extremely diverse in that they encompass a wide variety of cultures, languages, faiths and generations. This creates a complex myriad of views that we must appreciate if we are to create a coherent strategy. By using the catch-all term ‘South Asian’ in this document, we do not intend to ignore or underplay this complexity; rather we use it to aid simplicity of reading and narrative flow.
1,451,862 Indian
1,174,983 Pakistani
451,529 There are roughly three million (5%) UK residents of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan or Afghani ethnicity (2011 Census). Indian and Pakistani communities are the largest of the black and minority ethnic groups in the UK and they are one of the fastest growing. Currently they are mostly urban dwellers.
Bangladeshi
200,000 Others (Sri Lankan, Afghani, Nepali)
Total 3,078,374
3
MILLION
2011
+186% The South Asian population in the UK is expected to grow to 5.6 million by 2031.
14
5.6
MILLION 2031
15
MARKET The South Asian population and cricket Over a third of the current playing population in England and Wales are from ethnic minorities, mostly South Asian. This number may be even higher if you count the informal leagues and teams and the specific Asian leagues and teams with which we have not yet managed to establish coordinated communications.
Estimated South Asian spending on cricket in the UK Currently there are approximately 1m South Asian cricket fans in the UK
Value of British South Asian Pound to Cricket Economy in UK.
£334m Play
£254m Follow
£97m
South Asians make up 1/3 of our recreational playing base.
Attend
79% of which play every week, compared to only 50% of White British players. South Asian players White British players
50%
79%
UK
Total spend on cricket
Understanding and appreciating complexity ECB has partnered with University College London (UCL) to create a ‘heatmap’ of all South Asians living in the UK, and overlaid this with all known cricketing facilities. The tool provided us with street-level detail on the ethnicity, age, employment, language, religion, levels of deprivation and density of the UK population. This enabled us to conduct our analysis to a fine level of detail. This tool can be seen at www.southasianheatmap.ecb.co.uk
£685m
£100m Play
£19m Follow
£2.2m Attend
South Asian Total spend on cricket
£120m
This makes it surprising that, across all cricket, only
3%
of ticket purchasers are South Asian while
40%
of Champions Trophy tickets buyers are of South Asian origin.
18% of the cricketing economy in the UK is contributed by fans of South Asian origin. Source: Two Circles and ECB analysis
Source: Two Circles and ECB analysis
16
17
FINDINGS
ATTENDANCE
Initial findings and barriers
RECREATIONAL CRICKET of those asked stated that they would play more recreational cricket if the right offer was available (vs 43% nat rep).
of those asked would find domestic cricket matches that feature international cricket superstars much more appealing (vs 16% nat rep).
ELITE CRICKET AND COACHING
31%
42%
of recreational players do not believe there are opportunities for the best players in their communities to progress to professional standard.
71%
of recreational cricket players want coaching but only…
42%
of South Asian players in community leagues are dissatisfied with quality of their facilities (vs 23% nat rep).
21%
receive it (vs 43% nat rep).
of players are not aware of anyone from their local community progressing to compete at elite level.
25%
15% 10% 5% IPL
BBL
T20 BLAST
RLODC
LVCC
Domestic Tournaments IPL - Indian Premier League BBL - Big Bash League T20 BLAST - Twenty20 BLAST family TICKET
stated that a dedicated family offer at cricket matches, including a family ticketing structure and family sections within the ground, would make attending cricket matches more appealing (vs 45% nat rep).
RLODC - Royal London One-Day Cup LVCC - Liverpool Victoria County Championship
42%
of South Asians are Sky Sports subscribers (vs 27% nat rep).
ADMINISTRATION Some counties with a significant South Asian population have
