The federal government is poised to let cricketers dip into the Canadian taxpayers' funding purse as the feds broaden the scope of sport support to include the game of white uniforms, fast bowlers, googlies and willow bats.
Helena Guergis, Secretary of State for the portfolios of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Sport, said in Toronto yesterday than the feds have approved Cricket Canada as meeting the accountability criteria.
Cricket Canada will get more than subsistence money. The organization is currently receiving $77,000 this year, the minister said but no funding ceiling has been established for the growing sport, fuelled by immigration.
Cricket is extremely popular with arrivals from Commonwealth countries of South Asia, the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. It has more than 40,000 registered players across the country according to Cricket Canada, and perhaps 50,000 more who are not registered in any league. Matches have been document in Canada dating back 150 years and Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. McDonald, once declared it a national sport. The Canadian Cricket Association, forerunner to Cricket Canada, dates back to 1892 .
In Ontario, while high insurance costs have caused gridiron football to wither at the high school level, cricket has taken off. Toronto district schools now feature cricket as a varsity sport, with about 150 schools playing in the GTA. Toronto Mayopr David Miller lends his name to an annual cricket tournament sponsored by the Canadian Institue of Management Accountants.
Cricket Canada will line up with 53 individual sports at the federal pay window for 2008-2009 allotments. The Department of Canadian Heritage will analyze the Cricket Canada request. The grant likely will be more than $100,000.
"It's a tremendous day for cricket," Ben Sennik, president of Cricket Canada told the Canadian Press. "We need every dollar, the way we are developing. In the past, we have been scraping through."
According to Sport Canada's 2006-2007 list of contributions to sport organizations, winter sports occupy five of the first six places in line with handouts ranging from $3.26-million (ice hockey) down to $2.37-million (free style skiing). The top--collecting summer sport, with $2.95-million, is swimming. The federal budget of 2008 boosted investment in the Canadian sport system to a record $164 million annually.
"We are proud of the association's achievements and we look forward to supporting future initiatives." Guergis said in a statement.
Cricket has become a hot growth sport in multicultural Canada with marketplace implications. In April, Scotiabank unveiled a three-year sponsorship of Cricket Canada with a view to becoming more visible in the South Asian community.
As part of the sponsorship, the three-day Scotiabank National Cricket Championships were be held in May at the Maple Leaf Cricket Club in King City near Toronto. The sponsorship also includes a Scotiabank National Under-19 Championship, to be held later this year and a youth-development program.
Friday, Zubin Surkari was announced as the new Canadian national side captain.
Canadian players to dress for the One-Day International (ODI) series with Bermuda at Maple Leaf Cricket Club will include some of the country's top internationals : Qaiser Ali (vice-captain), Ashish Bagai (wicketkeeper), Umar Bhatti, Geoff Barnett, Ian Billcliff, Harvir Baidwan, Eion Katchay, Sunil Dhaniram, Henry Osinde, Sammy Afridi, Abdool Samad, Trevin Bastiampillai and Steve Welsh.
Those (ODI) matches are on June 28, June 29 and July 1.
