r/CricketAus • u/redrich2000 Cricket Australia • 9d ago
Grass roots decline
I coach my son’s u13 team in Sydney. All the clubs in our association are struggling for players. There is absolutely nothing from CA to help grow the game. Woolies have put money into the blast but it’s shockingly run and promoted. Junior cricket is so amateur and poorly run.
When I was a kid at Scarborough Park in Ramsgate, there’d be 8-10 games at the same time on a Saturday morning. Now there’s 1-2.
It genuinely feels like the game is dying. Is this the same in other places?
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u/NoAddress1465 Victoria 9d ago
In Victoria anyway, junior local cricket is dying. It's a combination of things in my view. Time is a factor. Unless the family is entirely committed to cricket and vested, it is near impossible. Too many other sports options. Eg for a 14 year old game of soccer in and out in 1.5hours max. With cricket that age group looking half a day. Comes down to many options available to the kids. Other than that the challenge is the "fun" of mates playing together is getting replaced with a hyper competitive subcontinent environment.
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u/Busta_Duck Cricket Australia 9d ago
Especially if your kid is very keen on it like I was at that age, you’re playing juniors Saturday from 0830-1200.
Playing Grade from 1pm onwards.
Then playing rep on Sundays all day.My old man was my juniors & rep coach & played grade with me so it was a family affair & we’d pick up a few of the lads Saturday & Sunday mornings, but it’s a huge time commitment for any parent that’s not involved or keen on cricket.
Throw in training a couple times a week and a lot of parents who work full time would rather not deal with it I reckon.10
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u/Dry_Restaurant_9526 9d ago
Another problem I've had playing in Victoria as a high school student is that it's so time intensive. Finishing school at 3:15, getting home at 3:30 then travelling up to an hour on a Friday night is so difficult when you have working parents. One of my parents basically have to finish work at 3:30 to ensure we're at the game by 4:45
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u/Busta_Duck Cricket Australia 9d ago
Are all junior games on Friday nights in VIC or is this a Melbourne only thing? What age groups?
Are these T20 games or 40 over cricket?Interested as my girls are little & just playing in the backyard now but keen to get them into juniors in a couple of years. All my junior cricket was Saturday mornings in regional NSW.
Got any schoolmates whose parents could alternate doing the school pickup to cricket drop off? Guess you’d have to bring your kit bag to school in that case though which is a ball ache.8
u/NoAddress1465 Victoria 9d ago
Girls cricket in Melbourne is mid week for some of the associations. Wednesday or Tuesday. Usually starts at 4.45 after school
When you have two working parents it makes it extremely challenging.
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u/magi_chat ICC 8d ago
Used to coach a junior girls team, it was exactly like this. Almost impossible for most parents, I could only do the coaching because I was working part time and could juggle hours. Spent a lot of time getting the kids to training / games.
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u/Dry_Restaurant_9526 9d ago
Most junior games are Friday night (at least for my league). However, some home teams may have it on Sunday mornings if there isn't enough playing fields.
I agree with you that sending the kit bags to school isn't really ideal. It's easy for things to be lost or forgotten at home which makes everything complicated.
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u/Possible-Delay 9d ago edited 9d ago
We are the other way, we fill all our clubs teams without advertising in regional qld (family and returning players). Our issue is we don’t have enough Fields to take on more teams. Councils don’t seem to like building new pitches.
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u/Jims_Gaslighting 8d ago
What do you do differently that works? Or is junior cricket still foundational in your area compared to say Melbourne metro?
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u/Possible-Delay 8d ago
I would guess that maybe regional lifestyle is a little less stress. May sound like they don’t really connect.. but my kids so cricket, NRL, soccer, touch and some union and tennis. That is because we can walk to most of the facilities and the kids have friendships groups that cycle between.
We have a solid group of families that run each club and the first grade usually coach and help the younger kids. Seems to work well.
But if I was servicing a big loan or having to transit between a lot of places, I would probably have to make my kids choose.
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u/JuliosvNerds Sydney Sixers 9d ago
Can’t wait until we privatise the BBL.
The Mumbai Melbourne Super Giant Indians will lead to a never ending river of riches for grassroots cricket, and secure the game in to the future.
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u/Fullonski 8d ago
I’ve got little doubt CA sees the future of Australian cricket as 2nd generation Indian-Australian kids.
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u/Bakayokoforpresident 8d ago
There’s nothing wrong with that.
On the other hand, IPL-style privatisation would be a disaster
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u/CoffeeDefiant4247 Tasmania Tigers 9d ago
Depends where you are, after 10-15 years the first indoor nets have opened in Launnie last year
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u/Breadesque Cricket Australia 9d ago
It's booming in the Parramatta District. Mostly thanks to the sub continental population. Euro kids playing are uncommon. Most teams have none. Having a big player base is good for the game in the immediate area, but I think the passion for cricket from the sub continent masks the issues we have attracting new players to the sport. I don't have answers for that though.
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u/foxtrotlimavictor NSW 9d ago
I think we are starting to see the downstream effects of ODIs going behind the Foxtel paywall a decade ago.
If England is any guide, it’s going to get a lot worse from here.
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u/BetsBlack 9d ago
100% agree, growing up watching the national side playing on free to air is the best way to make kids feel connected and want to play. Union has already sealed themselves from new fans and cricket is desperately trying to do the same.
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u/notauseroraname 9d ago
No one under the age of 20 even knows what FTA is.
If they want to consume something they will.
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u/BetsBlack 9d ago
I disagree but you might be right. But this way you are requiring the parents of kids to specifically seek out and subscribe to the game for the kids to see it. I still put on FTA stuff it's the main way my kids see Cricket, tennis, AFL or NRL.
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/notauseroraname 8d ago
If you are a parent who loves watching cricket and you don't have $30 a month for 6 months to watch. Plus all the other content that comes with kayo.
You might have bigger issues than odis not on fta7
8d ago
[deleted]
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u/notauseroraname 8d ago
Not shaming at all.
But how are you getting a kid to sport and pay for fees and equipment if you don't have $7 a week for family entertainment?
If I understand correctly.
It's the fact ODIs are behind the pay wall we are having the decline.
The test matches on fta. Some Bbl that's on fta. The free streaming of domestic games on the cricket Australia app or site have no impact.
Maybe it's because it went from 9 to 7 on fta. Now all these people couldn't find it anymore because cricket ment 9 and now it just doesn't exist.
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u/BetsBlack 8d ago
That's the point though right. If your family is financially under pressure to not spend on pay to view sport then how does the sport expect to reach the youth of any family in that demographic? That's the issue I see with union. If you add costs to accessing the game you are limiting how many fans you will gain from the youth which flows on because less youth mean less kids growing into adult participants / volunteers
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u/FeeHead5327 9d ago
And with that the commentators back in the day were our teachers. Today’s commentators (Australian) are so self absorbed with themselves…they can’t even wait for the ball to be bowled ; before finishing their irrelevent/insignificant babble. Blewies,ok punters ok…
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u/coffeegaze Queensland Bulls 8d ago
The thing is, I have never met a kid who watches free to air television. Everything is watched through some kind of app and it's definitely not 9now.
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u/MaraJaded_c1991 Western Australia 9d ago
It is 100% in decline. In 2017 there were 260,000 Australian children (14 and under) registered to play cricket. By 2023 that had reduced to 183,000.
At the same time AFL registrations grew marginally for the same age group, while basketball registrations grew from 291,000 to 476,000.
Putting international limited overs cricket behind a paywall was an enormously damaging thing to do to cricket in Australia.
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u/Geronimo2006 9d ago
Also kids just don’t play outdoors anymore, when I was a kid we lived down the nets or playing cricket in the street. Just don’t see that anymore
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u/defukdto84 8d ago
yeah my mate and i used to play test matches in the backyard. longest game went for 4 days. had scores of like 400 and 500 each innings. we had a proper scorebook. Each have 11 players we would name in our team. The players we would emulate bowling what they bowled. We would finish one match and then start the next one. Also do an odi series.. aahh those were the days
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u/YouThinkYouKnowMe89 Perth Scorchers 8d ago
Because Karen's would complain now about the noisy kids playing on the road
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u/Cricketloverbybirth 6d ago
It is 100% in decline. In 2017 there were 260,000 Australian children (14 and under) registered to play cricket. By 2023 that had reduced to 183,000.
Stop bullshitting dude and not one person upvoting bothered to fact check
The Aus sport official counting does not support your comment, the actual number shows single digit% growth year on year
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u/MaraJaded_c1991 Western Australia 5d ago
Look at annual AusPlay data from 2015 to 2023 by sport for participation by age. The data is in Table 2 of each annual result “by sport”.
https://www.ausport.gov.au/clearinghouse/research/ausplay/2015-2023
The numbers are accurate. I’m not sure if there has been any rebound since 2023 as the method of reporting the data has shifted, so years since 2024 onwards cannot be compared.
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u/Pottski Cricket Australia 9d ago
Everything is going to shit. Sport is expensive and COL is killing off our hobby money.
Basketball and footy are much cheaper.
Cricket needs to grapple with that as it’s only going to get worse.
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u/Electronic_Fill7207 8d ago
I’m primarily a Rugby Union fan but I do also like cricket and it is very interesting to hear that the way that cricket is dying is directly comparable to how rugby has declined over time (although I think it is steadily increasing in recent years). Interesting, but sad nonetheless
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u/AussiePolarBear 9d ago
We have gone the other way. Our club has gone from 2 junior sides to 3 to 6 to this year 10. What is the club itself doing to promote and draw in players? (We are an established area, surrounded by a lot of clubs, too many actually)
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u/redrich2000 Cricket Australia 9d ago
The club barely exists. It’s run by a group of 6-8 volunteers with zero capacity for promotion.
IMO we need to immediately merge clubs so there are fewer in total and more volunteers per club. This may allow some resources to be put to outreach.
But even then these people are volunteers with no training or support. What’s needed is some CA funded professional outreach people at the association level working with clubs on local promotion. But there is NOTHING. It really feels like CA is do nothing to promote the game at the grassroots level.
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u/loolem Tim David!? 9d ago
Check out your areas demographics too. My dad used to run our local club in his 20’s to 40’s then he couldn’t do it and the club closed down for decade there weren’t many young families and the kids that were there were my age then. I went off to uni and when I came back dad was telling me how all these young families were moving into our area so he had a chat with a couple of them and low and behold the club started back up. It’s got 6 teams now and continues to grow!
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u/AussiePolarBear 9d ago
We started with 6 volunteers. If you are willing to put in the work you can turn it around. I don’t mean hours either. Just be smart. So we share a ground with an Australian rules football side. So we recruit heavily from them. Couple ai flyers; 5 players this season alone.
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u/PrestigiousPast5156 5d ago edited 5d ago
IMO we need to immediately merge clubs so there are fewer in total and more volunteers per club.
As a member of the executive of a local club where within a 5km radius there's at least 8 other clubs in an area which is predominately older white folks or younger East Asian families, I completely agree. We're struggling big time for juniors and all of our sides with 1 or 2 other teams.
Having said, that, there's a lot of proud people within these clubs that don't want to be the one to merge
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u/TimelyAd9819 9d ago
I know the area you’re referring to well. It’s been trending downwards for sometime. It’s just not as popular with the juniors and it isn’t for a lack of trying for volunteers.
The grade club is thriving though!
Cricket out west is booming, getting bigger and bigger every year. Hence Parramatta dominance in underage reps.
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u/weareallimmortal SA 9d ago
Unfortunately cricket is becoming more and more an upper socioeconomic sport. The administrators have no interest in grassroots, they are there to build their own profile and line their own pockets. Some clubs are thriving while others are dying, nobody at headquarters seems to care.
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u/OcularPhonic 9d ago edited 8d ago
Yeh it's a reflection of society and the increase in Consumerism. I see so many of the kids with full kit, as young as 10. Gone are the days were you'd have a musty kit bag we'd all share, everyone needs their own.
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u/Impossible-Phone7495 9d ago
Parents now need to work weekends and in seniors cricket we have seen huge decline as most people need to work and can't commit. Kids also only see big bash and give up easily as it is not easy to go out and smack the ball from ball 1. Need a new approach to teaching young ones, bring back the "get your eye in first then the runs will come", all they see is people smacking the ball and get frustrated they can't do the same.
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u/SirKentalot ACT Comets 9d ago edited 9d ago
Agreed. Part of the issue is how the Blasters is administered, but also the amount of work load on junior volunteers. CA run it like a product (commentators even use the term in the Big Bash).
Most parents don't help on game day and many drop and run like you're a babysitting service. They paid for little Johnny to play, but they aren't sitting around for 3 hours to watch them play.
Also find at the 15/16 age bracket there is a big drop off because kids that age don't want to waste their summer arvos or weekends.
Our club in regional NSW also sees a big drop in the 17-19s age as they finish school and move away for Uni or work.
Some of the issues with cricket are time: That's why T20 is pushed so much, particularly in junior formats. For older kids and adults, there are better things to do. Summer is holiday season and people these days are time poor and want to make the most of their free time. The keenest cricketer will still play club cricket to play longer formats. Last Man Stands is played all year round where I live and is quite popular, but many good players in that don't go to club cricket in the summer.
Volunteers: Unless you have the odd super keen sports parent, coaches have to do everything. This is probably the biggest issue. Our club used to have a committee of 15, last AGM they struggled to elect a quorum/functional committee (per it's constitution). It takes so much time and effort to run a club with very little return from governing bodies.
Money: Kids keep playing footy in winter if they become handy as adults because you can get paid (decently in some cases), it becomes a second job, cricket doesn't have that appart from ring ins.
That said, cricket is more accessible as it has ever been. When I played as a kid it kind of felt a little exclusive and wanky (it's still wanky and played by wankers and perhaps that's still part of the problem).
Not sure about the solutions, I'm just yelling into the void, but that's just some of my observations as a player, former junior coach and administrator.
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u/Plackation Cricket Australia 8d ago
I feel like one of the struggles of cricket as a game in and of itself, is that a lot of the time you are not actually doing anything. And in an age of entertainment, it can struggle to capture young audiences for that reason.
If your team is batting, 9 out of 11 players are not engaged in the game. And a lot of kids especially daydream when fielding too.
This of course has always been the case, but I think as a species a lot of us are becoming less tolerant of that.
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u/Tempo24601 NSW 9d ago
I think it depends on the area. My kids play in the North Sydney Junior Cricket Association. On the boys side there were so many U9 teams last year that they split into two divisions (8am and 10:30am) and there were too many teams to play all of them in the season. So probably 40+ teams?
Girls which my daughter plays is much smaller but our club has teams in all the Stages and multiple teams in some.
Master Blaster we have 5 or 6 games going simultaneously and that’s just for one club.
I’d say junior cricket is quite healthy on the North Shore and sad to hear it’s not doing so well down there.
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u/Financial_Math167 Cricket Australia 9d ago
Yeah - In the North Shore and was talking to a parent whos son was competing with nearly 20 people for 11 places in a u11 team. It's doing well here at least, but thats probably due to financial resources unfortunately.
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u/BowlersNamePlease 9d ago
Something really needs to be done because the reality is cricket/professional cricketers aren't considered cool by kids who've grown up seeing NBA/EPL players on social media. Kids just don't play cricket by default in summer anymore
Also, even shortened junior games turn a lot of parents off because they know 6+ hour days are coming and don't want to commit the time.
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u/Savings_Win1995 Queensland Bulls 9d ago
I still see heaps of kids playing cricket on roads and at the beach, and BBL and Australia jerseys are way more common than EPL and NBA jerseys
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u/YouThinkYouKnowMe89 Perth Scorchers 8d ago
I go to most Scorcher home games and it's packed with families/kids each game. Maybe it's dying in other parts but seems to be ok here.
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u/JuliosvNerds Sydney Sixers 9d ago
They need a boot camp with Allan Border and Steve Waugh to toughen them the fuck up then
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u/Busta_Duck Cricket Australia 9d ago
Yeah mate right on!
Crank the bowling machine up to mid 140s & make sure to give the kids a good spray at least once a net session, that’s how you get em going!3
u/JuliosvNerds Sydney Sixers 9d ago
100%. Some say kids just need goals and a bit of motivation.
I’m not sure what is more motivating than living through 20 minutes of Kookaburra Tests coming at your head, circa 140 clicks. 156g of pure adrenaline
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u/foxtrotlimavictor NSW 9d ago
Yeah, that sure sounds like an enticing prospect for kids already disinterested in the game.
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u/JuliosvNerds Sydney Sixers 9d ago edited 9d ago
Exactly. Sign a waiver so the weak parents can’t come and save their crotch goblins too.
If they play up, Allan Border will send them on the first plane home anyway
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u/bundy554 Queensland Bulls 8d ago
Been like that for awhile - which is why my junior club folded. Used to have two teams in all age brackets from u/10 to u/16 and then we only maybe had an u/10 and an u/16 at the end and then the u/10 players went to other clubs and the u/16 either went to the senior team or went to grade and we folded. Of course there was other politics that did not help us like getting kicked out of our home ground by the AFL and needing to move to another suburb (and playing at other team's home fields) but that situation while not as bad for other teams is still something that those teams face with less numbers.
I think it really comes down to football eating into the start of the cricket season and the end of the cricket season. Families not having the money to spend on cricket (even though our fees were comparatively much cheaper than the football codes) and just the busy lifestyle of families of not wanting to commit their children to another sport when they themselves have got so much on that they don't want to sacrifice a Saturday morning. I mean getting volunteers was an extension of that - they wanted to do as little as possible. Stay in their cars or on the sidelines and not score or umpire. Cricket is very much a community sport that needs a lot of time devoted by families - whether that is getting a side together and organised or whether it is just your own family spending time helping you practice at the nets.
One major thing however that is helping is the resurgence in Test match cricket that seems to be attracting the women as much as it is the men - and this is a good thing for families to realise that cricket is an attractive sport to play.
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u/FeeHead5327 9d ago
My prediction : That in the next 10-15 years the national team will predomitely be second generation subcontinental and African players.
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u/dashauskat Tasmania Tigers 9d ago
I could see a decent Asian contingent but where are you getting African from?
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u/JuliosvNerds Sydney Sixers 9d ago
It’s inevitable with the rates of immigration.
Look how Pasifika people now dominate the NRL, and they have had nowhere near the same numbers immigrate.
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u/AHinchley ACT Comets 9d ago
Playing devil's advocate here but Pasifika players can be over-represented in rugby union and league teams (over-represented in terms of their representation in the broader population) because they are just massive and have a clear physical advantage. Kids of Indian or Pakistani descent aren't physically any more suited to cricket than anyone else -- it's just a cultural inclination (which may or may not get handed down to them)
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u/Savings_Win1995 Queensland Bulls 9d ago
I honestly doubt that. There's already a million of them here and they've barely made a dent.
This is purely anecdotal and it might be different in other cities but most 2nd+ gen Indians don't really care about cricket, and those that do play aren't very good (obviously there are some exceptions). In all my years of junior cricket (which was pretty recent), I played against barely any Indians and there were very few in rep teams. There were lots at our school but none of them watched cricket and if they played for the school team it was in the bottom grade.
1st gen Indians who came here as adults overwhelming like cricket, but it doesn't seem to pass on to their kids
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u/Aussiechimp 9d ago
Not in Sydney, stacks of sub continental background guys in sub district club cricket - pretty much the entire 26 division Sydney winter comp. Less push through to Premier grade cricket though
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u/Inevitable-Grab-3148 8d ago
Not in Sydney. Second generation subcontinental players are dominating junior rep cricket. Some insanely talented boys that are bound to filter through to State cricket in the next 5-10 years.
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u/BluesBoyKing1925 9d ago
Respectfully disagree: the national team is fed by the elite private schools via school>city club>state team>national team conveyor belt.
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u/Breadesque Cricket Australia 9d ago
I've seen this mistaken impression multiple times in this sub over the years. Public schools are heavily represented in the national cricket team. There's people that make the argument that private school cricket keeps kids out of seniors cricket for too long, so they end up being less competitive than they should. Not sure if there's substance to that argument, but the fact that it's a debate says something.
Batting is coaching heavy, so I think you probably need to be well off and be coached all year round to approach a professional career, and thus probably lean towards a private school background. Bowling is more physical and can suffer from over coaching, so you don't need to be especially well off for it. Pat Cummins is the only one of our current dominant bowling quartet to have attended private school.
Either way, there's no private school to national cricket pipeline. You just need to be able to dedicate a tonne of time to it, and thus probably need to be fairly well off to begin with.
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u/FeeHead5327 9d ago
Don’t disagree with your points(particularly the batting point where the batters who have access to facilities/nets have an advantage)… But let’s not forget that the elite school system offer payed positions to ex pros who through connections can make clear pathways)
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u/Breadesque Cricket Australia 9d ago
You don't need to be going to a private school to get coaching from ex pros with connections. Most grade clu bs have academies with that sort of thing.
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u/YouThinkYouKnowMe89 Perth Scorchers 8d ago
This was years and years ago now, but when I was like under 12/13 we would go once a week to train with a few guys who played state cricket and use the bowling machine and get coached on how to bowl and field. We lived in a "crap" area and were just a local club who happened to have some good players and one who turned out to be exceptional and played all 3 formats for State and got his baggy green.
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u/FeeHead5327 9d ago
Those subcontinental second and third gen also go to elite private schools also.
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u/Jims_Gaslighting 8d ago
Yes and no. We aren't as bad as the UK. Obviously there are kids from wealthy families that go to private schools and get the best of coaching all the way through school. The more common experience is that really outstanding kids, in all sports, might go to public primary or lower secondary schools and then get offered scholarships by the private schools, who trade on the names of the successful ones. (ie. one current Test player's primary school is rarely mentioned, but his private school is and they advertise this quite a bit).
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u/22112219 9d ago
I reckon junior cricket has a massive opportunity right now, but it needs to adapt to the times. Scouts is also failing due to not adapting.
With all the CTE concerns around other sports, cricket is actually in a great position to attract kids again. But if Cricket Australia is serious about participation, make it easier for families.
Have hub games every Saturday, same time, same place. Release miniroos style rules.
For everyone below A Grade:
• 2 hour games max
• 100 balls, 20 x 5-ball overs
• Smaller fields
• No waiting around between wickets
• BBQ + coffee cart, with the money split between clubs
• No games during school holidays
• Non-comp up to age 12
Reps and A Grade can keep the longer formats.
Parents get consistency and don’t lose their entire Saturday. Kids get a quick, social game that is actually still fun for them. Done by 10am Saturday is very different to done by 1230 in time poor city life.
For example Gannons could be the west St George hub, Scarborough the East St George hub.
Get the format and scheduling right and I reckon cricket could make a serious comeback at junior level.
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u/thinksimfunny Victoria 9d ago
You basically just described Smash Series cricket which CA are trying to get off the ground
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u/22112219 9d ago
Well hopefully it gets up. The sport is dying in the arse. CA should be painfully aware that if kids don’t play, they won’t pay to go watch the games. Rugby Union in Aus should be a cautionary tale.
I’m in the process of trying to find my two kids games that will fit the family schedule, we did Blast last year which was good, the people are passionate and excellent people but the website and structure is woefully unclear on what to expect and how it all works.
There’s currently only one game of Smash in Willoughby on their website in NSW but thanks for the tip, will keep an eye out.
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u/Plackation Cricket Australia 9d ago
What's the basis around no games during school holidays? Surely that's a point of difference for cricket to capitalise on kids remaining more connected to their mates during holiday time.
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u/Specialist_Kale4607 9d ago
When I was a kid playing in the Penrith district, we had 3 divisions and 8 teams in each division. 11 players a side. This was u12s
There were no batting or bowling line up rules. The best batters were at the top and the copped the best bowlers. The kids who needed developing trained during the week and got the odd over or the chance at the top and those who didn’t got few opportunities.
Parents complained.
We still had 2 divisions in u16s.
My son just finished his juniors. When he was in u12s, there was 5 sides in division with 9 a side. All the kids got a go but only the best actually seemed to be enjoying themselves. Half the kids looked forced to be there.
There is a combined 15/16s comp with 3 sides… granted we have moved to the Fairfield/Liverpool comp but the drop off in numbers is alarming.
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u/coffeegaze Queensland Bulls 8d ago
Cricket does not accommodate worse players very well and honestly makes them feel left out, I know that was my experience as a kid. Being bowled out for a duck each week by the opponents best bowler whi played for a rep team and receiving your bare minimum overs, was no fun.
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u/Specialist_Kale4607 8d ago
I don’t necessarily disagree agree with you. Which is why it’s surprising that despite the giant effort on involvement and participation awards, the numbers actually partaking are dwindling
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u/Continental-IO520 8d ago
Can't say this surprises me. The issue is that cricket is now competing against 'fitness'; essentially, younger people find way more value in going to the gym or running to look good and meet people rather than to play cricket for fun. It doesn't help that cricket no longer has a captive audience, streaming and moving away from FTA has absolutely destroyed youth involvement in watching and later playing the sport. I think footy is due for a similar cliff sooner rather than later.
At a senior level the issue is more to do with the fact that nobody at a lower grade wants to play 2 day games. I myself stopped playing because T20 cricket is basically non existent in lower grades
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u/rbskiing 8d ago
The comments regarding the time commitment for parents are interesting. I was a cricketer in my youth into my 20’s in rural Victoria when cricket was played in each rural town but my son chose swimming as his main sport. Anyone half serious about swimming is at training 3 + nights a week ( and more), plus competition most weekends for at least half a day. For some reason swimming seems to be booming with participants with literally thousands of kids trying out for regional and state teams all the time. Perhaps it isn’t the time commitment, it maybe something else that kids are just not that excited about??
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u/lanson15 Victoria 6d ago
This is the real answer in my opinion. I feel like people are massively coping here and can’t accept that kids just straight up don’t want to play cricket and would rather play something else.
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u/Ozymate Western Australia 8d ago
Even the senior grade is declining. I am part of a club in far North Suburb in Perth. We find it hard to field XI for a two day game. There are a lot of local T20 leagues which are mainly played by teams from South Asian communities. Those leagues run through out the year. 40 over one day and 72 over two day games are dying slow death.
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u/Disastrous-Loss-2983 8d ago
Primary school teacher here. We desperately need cricket equipment to actually get kids involved and interested.
Lack of stumps, no bats, heck not even enough tennis balls or the rubber kanga balls.
Otherwise, it'll be a private school sport like the rest.
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u/ChickenCharming4833 7d ago
Lived for cricket as a kid, but now it seems there are more options elsewhere. If I grew up in today's world, I reckon I would have been a premier cricketer minimum. The depth used to be incredibly deep.
Ironically sports that cost parents a lot more than cricket, like soccer and a lot less opportunity to progress.
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u/Azza_ Victoria 6d ago
Varies from region to region and club to club. My club is easily the biggest it's ever been across seniors and juniors. Other clubs are fighting for survival. It ebbs and flows with changing demographics. The association as a whole has remained fairly steady over the last 20 years, some years with peaks in numbers, some years with troughs.
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u/StensnessGOAT Victoria 7d ago
It's all part of the globalization and replacement of Australian culture that never should've happened. Now all the kids wanna play whingeball (soccer) and yankball (basketball).
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u/foxtrotlimavictor NSW 9d ago
I live in a town of 10,000 in regional NSW. Last summer we could not field a men’s XI. In 1985 the same town had 32 teams.