In a grim part of Nottingham, a charity based on the game aims to make a difference
Jon Culley24-May-2012When John Player and Sons were rolling out cigarettes at the rate of 14,000 a minute, and every other bicycle seemed to be a Raleigh Chopper, the Radford area of Nottingham was a thriving community with a neighbourly atmosphere and work for almost everyone who wanted it.Nowadays, Raleigh bicycles are made in the Far East, the Player factories have been demolished and Radford is blighted by street crime and high unemployment. The Lord’s Taverners, the cricket charity that specialises in providing opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, could not have chosen a much more appropriate setting to promote the expansion of their Street Elite scheme, nor could their bringing together of four England captains to give the occasion the desired high profile have provided a starker contrast in life opportunities.Charlotte Edwards, the Ashes and World Cup-winning England women’s captain, emerged from a state school background but Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad all enjoyed the benefits of a private education.None of the children present, drawn from neighbourhood primary schools, could anticipate any such advantage. The two “graduates” of the scheme, who had travelled from south London to receive their certificates, were young black men, both 21 and both grateful for any opportunity to work – which would keep them away from the seedier aspects of urban estate culture by putting money in their pockets, and give them a purpose in life.The players recognised the contrast. “I’m very lucky in that there are certain hurdles I did not have to get past,” Cook said, echoing Strauss, who acknowledged the luck of his own circumstances. “I was very fortunate,” he said. “I went to a private school and until the age that I started playing professional cricket, I lived quite a closeted life.”The criticism levelled at charity schemes – of which Street Elite is the latest in a line in recent years – such as npower’s Urban Cricket and the Cricket Foundation’s Chance to Shine, is that let alone find any players, they have so far achieved little to change the perception of cricket in England from being the preserve of the comfortable middle classes to an equal-opportunities sport, where success is attainable regardless of socio-economic background.To be fair to the Lord’s Taverners, their mission statement, like that of Chance to Shine, does not promise to find the next Strauss or Edwards lurking on a city’s mean streets. The target for both is to create opportunity, in the latter’s case by campaigning for competitive cricket to be reintroduced into state schools. The Taverners’ Street Elite programme sets out to train young people to coach cricket in their own communities, organising Street20 games in locations similar to the Bridlington Street multi-use games area chosen for the Nottingham promotion.Some will be paid to coach, others will use the leadership and organisational skills acquired to enhance their job prospects in other fields. The Street Elite scheme, which also involves football and rugby projects, is supported by the property developer Berkeley Group. It is specifically aimed at so-called “neets” – young people “not in employment, education or training”.Strauss, while supportive of both schemes, feels that there needs to more tangible evidence of players from inner-city backgrounds making the grade as cricketers for the game to lose its middle-class image. “People do come through from poor beginnings, but not as many as we would like,” he said. “In my time at Middlesex there have been kids coming through from very underprivileged backgrounds, which is great, although it is often because their dads are involved in cricket in some way.”We need to break down those barriers, to make it possible for more young people to come through, because if people think that cricket is a sport that only attracts middle-class people, it can be self-perpetuating. We have to break down those barriers because we want the sport to grow and there is no reason why it should not do so in urban centres as well as leafy suburbs.”It is very difficult to get kids from this kind of background involved but I think the Taverners have done a great job, and the Chance to Shine scheme has done a great job, because ultimately if no one gets the opportunity then they are not going to play.”In urban centres in particular, it is a challenge – the facilities are not there, people have less opportunity at school, it is just much harder.”It is great to see these kids here. I’ve no idea whether any of them will go on to be great cricketers but it is at least an opportunity to play the game. If it sparks something for one of them, then the scheme, whether it is the Taverners, Urban Cricket or whatever – has done its job.”Inside a caged ball-game court marked out for basketball and football, a small boy delightedly hit a ball from Broad high over the fence, to the amusement of Cook, Strauss and Edwards. On the other side of the wire was a reminder of the more common sights of local life, as two men, white and middle aged, reclined on a grassy bank, clutching cans of strong lager that were clearly not their first of the day. It was 10.30 in the morning.Radford and neighbouring Hyson Green have a bad reputation. Less than a decade ago, the area was rocked by a series of gangland shootings, linked to the local drugs trade. One victim was shot dead in his car, another in a hairdressing salon, both within a quarter of a mile of Bridlington Street, leading you to wonder if an urban cricket scheme could possibly offer hope in such a hostile environment.Yet Kemar Campbell and Akiem McCarthy, who received their Level One coaching badges with obvious pride, suggest otherwise. McCarthy, from a housing estate in the Burgess Park area, just off the Old Kent Road, sees a possible future for himself. “I’ve learned a lot of things, and what I’ve learned I can now teach,” he said. “Every Thursday we have a little session with some kids, based on cricket. We have around 15 kids every week now.”We organised it ourselves. It was hard at first to get them involved. We just basically walked around the blocks, wherever they chill out, telling them what was happening. Only three came the first week but it grew from there.”A lot of people like cricket but there aren’t the opportunities to express yourself, to show your ability, which is why people want to play football.”It makes me feel good to know that I’ve got somebody interested in something. It inspires me that I can change someone in a positive way. If you are not into any sport or you are unemployed, you are more likely to get carried away into a street lifestyle.”The guy that introduced me to this scheme is paid to work in the scheme. He is only part-time but if it is successful there may be the chance to go full-time. I’d like to do something like that, anything to do with changing people.”
