I arrived in Australia to work on end of January and my intentions could not be clearer: I want to understand the cricket life in Australia, the organizations behind it and how the game is played outside the big scenarios - how do Australians play cricket? And how can we use that to improve cricket in Brazil?
Before my arrival, I was pretty excited and very quickly I realized that
Australians are doing something right. I could see women playing sports
everywhere. Either cricket or football, golf or netball: women are just playing
sports! And not only playing, they are being broadcasted too: I watched AFL, LPGA, sports campaign for Netball with women, female empowerment is a trend - just check this Rebel campaign here! :)
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| White Ribbon Cricket Cup :) |
I had the pleasure to play for the Fairfield Cricket Club during my stay in Australia. These
girls are great - they are playing community cricket for their second season
and having a lot of fun in the game. Also, I could quickly find one thing out:
community cricket is about inclusion and participation! New players meet
experienced players and help each other out the best way they can. And together
we played the White Ribbon Cup, on Sunday, that was organized by Northern MetroCricket Association, in awareness of domestic violence.
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| With Loraine Ireland and Lenore Smith |
This was a different scenario than my
first T30 with Fairfield in the previous week. In the White Ribbon Cup, we
would play three T10s against the Division 1 teams. Both divisions were named
after people who helped cricket in the region. So Division 1 was name after
Loraine Ireland (board member for over 15 years) and Division 2 named by Lenore
Smith (board member for over 7 years)!
But what I was surprised about was that we
had ELEVEN teams playing on a rainy and cold Sunday morning - it was almost 150
ladies! In the previous edition, the Cup had 4 teams and 45 women. We had young
teenagers playing with ladies over 50 and beautiful colourful uniforms everywhere...
During the day, all teams helped to supply
the morning tea and lunch for the players and the ground, Keon Park, helped
with volunteers for the organization. The ambient was just like community
cricket should be: fun, respectful and friendly! Games were modified to be
quick and pleasant too – shorter boundaries, extras were played differently and
umpires would dictate the rules and also give beginners some tips. Why not!?
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| Lunch preentation for players! Not even half of them are there |
I was very happy. To see everyone coming together and
supporting each other in a sport they love. Made me believe that female sports
are really changing into something stronger - and not only in kids and junior participation, but also with ladies that are decision makers in their homes, that are moms and want to make sure they are inspiring the person next door.
It is just a first or second step still - in cricket, ladies are still
only semi-professionals, pay is different from men's, acessibility to training grounds could be harder... but things are moving in the right direction.
Definelty going to take some ideas back to Brazil.
Very proud fan of Autralian females writes here! Go,
girls!!
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| Finalists from Division one after the game! |
