Cricket booming in Germany thanks to asylum seekers
Thursday 5 May 2016 12:29, UK
The influx of asylum seekers from Pakistan and Afghanistan has led to a boom in cricket in Germany.
Over 40,000 refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan arrived in Germany in 2015 alone. Ever since, the German Cricket Federation (DCB) has been flooded with enquiries about where it is possible to play the game.
Brian Mantle became chief executive of the DCB in 2012 and back then, there were 1,500 cricketers playing in 70 teams in Germany. Now, there are over 4,000, in 205 teams.
"We've been getting up to five enquiries per day from groups wanting to set up new clubs," Mantle said.
"Often it's from social workers, who had never even heard of cricket before groups of refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan started asking where they could play it.
"They had been offered volleyball or football - but most just want to play cricket."
Thanks to donations from existing German clubs of bats, balls and cricket clothing, including 35 boxes sent by the Lord's Taverners, the UK's leading youth cricket charity, the DCB has recently sent out its 400th box of supplies to help new clubs.
But now there is nothing more to donate.
"That was the last box, we have run out. We're desperately looking for sponsorship or funding," added Mantle.
The biggest challenge facing any newly-formed group of cricket-playing refugees is to find a ground suitable, while a standard 22-yard-long pitch costs up to £8,000 to install.
As a temporary solution, the DCB has found a German supplier of coconut mats, costing £500 each, which, when laid on wooden boards, behave like a normal pitch.
Mantle, 44, is excited about the future.
"The biggest problem is getting refugees to speak German, but this is a good way to integrate them through the sport they know," said Mantle.
"At the moment, our national U19 team is half made up of Afghans, who have qualified here through residency and that number will grow.
"It can only raise the playing standards here and in years to come, we could follow the likes of Ireland and Afghanistan, who are knocking on the door of Test-level cricket.
"I'm excited about the future, but with a severe lack of resources, we're totally overwhelmed."
