January, the month of budgets and plans applies to cricket in Colombia as well., especially, after 2001 proved to be a year of renewed hope with plenty of new faces and lots of enthusiasm.
The visit of our friends in Panama last year showed us that with a little
organization and a bit of sacrifice we can do the same; our hopes for this year is to participate in the South American Championships in Buenos Aires in December, the news that this event was being organized just reached us and we hope that it becomes a reality.
A tour always is an incentive to practice harder and serves as a means to
promote the sport amongst the fringe and lesser lights of the game; tours in
Colombia are not common events, soccer, the main sport is played in parks, streets, any open space, but it lacks real organization at a national level. Club sides visiting other cities, or travelling to neighbouring countries just doesn't occur. So even for that reason, cricket is a strange game to Colombians.
With the newly formed, Colombia Cricket Association (CCA), we are hoping to
promote the game in a more official manner, developing the game amongst the
schools, starting with the British ones and then moving foward slowly with
the rest. Unfortunately, we cannot expect to receive financial help from
the Government as sports have a small budget and a large bureaucracy, so
all expenses have to be met by the individual players or private fund
raising. Our only help in the form of equipment, coach, materials, etc., may
come from the ICC, if the ICC accepts our application as Affiliate Members;
this we have to wait and see.
Perhaps one of the most pleasant surprises in the past year has been the
arrival of a number of Indian players, mostly computer experts that are in
Colombia on short term contracts, their skills and enthusiasm have been much
needed qualities that makes the matches enjoyable and are a great asset to
the game in Colombia.
The arrival of Mr. Tom Duggan as British Ambassador in Colombia has been
another ray of light for cricket as well, on March 3rd, the first match in
twenty years between Bogota and Cali will be played in Cali. The match will
take place in the Colombo Britanico School and will be the first step to
introduce the game into the school system. The organization of the match is
in the capable hands of Mr. Peter Lawrence, British Consul in Cali and one
of the few resident cricketers.
At the north end of the country, Mr. Steve Meadows has appeared from the
blue and has been quietly working in promoting the game in the famous city
of Cartagena. If cricket can get off the ground in Cartagena, there will be
no end to the touring teams wanting to arrange matches and take advantage of
this special tourist attraction.
The center of cricket activity continues to be Bogota, capital of Colombia
with a population of anywhere between 8 to 9 million people depending on
the amount the local politician needs from the National Government. The list
of players varies from 30 to 40 players, the main problem is the large turn
over of players, the majority are teachers and /or executives with foreign
companies, the majority over 30 years of age that play the game for
recreation. That however, does not mean that Colombia will not be a major
factor in Buenos Aires !!
© ICC 2002