There are almost 1.4 million Australians with Chinese ancestry. Yet, of the 54 people with diverse backgrounds named Cricket Australia ambassadors, none have professional ties to China.
Cricket Australia has belatedly recognised the importance of South Asian communities in growing the sport in Australia. But there’s a big country to the east of where they are looking that they should take notice of as well.
Such is the focus of CA’s multicultural action plan on South Asia, it could more accurately be described as a South Asian action plan, albeit one that is much needed, and well overdue. Australia’s rich immigration ties with that part of the world and that people’s love of the sport is not reflected on the field.
To see all 54 ambassadors without any Chinese Australian representation, it was hard not to feel the game had ignored our community. Perhaps no one had the contact details for Richard Chee Quee, a hard-hitting batter for NSW who was the first player of Chinese descent to play at first-class level in Australia since Hunter Poon in 1923. More than 25 years since he last played at state level, Chee Quee retains a cult following in the sport.Cricket is not on its own in terms of major sports in Australia that have failed to penetrate the Chinese community.
Former Foster’s boss Trevor O’Hoy served for three years on the Cricket Australia board but in my 20 years covering the sport I have come across few others of Chinese extraction, be it in playing ranks, administration, the media or cricket staffers.But it’s understandable why CA is focusing on Australians with South Asian heritage.
“The initiatives outlined in Australian Cricket’s multicultural action plan are for the benefit of all culturally diverse communities and the initiatives will help foster the inclusion of all such groups,” a CA spokesperson told this masthead.
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