Victoria leads club cricket participation

Released today, Victoria saw a 1.6% increase in traditional club cricket participants with a total of 123,675.

Overall, the state’s total participation figure was 324,848, contributing to the national total which was a record 1.2 million.

Reflective of the KFC T20 Big Bash League’s popularity, the significant growth in the club-based MILO T20 Blast program (164.43%) contributed to Victoria’s club cricket increase along with the welcoming of the South Asian community.

Nearly 2,500 participants across 160 teams from the South Asian community converted from playing park cricket to mainstream Victorian cricket.

Female club participation increased by 24.15% as a result of a number of all-girls’ competitions across the state.

Eighteen associations also recently received funding through Cricket Victoria’s Junior Female Development Grant to provide more participation opportunities for girls in 2015-16.

“It’s great to see that participation in Victorian club cricket, the heartland of our sport, is continuing to grow,” Cricket Victoria Chief Executive Officer Tony Dodemaide said.

“The increase among the South Asian community, juniors and females tells us that it is a really exciting time for cricket in Victoria.”

“We look forward to increasing our participation numbers even further in the upcoming season, particularly off the back of the success of the World Cup.”

Along with club cricket, indoor cricket also experienced growth (1.21%) while schools and entry level programs slightly decreased by 3.39% and 4.33% respectively.

Today’s announcement coincides with the National PlayCricket Regsitration Drive, Australian Cricket’s national participation campaign that calls on Australians to sign up to play cricket in 2015 via playcricket.com.au.

The Australian Cricket Census

The 2014-15 Australian Cricket Census is the 13th analysis of cricket participation.

A ‘participant’ is defined by the Australian Cricket Census as someone who participates in at least four sessions of a formal cricket program.

The 2014-15 census has been compiled by specialist researcher Street Ryan, with the cooperative efforts of Cricket Australia and each of the eight state and territory cricket associations.

The organisations are responsible for recording the number of programs, teams and registered players within their state/territory for each cricket program area.

Cricket Australia’s junior participation programs are supported by Nestlé and the Australian Government via the Australian Sports Commission. The Government support aims to get children healthy and active through participation in sport.

Street Ryan is responsible for the collection of participation figures for Australia’s major sports, including AFL, NRL, ARU, basketball, hockey and golf.