A Test-playing nation, a full member of the ICC, plans for a new €6m stadium, world class training facility in development, Cricket Ireland, where did it all go wrong?
Cricket in this country got a shot in the arm last week when Ireland were announced as the eleventh, full member nation of the ICC. Promoted from Associate status, Ireland are now a Test-playing nation of the International Cricket Council. The landmark development opens up the door for Cricket Ireland to finally realise the potential for cricket in this country.
Along with full membership of cricket's elite group, Cricket Ireland is set for a large increase in funding, with financial backing rising from an estimated €2.7m to €5m per annum. The development of a €6 million stadium appears to be were Cricket Ireland will be looking to start using this funding. Cricket Irelands' chief executive, Warren Deutrom is looking to put together a plan for the new stadium, with the suggestion of Cricket Ireland and the Irish government financing the project together.
The plans seem to be centred on an upgrade to the current Malahide venue. Malahide cricket club, owned by Fingal County Council, is the current home of the Irish International cricket team and is a wonderful venue. Who could forget when the England cricket team visited in September 2013 for a one-match One Day International series, the capacity crowd that day was 11,500, a record cricket crowd in Ireland. But, while it is a wonderful venue, it is not really set up for Test cricket.
For starters, International teams using portacabin changing rooms is not an ideal situation for international Test cricket. It's also not ideal, when temporary seating and media facilities have to be installed at a huge cost to Cricket Ireland, for every big game hosted. Last month's Tri-Nation series involving New Zealand and Bangladesh cost an eye watering €1m to host. If these tests end up being a wash out, it's a big problem. Deutrom had this to say of the situation, "Currently it's extremely expensive for us to keep putting in temporary infrastructure only to have to pull it down again.
"It is important for us to put the money we're making back into the sport and not spending it on putting up a temporary structure each time we play at home."
The plans for the new €6m stadium is to have a new pavilion, a state of the art media and TV area and a fixed 1,500 capacity, seated stand. Deutrom stated "We want a new venue to be scalable so it looks full if there's 1,000 people at a game and then we can add more seats to it if the demand is there.
"We want a stadium that is future-proofed for 25 years," he said. "We don't want to build something small that will do us for now. We want to build something that matches our ambitions."
The government seem to be prepared to back Cricket Irelands plans too, with TD for Fingal North Alan Farrell giving his support for the development of a new stadium in his constituency. A former member of Malahide Cricket Club himself, Farrell said "It doesn't need to be a big stadium to become the home of Irish cricket. It just needs proper facilities. You can't compete with the top teams like Australia and England when you are changing in a portacabin.
"And that is what has happened over the past few years. So, if we need to spend several million euro to deliver the facilities needed for a Test match, then let's do that.
"Let's discuss that with the department and the two ministers responsible, and with the Taoiseach, who himself has a great interest in cricket."
Back in November, Cricket Ireland unveiled plans for the construction of a new high-performance training facility in the Sports Ireland National Sports Campus in Abbottstown. Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross, also confirmed in March that the development of a Cricket Ireland training facility is currently underway. The €600k facility is expected to include 14 outdoor grass nets, a 90-metre outfield for fielding work and centre wicket practice and an artificial practice area. These developments are essential to the sports progress in Ireland.
The world second largest sport has taken huge strides in this country over the last 10 years. From the heroic performances in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, when Ireland burst onto the scene in their first Cricket World cup, with a famous victory over Pakistan and knocking them out of the competition. Four years later, Ireland shook the cricket world again with an historic victory over England. 2015 was another good world cup for Ireland when they beat Zimbabwe in the opening game and again, gave another good account of themselves.
A decade on from that famous 2007 world cup performance, Irish cricket has peaked with last week's elevation to the Test-playing status of the ICC. Irish cricket is not without its issues of course, most notably the problems currently facing the Irish men's senior team, where retirements to big players are looming and the fact that they still currently lack world class playing and training facilities (even though developments are in place). However, the potential for the sport to grow in this country is huge, with cricket now being played in over 60 primary schools. There is a place for cricket in Irish sport among Gaelic, football and rugby. As Warren Deutrom puts it "Our goal is not just to have Ireland being a major force in cricket, but cricket being a major force in Ireland."
Sources: The 42, The Times, Cricket Ireland
