Quantcast

Census reveals grassroots' COVID-19 pain points

A uniquely challenging season saw a drop in registered participation, but junior numbers increased despite the disruptions

Despite delivering a complete summer schedule against the disruptive backdrop of COVID-19, the annual census of cricket in Australia has revealed the pain points felt by the game at its grassroots across a uniquely challenging season.

More than 170,000 cricket matches were staged throughout Australia over the past 12 months even though the ongoing pandemic brought lockdowns and restrictions of fluctuating severity to all states and territories at various times.

However, the impact of those imposts saw a significant drop of 24 per cent (year-on-year) in registered participation that was partly mitigated by continued growth of junior participation programs and club cricket which saw two per cent growth on 2019-20.

That rise represents the first year-on-year increase in children registered for participation in a non-Ashes census year since 2014-15.

It was driven by a 17.5 per cent rise in girls registering for club cricket and the Woolworths Cricket Blast program (teaching basic cricket skills to children aged 5-10), which in turn followed a 19 per cent increase in girls' participation last year.

The numbers of girls playing club cricket or engaged in Cricket Blast has grown by 70 per cent since the 2016-17 census, which reflects the impact of Australia's world champion women's team and strong ongoing support from partners such as CommBank.

Image Id: 0A5328A697994A5ABE299E58C2BED0A6 Image Caption: Australia's world champion women are inspiring the next generation // Getty

The reason for the decline in registered participation across both genders and all age groups – from around 710,000 in 2019-20 to 539,000 last summer – was similarly attributable to a couple of key sources.

Restrictions wrought by the pandemic meant indoor cricket leagues - which attract significant player numbers during the game's off-season – were unable to proceed while school and winter social competitions were also heavily affected by COVID-19.

In order to gain greater clarity on how participation numbers might appear in the absence of a pandemic, Cricket Australia modelled the numbers using comparisons in data from the preceding 12-month reporting period.

That showed a COVID-adjusted increase in total participation across all cricket of around 11,000 (2.1 per cent) from 2019-20.

But CA's Executive General Manager Community Cricket, James Allsopp, singled out volunteers engaged in club and community cricket as the heroes in having so many matches and competitions completed over a challenging summer where "luck" also played a telling role.

"What surprised me (in this year's census) was how much cricket we were able to play," Allsopp said today

"It's quite extraordinary, when you consider what's been going on in the world, that 170,000 games of cricket were able to be played.

"It's a real testament to the amazing volunteers we have out there, and the support that was provided by the Australian cricket field force to get so much cricket played in the circumstances.

"Seeing how many kids played cricket last summer compared to the year before just shows cricket's power in reconnecting communities and how important it is to the fabric of Australian society.

"In the current climate that's something we should be really proud of and we're hugely grateful to clubs and volunteers to allow that to happen, to have so many kids play the game in a COVID-safe environment."

Among key details contained in the census, which CA has been conducting annually for two decades, were:

             Year-on-year increases in Indigenous participation (1.2 per cent) and among people living with a disability (1.4 per cent) in club cricket and Woolworths Cricket Blast, while multicultural participation dropped by 4.2 per cent (partly due to decline in overseas student numbers nationwide)

             Cancellation of tournaments and leagues due to COVID-19 saw participation numbers in indoor cricket drop by 56.4 per cent, with similarly large declines in school cricket (52.9 per cent) and social competitions (39.6 per cent)

             Among the tournaments and leagues that went ahead, club competitions reported year-on-year growth of 3.4 per cent

             The continued growth of girls registering to participate in cricket competitions and programs means for the first time they now account for one-fifth of all participants in Woolworths Cricket Blast

             There were no significant COVID-related events in the more than 170,000 matches staged in Australia over the past year

"I would like to thank everyone across Australian Cricket who contributed to a wonderful season conducted in the most trying of circumstances," Allsopp said.

"From the medical and high-performance professionals who devised bio-security protocols that ensured a safe and successful summer; to the coaches, umpires, grounds staff, scorers, players and others who kept the games going; to the families and friends who supported them through it all."

In addition to the annual participation census, CA also conducted their inaugural National Player and Volunteer Survey which gauged the experiences of more than 6,500 people involved in playing and delivering cricket across the country.

That feedback showed that almost 90 per cent of respondents were satisfied with their playing experience, with a net promoter score (NPS) of +54 which dropped to +30 among volunteers, +12 among junior coaches and +10 among accredited umpires.

"What we take from that is we need to be doing more to equip our community coaches and umpires with the skills and the tools to make sure what they're doing is really fulfilling, and enabling a great experience for participants," CA's Head of Participation Stuart Whiley said today.

Whiley also noted continued improvements in the way CA collects and processes data relating to participation in schools and social competitions (after the census's methodology came under media scrutiny two years ago) might help to address the continued decline in adult men's participation.

He said the time commitment required for senior cricket involvement remained a barrier and that CA was constantly reviewing programs to ensure junior engagement evolved into adult retention.

There is also hope the 'feel-good factor' that led to a spike in female participation in the aftermath of last year's record-breaking women's T20 World Cup might be repeated in wake of the upcoming men's T20 World Cup tournament and the women's and men's Ashes campaigns to follow.

And in examining the data and details to have emerged from last summer's COVID-disrupted competitions, CA is looking to further enhance opportunities for grassroots teams and competitions as another pandemic-affected summer looms.

In addition to delivering greater support to clubs and associations through digital means such as podcasts and webinars, CA will look at broadening an initiative undertaken by Cricket New South Wales who saw significant growth in participation on the back of strong community investment programs despite the pandemic.

Image Id: C3EF987EE8544CEBA857BB85E2807181 Image Caption: Female participation has continued to grow // Getty

"CNSW piloted a social women's program last year which was really successful in attracting more women into the game," Allsopp said.

"So we're keen to look at rolling that out in a more national form over the next twelve months and to look at what we can do in those more senior age groups for men as well.

"It presents a great opportunity to complement the traditional club structure as we know it.

"The evolution of the strategy is how can we take the learnings of this year and ensure we've got a real targeted approach to growing the game."