Cricket a threat to rugby?

I've just found out a very worrying statistic.

In SCOTLAND there are MORE cricket clubs than there are rugby clubs.

Apparently, cricket is the fastest growing sport in Scotland.

What the actual Smeg!!!

I've only watched one game of cricket. And I started watching the grass growing after 20 mins. Could it be that cricket will become more popular in Scotland than rugby??? Is this why Scottish rugby is in decline at grass roots? Are the youth of today more into cricket??? 

Cricket is an excellent game.

Don't mind the ODI's or 20-20 but other than that, life's too short!

My eldest has just finished the Cricket season thank God, training Friday 6:30-8:30 and Sunday game 1:00-7:30!!

Thankfully we've now returned to Rugby Wed night training and a couple of hours Sunday 10:00-1:00ish.

That's a statistic I never thought I'd see. They must be going soft up North.

Can't be doing with cricket, far to dull a game for my tastes. I keep an eye on the Ashes as it's a matter of national pride but otherwise I couldn't care less about the sport. Doesn't help that 99.9% of cricketers are truely boring and their interviews are a cure for insomnia.

Never thought I'd see the day where cricket was more popular in Scotland than Rugby!

It's just not..................cricket!

Presumably this isn't an issue in terms of player drain unless summer rugby ever became a reality.

Having said that, if a minority sport is growing in Scotland then presumably the SRFU should be able to use a similar blueprint to halt the decline in rugby playing numbers. Although presumably some of the cricket growth will have been driven by Indian/Pakistani immigration over the years, which rugby won't be able to rely on.

To be honest it doesn't suprise me at all. In Scotland Golf is a popular 'sport' and that is basically a lazy mans game, and cricket is pretty similar to golf imo, hit ball hard and try to avoid having to physically more too much.

I am more passionate about rugby, but unless Leicester are playing prefer to watch cricket (excluding T20 - which bores me rigid).

Sports fans who try to disparage other sports sadden me a little. For anyone who thinks cricket involves little fitness - well try it. Play for 7 hours and see if you are tired at the end of it.

"Even" golf - try walking round the course carrying that heavy bag. Hell try standing on a range for an hour hitting 600 balls. It takes skill and fitness.

I start to see why the RL boards dislike us Union followers so much.

formerly known as Sam wrote:That's a statistic I never thought I'd see. They must be going soft up North.

Can't be doing with cricket, far to dull a game for my tastes. I keep an eye on the Ashes as it's a matter of national pride but otherwise I couldn't care less about the sport. Doesn't help that 99.9% of cricketers are truely boring and their interviews are a cure for insomnia.

Rather sweeping generalisations!

As i've grown older, i've begun to appreciate cricket more. Although the pace of the game during test matches can be slow, its far from dull IMO. The game has many intracate facets and relies on guile, tactics and nouse just as much as rugby. There are many very interesting characters in the sport of cricket, I wouldn't say rugby is awash with shining personalities, both sports have their fare share.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:To be honest it doesn't suprise me at all.  In Scotland Golf is a popular 'sport' and that is basically a lazy mans game, and cricket is pretty similar to golf imo, hit ball hard and try to avoid having to physically more too much.

Spoken like someone who doesn't have much of an idea about either sport...

Jimpy wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:To be honest it doesn't suprise me at all.  In Scotland Golf is a popular 'sport' and that is basically a lazy mans game, and cricket is pretty similar to golf imo, hit ball hard and try to avoid having to physically more too much.

Spoken like someone who doesn't have much of an idea about either sport...

I've played a game of village cricket, spent all the time (whilst feilding) stuck on the boundary and was told I couldn't have a smoke just in case the ball came my way, then when we came to bat I was the 11th man, came in had one ball bowled at me then it was the end of hte over and the other batsman was bowled out. So all in all a rather wasted Sunday.

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:To be honest it doesn't suprise me at all.  In Scotland Golf is a popular 'sport' and that is basically a lazy mans game, and cricket is pretty similar to golf imo, hit ball hard and try to avoid having to physically more too much.

Spoken like someone who doesn't have much of an idea about either sport...

I've played a game of village cricket, spent all the time (whilst feilding) stuck on the boundary and was told I couldn't have a smoke just in case the ball came my way, then when we came to bat I was the 11th man, came in had one ball bowled at me then it was the end of hte over and the other batsman was bowled out.  So all in all a rather wasted Sunday.

Proud to be part of the team it seems

 

To be honest, you could argue there are more characters in cricket than modern rugby, hearing some current pro talking about increasing their bench press and the amount of nandos they eat isn't exactly gripping stuff.

Bathman_in_London wrote:To be honest, you could argue there are more characters in cricket than modern rugby, hearing some current pro talking about increasing their bench press and the amount of nandos they eat isn't exactly gripping stuff.

True. Cricket does seem to be able to be a rather well paying sport whilst still being able to have the 'out on the lash with the lads' kind of feel to the players attitudes.

I think the reason behind it is due to mummy and daddy preferring that little timmy plays a nice gentle game of cricket rather than to get involved in the brutal sport of rugby

kids in cotton wool again!

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:To be honest it doesn't suprise me at all.  In Scotland Golf is a popular 'sport' and that is basically a lazy mans game, and cricket is pretty similar to golf imo, hit ball hard and try to avoid having to physically more too much.

Spoken like someone who doesn't have much of an idea about either sport...

I've played a game of village cricket, spent all the time (whilst feilding) stuck on the boundary and was told I couldn't have a smoke just in case the ball came my way, then when we came to bat I was the 11th man, came in had one ball bowled at me then it was the end of hte over and the other batsman was bowled out.  So all in all a rather wasted Sunday.

But you're perfectly willing to have spent the amount of time it took to post in excess of 5000 posts on this forum... hmmm, curious logic.

tigertattie wrote:I think the reason behind it is due to mummy and daddy preferring that little timmy plays a nice gentle game of cricket rather than to get involved in the brutal sport of rugby

kids in cotton wool again!

Absolute rubbish.

I love test cricket - wonderful game.

Jim - look at times of posts (about 99% of them are during works time), and I can have a smoke and post so all is good.  Anyhow enough derailing from me, sorry

Edit: average of 5 posts a day, aaarrrggghhh where do I find the time.

Cricket is excellent.

Some rugby fans are so insular and don't appear to watch any other sports at all. The way they look down on other sports as being boring or namby pamby is pretty narrow-minded.

Cricketers aren't boring. The banter is really good. Anyone seeing The England Ashes squad's video message to the Lions must have found it funny. Cricket autobiographies are often much more interesting than those written by other sportsmen.

Maybe cricket is the way for Scotland to go as football and rugby haven't worked too well.

I used to find cricket more interesting when Warne and Flintoff were still there but the likes of Swann and the other current England crop I find rather uninteresting. If I felt some draw to the sport it may be different but when Flintoff said he couldn't think of anything worse than spending a day commentating on cricket with Nasser Hussein I think it's a fair comment. I also find it really annoying that the current England side will happily celebrate a draw after a below par performance. That irks me.

I'm not a rugby only sports fan. Football (outside the premier league), NFL and athletics are all frequently on the television but cricket, no.

Slight concern the modern generation of players don't have the banter of Healey, Flatman and Chuter.

Cyril wrote:Some rugby fans are so insular and don't appear to watch any other sports at all. The way they look down on other sports as being boring or namby pamby is pretty narrow-minded.

To be honest I have tried my hand at a fair few sports, and am generally willing to give most sports a chance. When I played football I was a left back, but I could alway find someway to keep moving, keep feeling part of the team effort. When I played rugby I was a lock and was constantly involved somehow. But having played cricket it did seem to be quite 'lonely' for a team sport. The majority of the game, when feilding, you are just standing around waiting/hoping something happens that will require you somehow, and then when your side are batting it is a case of hanging around patiently awaiting your turn. So my dislike of cricket is not that it is namby pamby and doesn't come from being close-minded, but it is from experience of playing other sports, and being constantly on the go and then playing cricket, being rather snail pace.

....maybe it says more about the dour way the game is played in scotland

This surprises me as I have literally never met a Scottish person who has shown any interest whatsoever in cricket. I'm probably hanging out with the wrong people.

I would say the fact that there are more cricket than rugby clubs, if it is even true, which would surprise me, does not necessarily mean there are more people playing cricket, they may only field one team each for example.

I would agree with the poster who said it should be seen as a positive thing that Scots are becoming open minded enough to try a sport other than football and that rugby could also take advantage of this.

However the main reason cricket has never really caught on until now, and the reason I can't see it ever becoming a truly popular sport up here is the fact that it requires lengthy periods of dry weather!

Cricket...boring?

Check these out..


http://www.indiatoday.com.au/yourstory-cricketsledges.htm

Cricket is my second sport and it's been great summer. It's very pleasant watching a county game sat up in the Edrich stand at Lords with plenty of scoff and a few beers. The banter is very good too.

Hound of Harrow wrote:Cricket is my second sport and it's been great summer. It's very pleasant watching a county game sat up in the Edrich stand at Lords with plenty of scoff and a few beers. The banter is very good too.

I know a fair few people who tend to be rugby in the winter and cricket in the summer, as either players or spectators (although only at local/village level).

I would not say I am "insular".  I played rugby mostly but I also played football, basketball, Yankie football etc............

The issue for me is that I can count on one hand the number of scottish people I know that play cricket.  I need to take my socks off to start counting guys I know that play rugby (not including my own club mates)
Cricket is barley mentioned on the sports news in scotland. Rugby at least gets a wee mention when there is space free to do so. Sports like darts, snooker, boxing, etc all get more coverage in the press and on tele than cricket does up here.

So why is it that there are more cricket clubs in scotland than there are rugby clubs? Why is cricket the fastest growing sport? Is there something that rugby can be learning here?

I know everyone has thier own opinions and tastes, but I just cannot get my head round how cricket is beating rugby on the number of clubs in the land!

formerly known as Sam wrote: I also find it really annoying that the current England side will happily celebrate a draw after a below par performance. That irks me.

I think you have missed the point somewhat. It is true that in the recent Ashes series, England did not play to the best of their abilities, however, they still managed to retain the Ashes, despite Australia putting in some manful performances. You can lose (or draw) a battle, but the goal is to win the war? And that, surely, is what the celebrations were all about.

Its a bit rich to say it irks, when English rugby supporters will readily applaud a narrow loss to a SH team and focus on the 'positives' that can be taken from the encounter. For the record, that irks me.

Hound of Harrow wrote:Cricket...boring?

Check these out..


http://www.indiatoday.com.au/yourstory-cricketsledges.htm

Cricket is my second sport and it's been great summer. It's very pleasant watching a county game sat up in the Edrich stand at Lords with plenty of scoff and a few beers. The banter is very good too.

Apparently one to add from this year's ashes:

Michael Clarke to Pietersen- hey, Kevin, you know nobody in your team likes you! (Pretty mediocre sledging from Clarke then)

KP- well, you're captain and nobody in your team likes you either

Best sledge ever was Gattings reply to Warne (although probably attributed to others as well)

Warne - Hey Gatting why are you so fat?
Gatting - Because every time I (castlemaine four x) your wife she gives me a biscuit!

Irish Londoner wrote:Best sledge ever was Gattings reply to Warne (although probably attributed to others as well)

Warne - Hey Gatting why are you so fat?
Gatting - Because every time I (castlemaine four x) your wife she gives me a biscuit!

Rodney Marsh to Ian Botham:

"Hi Beefy, how are your wife and my kids?"

Botham, "The wife is fine, kids are retarded though"...

I find the people who slate Cricket have either never played it or don't understand it.

I've picked up more injuries and been envolved in more arguments/disagreements playing cricket than I have ever playing rugby.

But lets face it there is room for both and anythings better than a Scot trying to play wendyball!

I'm a big cricket fan, plenty time for both cricket and rugby (and football, golf, tennis, cycling and F1) I find.....

That said, Scotland are even worse at cricket than we are at rugby. That defeat by Australia the other day was a little embarrasing. To lose by more than 200 runs in a one-day match is the rugby equivalent to losing to Japan......

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm a big cricket fan, plenty time for both cricket and rugby (and football, golf, tennis, cycling and F1) I find.....

That said, Scotland are even worse at cricket than we are at rugby. That defeat by Australia the other day was a little embarrasing. To lose by more than 200 runs in a one-day match is the rugby equivalent to losing to Japan......

Why are Japan woeful at cricket?

ScarletSpiderman wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:I'm a big cricket fan, plenty time for both cricket and rugby (and football, golf, tennis, cycling and F1) I find.....

That said, Scotland are even worse at cricket than we are at rugby. That defeat by Australia the other day was a little embarrasing. To lose by more than 200 runs in a one-day match is the rugby equivalent to losing to Japan......

Why are Japan woeful at cricket?

That's a fair question......  

Ooops, didn't notice the "rugby equivalent" bit  

No I don't think cricket is a threat to Scottish rugby yet. What's the cricket club set up in Scotland? They don't have any professional clubs do they?

Little acorns chaps - as a "developing nation" in cricketing terms the Scots share problems  at international level with the Irish cricket team.

1 - They only play the short form of the game at international level
2 - If they produce a good player the player has to go to another country to play at the higher level and make a living from the game (usually England).
3 - The test countries play them very infrequently and so they don't develop.
4 - To play at the highest level - i.e. test cricket - Scots, Irish and Welsh players all have to play for England or another test playing nation.

AFAIK Wales don't have a representative cricket team as they are part of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

In some ways the position of developing cricketers from the rest of these islands is comparabe to the that of the "Pacificas" and the relationship their players have had with Aus and NZ in rugby. Do you stay with your home country and miss out on the possible chance of international success at the highest level (and the financial rewards that accompany it) or do you play for the country that you play in and in fairness benefit from.

Irish Londoner - I think Wales played England in the recent past (about 10-15 years ago), but I think that was a one off thing. A bloke who is big into cricket at work used to bang on that Wales can never have a team as some bloke in charge of welsh cricket registered them as a county in order to play against the English countries in some comp, and now we can't be registered as a country. I am really not too sure how true that is, but it always made me laugh we he would come out with it every year or two.

- If they produce a good player the player has to go to another country to play at the higher level and make a living from the game (usually England)."

It must have been irritating for the Irish that two of their own, Boyd Rankin & Eoin Morgan did so much damage for England against Ireland in the ODI the other day.

Spider - I presume it was to allow Glamorgan to compete in the County Championship. Also reminds me of another cricket anecdote:
When Glamorgan won the championship in 1948 the side that were in second place had a game in hand and if they won they would have displaced Glamorgan as champions.
As was usual in that period the umpires were ex-players and at this game the lead umpire was an ex-Glamorgan stalwart. As the game ebbed and flowed it got to the last couple of overs - the second placed side were down to thier last two batsmen and it looked like they could just hang on to win.
One of the batsment took a swipe at a ball and there may (or may not) have been a nick as it went to the wicketkeeper, before anyone could react the umpire instanly lifted the bails and called" You're out and we've won the championship!"
 
Hound - It certainly was - did you see the "England Stop Stealing Our Players" banner? It's certainly frustrating when players like Morgan and Rankin who are fringe England players but could be key players for Ireland in the World Cup.

Irish Londoner wrote:Best sledge ever was Gattings reply to Warne (although probably attributed to others as well)

Warne - Hey Gatting why are you so fat?
Gatting - Because every time I (castlemaine four x) your wife she gives me a biscuit!

That quote gets attributed to various chubby batsmen, but it was actually coined by a Zimbabwean No.11 named Eddo Brandes, in response to the then mighty Glenn McGrath. Gatting never stayed in long enough against Warne to do much talking.

Irish Londoner wrote:One of the batsment took a swipe at a ball and there may (or may not) have been a nick as it went to the wicketkeeper, before anyone could react the umpire instanly lifted the bails and called" You're out and we've won the championship!"

 

beshocked wrote:No I don't think cricket is a threat to Scottish rugby yet. What's the cricket club set up in Scotland? They don't have any professional clubs do they?

Just the one: Glasgow.

Sorry, were you talking about cricket.....in that case no, all amateur (although some of our players play county cricket south of the Wall.

Can someone explain me the basic cricket rules (enough for me to watch a game and understand 99% of what's going on) in less than 100 words?

When the game starts one side is in and one side is out.
The side that are out then try to get the side that are in out.
When all the side that were in are out the side that was out goes in.
The side that was in and is now out now tries to get the side that were out but are now in out.

 that was a genuine question, now am even more confused!

whocares wrote:Can someone explain me the basic cricket rules (enough for me to watch a game and understand 99% of what's going on) in less than 100 words?

Two teams of 11.

One team bats, the other bowls.

The batting team aims to score "runs" by (i) running between the two ends (each time is one "run"), or (ii) hitting the ball over the ropes on the edge of the ground (four runs or six runs, depending on whether you hit the ball clean over or not).

The bowling team aims to "bowl out" the batting team. Batsmen are "out": (i) if the ball hits the stumps behind them, (ii) if they hit the ball in the air and are caught, or (iii) by using their legs to protect the stumps (known as "LBW" or "leg before wicket").

The team with the most runs wins.

whocares wrote:Can someone explain me the basic cricket rules (enough for me to watch a game and understand 99% of what's going on) in less than 100 words?

1. You don't have to understand what's going on..its an excuse to sit around and drink vast quantities of tea/beer.
2. Its not a sport.
3. It was invented so that its an 11 a side game that the Germans wont win and even if they were any good at it a game can be drawn because of weather (good thinking there).
4. its great for insomnia...ever since they ruined the game by stopping very tall and fast west indian bowlers from injuring batsmen sometime back in the 80's

whocares wrote:Can someone explain me the basic cricket rules (enough for me to watch a game and understand 99% of what's going on) in less than 100 words?

11 men on each team. When batting you have 2 men, at two set of wickets. Bowler throws the ball at the wickets and the batsman tries to hit it way as far as possible without a) it being caught before hitting the ground or b) the ball or bat knocking the tops (Bails) off the wickets. If either a or b happen that batsman is out and another one of his team mates takes his place. However if the batsman hits the ball all the way over the edge of the pitch before it hits the ground he score 6, if the ball bounces but goes over the edge he score 4, otherwise the 2 batsman can run from their wicket to the other batsmans wicket to score 1 for each run they make. When all the players are out they swap over the batting and feilding teams and do it all over again. The scoring is generally things like 150-4 (150 runs made, four men are out), so that comparisions can be made to see how the teams are fairing compared to the opposition at a similar point.

Also there are different duration games. If you seriously want to try and watch it, try watching T20 (or Twenty 20) it is a ratehr short version of the game but far more fast paced. Most people who are cricket fans, tend not to like it as it is too watered down for their tastes (i have been told this on here a few times) but it only takes a few hours to watch as opposed to a few days.