About us
Slovak Cricket Story
Till year 2000 cricket was fully unknown in our country. We could not see any shots on television, any pictures or any articles in our newspapers and magazines. But on the other hand the television, newspapers and magazines are filled with news about our national sports such as soccer and ice hockey. If you had asked somebody what the cricket was you would have got the answer: “ I do not know”. But something has happened. What? That is a story, the Slovak Cricket Story.
In 1997 during my stay in the UK I discovered a new sport called cricket there. Immediately I tried to play it for Frampton CC (Gloucestershire). When I came back home I looked for that sport in my country. The result was: No cricket in Slovakia!
In 1999 my friends from Frampton CC asked me to join them at Cricket tour to Mallorca and I did that. When I came back home I was determined to find a person at least who knew something about cricket in my country. The result was: Nobody in Slovakia involved in! “I have to do it“ I told myself.
Therefore in 2000 I decided to introduce cricket to Slovaks and to establish very first cricket club. I persuaded my friends from football team and we started in my village – Hajske (NitraCounty). Our equipment was one bat and D.I.Y. wicket and an agreement with local football club for using their ground. Our plan was simple: To play cricket with anybody but to put an emphasis on children. I contacted Vienna and Prague cricket clubs to start some cooperation. I attended Vienna Winter Cup 2000 and met interesting people there who gave me good ideas. In 2001 we were 5 stable people involved in. 20th of May 2001 we participated for the very first time at European cricket day in Slovakia. We have sorted out basic equipment and I am very grateful to my English friends from Frampton CC (Gloucestershire, UK) who helped us the most. The year 2002 was crucial for us. We decided to do it properly. We started with practising on Mondays (children cricket day) and Saturdays. In year 2003 we officially registered the club and played our first international matches. Very first one was in Prague against Prague Cricket Club and then some matches in Vienna against local teams. In year 2004 we won our first international match against Poland and played matches in CzechRepublic and Austria. There were articles about cricket and SCC in Slovak newspapers and some shots from our matches appeared on almost all Slovak TV channels. Nowdays there are 20 native Slovak players in the team and around 20 foriegners from England, Scotland, India, Australia and South Africa. They come and play regulary almost every other Saturday in Hajske.
People in Slovakia have found cricket as interesting and relaxing game. We consider cricket not just a sport, but also a kind of culture for individuals and families. We concentrate on increasing popularity mainly in our region and then we would like to expand it to whole country. Some players from our team came from the most popular sports-soccer and ice hockey. The other positive aspect is that some people who have never been keen on sport are interested in cricket. That tells us that our course is good and we must keep it. And we believe that after some period we will achieve the results that will prove our hard work useful.
It is nice to see that every player from our team is proud to become a member of a big cricket family and all players are keen on cricket. The enthusiasm of all people around cricket is a good base for newly established Slovak National Cricket Team and for our goal to get the cricket among the most popular sports in our country. We know it takes a lot of time to increase popularity of cricket between our people but we are determined to do it. We do not want to be famous we just want to play cricket and to teach people how they can enjoy time spent by playing or watching cricket.
Vladimir Chudacik
