Hungarian Cricket Association toasts amazing first season

By: Adrian Courage

When Andy Grieve and David Brown convened a meeting at Beckett's in March of this year, it was difficult not to be amazed by their naked ambition. With around 15 people - most of whom only had vague memories of playing cricket at school - in attendance, talk of a cricket league and international matches seemed like little more than a pipe dream. "Many people just scoffed," admitted Grieve with a grin. Yet this Monday's awards dinner at the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant celebrated a successful first season with a full house and not one but two ambassadors in attendance (Alex Brooking and Ranjit Rae from Australia and India, respectively).

 

 

Before the season started this summer, many of the Hungarians had only seen cricket on TV and the majority of foreign residents involved hadn't played for years. Throughout the spring and summer, Grieve and Brown worked hard to bring their idea to life. Brown set up a team in his native village of Dunabogdány, Grieve continued training the students at the school he teaches at in Székesfehérvár. They were joined by four other XIs, two works teams and two outfits founded at open training days in the Városliget park.

 

All of the HCA participants from around the country were at the Taj Mahal to celebrate the season and dish out awards. Grieve brought a group of girls and boys from his school in Székesfehérvár to the event and awarded a prize to Fanni Cziráky, the best, and only, female player to compete in the league. "If cricket is to have a future in Hungary, we must involve the Hungarians and reach out to them," he said in his closing speech. He praised the school he teaches at, Comenius in Székesfehérvár, who have supported cricket at the school financially.

 

"I talk about cricket to my students all the time, and the language of cricket is English. That in itself is great for the kids," he said, "we have practice four times a week in a car park and it is great news for us that there is a competitive cricket league for us to be involved in. I am not a big cricketer, they were really my inspiration for helping start the league," he added.

 

The league itself has grown fast - too fast in some people's eyes - and there is genuine belief and enthusiasm from everyone involved that next year will be even bigger. Despite the lack of cricket experience of some of the players and shortage of suitable facilities and equipment, such as nets and mats, the first league season proved to be extremely competitive. A major part of this success is down to the hard work and professionalism of Andy Grieve in maintaining the Hungary4cricket.com website, which is updated on a daily basis and is a first point of contact for anyone interested in cricket in Hungary.

 

Now that the latent enthusiasm for cricket in Hungary has been discovered, the Hungarian Cricket Association is looking for sponsors to help them invest in improving cricket facilities. Support from on-high seems to be there, with Australian Ambassador Alex Brooking and Indian Ambassador Ranjit Rae both making speeches before and after the awards had been handed out and a number of companies have expressed an interest in helping the league.

 

Meanwhile, former Hungary soccer captain János Bánfi offered to make space for cricket when his children's coaching school Buda Juniors finds a new training ground.

 

While bigger and better facilities are always near the top of the agenda, the problem of getting cricket gear to Budapest has been solved with the opening of the Astral Cricket Shop in District IV. And the cricket bandwagon isn't stopping for winter either, a suitable venue has been found for indoor training from November and David Brown promises that cricket open days will be advertised on the site. The shortage of umpires will also be addressed with a series of winter courses.

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