Far Pavilions?: Cricket Migrants, Foreign Sojourns and Contested Identities

Abstract

A bstractThis research probes the more recent features of the long term migration phenomenon with particular reference to the overseas migrant in English cricket. This migration is part of a broader process of sports labour migration. The rules and regulations governing migrant access to English cricket were investigated and the extent and form of overseas migration established. The range of donor countries reflects both the spread of cricket and the strong British colonial influence. Interviews with a sample of players focused on personal and professional objectives, their employment negotiations and conditions, their personal and professional adjustments and their sense of cultural and national identity. English cricket is the 'global finishing school'. Migration was viewed as a logical step for professional development. Loneliness and insecurity figured highly. Questions of attachment to place, notions of self identity and allegiance to a specific country emerged as important elements in the experience of cricket migrants. The paper concludes with a more detailed discussion of the issue of identity, cricket and sports labour migration.The Warwick staff is a cricket League of Nations, but the Birmingham public, nurtured on the liberal transfer system of soccer, will not worry where their cricket favourites come from so long as they play attractively and win matches (Frazer, 1950, p. 91).Insightful though these comments may be with regard to the motivation of spectators, the migration of foreign players to English cricket retlects less the composition of the old League of Nations and more the make-up of the former British Empire. Nevertheless, given that these observations were made in the 1950 edition of Wisden, this suggests that cricket migration to some far pavilion is certainly nothing new.' Indeed, migrants from a diverse range of countries have been part of English club (county) cricket for over a centurV.2Here, however, we intend to probe the more recent features of this phenomenon. In doing so, we emphasise that this migration is but part of a broader process of sports labour migration Maguire, 1994a). In focusing on contemporary cricket migration, several interconnected elements are examined. These include: (i) the personal and professional objectives and motivation of present day migrant cricketers; (ii) their employment negotiations and conditions; (iii) the personal and professional adjustments they have to make; (iv) the players' sense of cultural and national identity. Such elements have, in turn, to be considered in the context of the attitudes in English cricket towards migration and the policy and regulation

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