"We're confident we're part of the solution"

Mersey Rose hardball captain Andi Page talks to Mersey Sport Live journalist Max Ledson about improving participation in cricket.

How would you describe the participation levels of cricket in Liverpool?

Liverpool is often seen as a football city, but in many respects cricket in the Liverpool area is reasonably healthy at the moment.

I don't think Liverpool is particularly different to the country as a whole. And what we're seeing is all areas of the UK is growing participation in cricket - especially young people. An estimated 2.6 million people played cricket in England and Wales in 2023, 1.4million of whom were aged under 16. This is testament to the programmes for young people's cricket that the ECB have put in place, and which many clubs have used successfully. We're also seeing a significant growth in women and girls' cricket.

That all sounds great, but it's not the whole picture. It is a struggle to attract adults into the game and many of these young people playing cricket do not go on to play senior cricket. Players of limited or moderate ability may not find they fit into clubs that offer nothing other than competitive league cricket. There are very few clubs who offer friendly cricket aimed at entry level adults (who may not have played any cricket previously), older people, disabled people or players who find the cut and thrust of league cricket isn't for them. There are also communities who are woefully underrepresented within clubs in Liverpool - for example LGBTQ+ people, disabled people and black people. Liverpool isn't unique in that, but our own club was established to rise to this challenge and increase participation within the game, especially for people who may not feel at home in the more traditional clubs. Cricket has to be a game for everyone.

Do you think participation could be higher?

Of course it can be. The ECB isn't developing programmes like Dynamos and All-Stars for nothing - they recognise that participation can be improved and that younger people are the future of the game.

Our club has a vision to increase participation and widen interest in the game of cricket. We are particularly interested in widening participation among people who might not ordinarily feel that cricket is a game for them. If we felt that participation was already an an optimum level there wouldn't be a need for us to exist.

Do you think schools push cricket enough in Liverpool?

No - and that is a huge problem. Schools that do push cricket tend to be independent and privately funded. I would go as far as to say that, if you haven't had a private education, you are at a disadvantage when it comes to cricket. Even the success of ECB initiatives to bring more young people into the game, the young people who are most successful in the game are disproportionately those who have had the benefit of being privately educated.

This in turn breeds the idea that cricket is elitist and out of reach for most of us. Nothing could actually be further from the truth and I would like to see the ECB doing far more to facilitate cricket in mainstream schools to widen access to cricket. Young people won't know if they enjoy cricket or not if they don't get the chance to experience it. Dynamos and All-Stars have proved very useful, but schools are key to taking this to the next level.

What is done at your club to increase participation levels?

Our club is focused on inclusion. We are deliberate and intentional in reaching out to the LGBTQ+ community, and we have a constructive partnership with Sahir (a Liverpool-based LGBTQ+ charity). We are also seeking to improve disability participation, and have been working with some disability charities on this front. Most of our team is either LGBTQ+ or disabled (or both!) and we have found that we have been able to attract people into cricket who simply would never have been playing anywhere else. Last season we hosted a pro-disability cricket festival and hope do do this again in 2025.

Our youngest player is 9 and our oldest is 89. I think that says something about who we are as a club.

We are unique in that we use softball cricket for entry level adults of all genders. The ECB, and most clubs, use softball only for under 9s and entry-level women's cricket. But what we found at other clubs was that disabled players, many of whom are adult men who have never played cricket before, were forced to play full hardball games because there was no other cricket available for them. Often there was not even friendly cricket available for them. One such person, a man in his 50s who only has one working hand, simply wasn't able to play this longer form of the game. He is now playing softball with Mersey Rose. Another disabled man, who is actually a volunteer at another club, has come to play with us because his own club only play league cricket and he isn't able to play at that level. We're doing something that no-one else is doing - and the reason is that, if we don't, no-one else will be able to offer the kind of cricket that these kinds of players are able to play.

At Mersey Rose we see everyone as a potential cricketer. We're about participation and inclusion, rather than competitiveness. Few other clubs share that approach.

I think there are around 19 cricket clubs all around Liverpool, do you think more investment in these clubs would increase participation in the city?

Some of these clubs are doing very well, others not so well. Most would welcome further investment, especially in terms of widening access to cricket.

Investment has to be focused if it is to be successful. If the emphasis is on participation, then clubs (and the ECB) need to look seriously at what the barriers to participation are and develop strategies to overcome them. I'm not convinced that too many clubs have got as far as this. I also think a lot of people involved in club cricket don't understand that the culture of club cricket can often be part of the problem, and I suspect there are some who would be unwilling to accept responsibility for changing that culture. Of course they want more people to come to their club, but they're not always prepared to change their practices to become more inclusive.

Investment is welcome, but the situation requires more than funding. If you want to improve participation, then you have to become more inclusive. As our club has proved in the first year of its existence, there are people out there who may be interested in playing cricket if only clubs know how to reach them, to speak their language, to give them the chance to play at an appropriate level.

There is funding provided by the ECB, but the irony of this is that the clubs best placed to widen participation - and who often are already delivering on this - are those like ourselves, who do not operate under the traditional model and are not affiliated to leagues. Because of this, we often find ourselves unable to access the kind of support league clubs can.

Do you think the fact Liverpool is such a big footballing city allows for cricket to be overlooked sometimes ?

Yes. Certainly the public consciousness reflects this, as does the inevitable media focus on football. This is understandable when there are two huge football clubs in the city. However, when our local cricket clubs are successful it is often overlooked - recently, Northern CC participated in the European Cricket League and did very well. They also won the national T20 championship last year. That was a massive achievement, but most local people - unless they have an interest in cricket - have no idea.

Do you think cricket suffers an image problem in Liverpool with young people?

Yes, but perhaps not necessarily the image problem people imagine.

I think people enjoy watching cricket. The issue is that a lot of people, especially younger people, don't see cricket as being for them. They feel it is elitist, and for people from "posh" schools. They feel it is expensive. It also is a sport that they see as taking up a lot of time (it doesn't have to be, depending on the format!). Most importantly, they feel a disconnect between clubs and their communities. There may be 19 clubs in Liverpool, and many of these will run the Dynamos and All-Stars sessions in their respective communities. But how many of these clubs serve areas like Toxteth, Anfield, Walton or Speke? There are other areas without any local cricket clubs, such as Halewood, Norris Green and Aintree. Which clubs are reaching into these areas?

Younger people are far more likely to identify as LGBTQ+ and, if they do, they may feel that cricket clubs are probably not going to be very welcoming or understanding of their needs. They may, not altogether unreasonably, feel that clubs aren't interested in them unless those clubs make positive statements around LGBTQ+ inclusion.

If people don't have a positive experience with cricket, and with cricket clubs, then they are less likely to think about playing the game. So yes, there is an image problem, but it's one that positive community engagement could help rectify. Clubs developing partnerships with schools, hosting some kind of informal community taster sessions in local leisure centres or working positively with younger people's organisations could make a real difference.

Do you think the cost of cricket is a barrier to entry for people who want to try the sport for the first time?

Yes, but it doesn't have to be,

Equipment is expensive. More crucially, cricket is perceived as expensive, and a game for people who are are financially well-off.

The first challenge is to eradicate the perception that cricket isn't for you if you're not well-off.

As a club we keep costs as low as possible. Our annual membership is £25 per year. Players aren't obliged to buy their own equipment - indeed, we encourage them not to until they're sure they're committed to playing regularly. We have an equipment sharing scheme. We provide generic white kit for Sunday games and have a full set of coloured kit for softball and T20s, so no-one has to buy their own kit. This means they're able to enjoy the game without having to worry about the financial impact.

We also make it clear that if anyone can't afford the annual subscription or match fees, they can talk to a committee member and we will find some way of helping them. No-one should be excluded from playing sport because they can't afford it.

What more do you think can be done to help get more people into cricket in Liverpool?

I've already made some suggestions. Most importantly, I think the onus is on clubs to be more outgoing and creative in their approaches to recruitment.

I believe that partnerships with schools are absolutely crucial, and can build on the existing success of junior programmes like Dynamos and All-Stars. Clubs need to demonstrate that they're community-minded and family focused - gone are the days of clubs being boys' networks - and I'd like to see more clubs putting on family fun days in which anyone can turn up and enjoy playing the game in an informal, non-pressurised setting.

Social and casual cricket is also important, with shorter and more accessible formats and relaxed games without any pressure or expectations. I'd love to see more clubs use softball cricket in these kinds of games, as it can be played without helmets or pads and with reasonably cheap bats. Unfortunately, most clubs don't offer much in the way of social, friendly cricket - let alone the more informal types of game.

Ultimately, if you want to see more people playing cricket then the solution is to become more inclusive. As Mersey Rose is showing, it is possible to take more inclusive approaches, especially in regards disability, women and LGBTQ+ inclusion but also in terms of affordability access. There's more work to do, but we're confident we're part of the solution.