The obvious answer is cricket but look deeper and you will see that these are places where cricket clubs are taking practical measures to include features which appeal to the multicultural communities they serve. Cricket is a global sport, and so as the English season draws to a close, excitement is building in India for the West Indies and South Africa team tours in October and November and in Australia for the men’s Ashes Series.

In his introduction to Cricket Australia’s Multicultural Action Plan, Nick Hockley, the Chief Executive at the time, emphasised the importance of sport by saying

“…our shared love of the game helps build relationships, cultural understanding, and strengthens communities.”

This action plan included many carefully researched strategies to increase the engagement specifically of Australian communities of South Asian heritage. Australia has a rapidly growing South Asian population, which is why this was the initial area of focus for improvement. Clear paths were set out to help achieve aims such as “Ingrained consideration of South Asian communities and their specific cultural preferences as core attendees across all elite cricket”.

In an earlier practical action, the Western Australian Cricket Association produced a guide to outline different uniform options for women and girls to wear when playing cricket. The uniforms adhere to religious and cultural expectations and so the guidelines helped the state’s cricket clubs and associations create more inclusive places for women to enjoy cricket.

In 2023, the BBC reported that the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) found racism, sexism, classism and elitism were widespread in English and Welsh cricket. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has since taken steps to improve pathways for underrepresented communities in playing, officiating and coaching.

Cricket clubs in Edgbaston, Essex, Melbourne and Kent among others have all provided facilities for those staff, players, and/or spectators who wish to perform wudu, the Muslim pre-prayer ablution ritual. This is a positive contribution to make people feel welcome by not just respecting their faith but also providing concrete solutions to issues which have previously been seen as a barrier to engagement. Edgbaston, Essex and Melbourne all chose to install the WuduMate Classic, an ablution appliance designed for medium usage environments. Manufactured in high quality, easy to clean sanitary grade acrylic, the WuduMate Classic’s fixed, almost indestructible seat is ideal for a public wudu facility. Kent chose the WuduMate Compact, designed for lower use environments or for where space is limited. Both of these models can be comfortably used by adults and children and can be configured with some level of accessibility for disabled users.

Find out more about WuduMate products on their Barbour Product Search page