Inclusion or Exclusion- Evaluating Cricket for the Next Olympics

Inclusion or Exclusion- Evaluating Cricket for the Next Olympics

Cricket is not part of the Olympic Games despite having a massive following. Cricket is the second most popular sport, but it has surprisingly been missed in successive Olympic Games. The main reason for cricket’s exclusion from the Olympic games is the lack of entrants. Other reasons presented for cricket’s exclusion from the Olympic games include the huge logistical expenditures required to organize the games. Also, the requirement for a separate stadium and the game’s slow pace are some of the disadvantages. However, apart from the lack of entrants, the other reasons are not enough to warrant exclusion by the IOC. There are overwhelming reasons why the IOC should include cricket in future Olympic games.

Consequently, incorporating cricket into the Olympic Games will attract a large audience. Today, cricket has a global followership of about 2.5 billion people. Most ardent followers are Indians, but that does not mean that the cricket game is limited to that region. Cricket today enjoys massive support worldwide, and adopting it into the list of Olympic Games will boost its popularity even further (Kaufman & Patterson, 2005). Olympic organizers will reap the commercial benefits the sport offers, including the commercial adverts.

Also, including cricket in the Olympics will enhance women’s inclusion in sports. Women’s cricket tournaments performed well during the 2022 Commonwealth Games, eliciting the call for cricket’s inclusion in the Olympic Games. Gender equality is a fundamental value for the Olympics committee, and including cricket in the Olympics will bring women’s sports into the global spotlight. As more female cricketers showcase their talent on the biggest global stage, more girls will be motivated to participate in sports in the future.

Subsequently, the Olympic games instill pride among participating nations, and cricket’s inclusion will spur a sense of pride in the regions where the sport is prominent. Pakistan and Bangladesh have hardly had an Olympic history because cricket, the dominant game in these countries, has not been part of the Olympic games (Kaufman & Patterson, 2005). Once the sport is incorporated into the IOC list of Olympic games, participants from these countries will participate and stand a chance to raise their nations’ flags at the award ceremonies. Further,  cricket’s inclusion in the Olympic Games will also enrich the tournament’s diversity and history. The majority of cricket participants are from Asian countries that have not made an entry into the Olympic games before. Including them in cricket will spur a sense of a diverse tournament since people from across all regions will participate (Gupta, 2004). Cricket also has a history with the Olympic Games, having been enlisted as one of the sports in the 1900 Paris Olympics.

In conclusion, calls for cricket’s inclusion as one of the Olympic Games during the tournament are growing. The absence of entrants initially forced the Olympic Committee to exclude the game. Other disadvantages leading to its exclusion include the slow pace and the requirement of an extra stadium. A huge logistic expenditure to host the games also hinders its prospects. However, cricket has a massive global following, and its inclusion will draw significant commercial benefits to organizers. Besides, cricket offers an opportunity to boost women’s sports participation globally. The ultimate decision to include cricket in the Olympic calendar will require collaboration between the International Olympic Committee (OIC) and the International Cricket Council to alleviate scheduling issues.

References

Gupta, A. (2004). The globalization of cricket: the rise of the non-West. The International            Journal of the       History of Sport, 21(2), 257-276.

Kaufman, J., & Patterson, O. (2005). Cross-national cultural diffusion: The global spread of cricket. American Sociological Review, 70(1), 82-110.

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Using the 2020 IOC list of Recognized Sports (non-Olympic sports) or those that are not in the Olympic Games, Which sport would you argue for inclusion or to be dropped from the next Summer or Winter Olympics?

Describe in detail (2 pages minimum) why you would add/drop that sport and what the advantages and disadvantages would be for that sport’s inclusion in the Games.