British empire aflevering

Hej, jeg ville høre om der var en venlig sjæl, der ville rette min aflevering i engelsk om british imperialism and cricket? I må meget gerne også skrive om noget kan undlades, da jeg desværre skal skære ned. Tusind tak på forhånd! 

Cricket and empire

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world. A large chunk of human population remains unaware of the existence of cricket yet it has the second highest fan following among all the sports in the whole world. Cricket is played around the world, though it is primarily more popular in commonwealth countries like Great Britain, Australia, India, South Africa and the West Indies.

But cricket is not just a game. As we previously saw in the “Empire of Cricket” documentary series, cricket spread globally with the expansion of the British Empire. Cricket was and will always be a symbol of british imperialism. The origin of cricket lies in Great Britain. The game quickly became popular in all the swaths of lands that were once colonized by the Great Britain, which was between the late 16th and early 18th centuries.

In the West Indies, the core values of cricket as the game was invented and developed by the English were pride, unity and cultural diversity. Above those, the sport represents slavery and racial segregation. Cricket was in the grip of slavery and intended for whites only. However, the natives had a role peripherally. They would be ordered to retrieve the ball from the cane fields.

Gradually, the slaves developed a more athletic physique than their white masters. The slaves considered returning the cricket ball as their exclusive chance to demonstrate this power.

Due to abolishing slavery in 1834, black west indians deliberately began to play alongside whites. By the turn of the 20th century, black west indians were no longer excluded from the sport.

As opposed to the West Indies, cricket has always been a game for each and everyone in Australia. The fundamental strength of the game was “if you're good enough, you'll get there”.

This is Donald Bradman an ideal and perfect example of. The story that the Australian cricketer once practiced alone with simply a cricket stump and a golf ball is a part of Australian folklore.

Australia has dominated the empire of cricket and Bradman plays a huge role in this. Cricket in Australia would provide a common bond as a young nation united behind heroes like the world’s greatest sportmen.

Australia’s unquenchable fighting spirit and determination to win has always been tremendous. The mindset is all about winning. In addition to this, Australian cricket has managed to serve both the purpose of paying imperial homage and exercising Australian nationalism. Australian cricket goes way back. They have always been playing cricket since the country was established as a british penal colony at the beginning of the 19th century. Australia is the foundation of the active federation in 1901 that transformed five british colonies into one new nation. At the same time, the foundations of the domestic game were being laid with the beginning of the great cricket competition.

As mentioned earlier, it was the english that invented cricket. The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) codified the laws of the game and is worldwide considered as the home of cricket. In Great Britain, cricket and british imperialism are both seen as a form of morality. Until the 1960’s, class distinction dominated Great Britain. English cricket was even psychically divided between the upper class (the amateurs) and the lower class (the professionals). The lower class even had to pay to perform, although it was ironically this class that made a succes of cricket by the mid 19th century.

Humiliation is also associated with english cricket. The natives began to do it so much better than the colonial master, the english found it difficult to accept the humiliation of defeat. The sport was also a tradition of heavy betting and there was money to be made of the game.