Northern Alberta cricket association looks for city to pitch in with more infrastructure

Growing interest in the sport of cricket in northern Alberta has organizers asking the city of Grande Prairie to look for ways to help expand with more infrastructure.

The Grande Prairie Cricket Association, which calls Head and Salmond Family Park home, started a decade ago with just 25 players. Last season there were 75.

Digvijai Singh Parmar, who helped start the cricket league and is the current president of the association, says the cricket community continues to grow.

"We see that there are people still playing in public parks here and there," Parmar said.

"We have potential for 10 teams here. The infrastructure is not there."

Parmar said finding a community of cricket players helped him stay longer than originally planned in Grande Prairie.

"There was no sign of cricket. So I was very depressed,'' Parmar told a city council meeting on Nov 14.

In 2020, the group received $10,300 from the city to help install a turf grass pitch.

Parmar said adding seating, a practice pitch and investing in equipment would allow more people to enjoy the game in Grande Prairie, a city located about 450 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

He said this would not only benefit locals, but also people travelling to Grande Prairie for tournaments from across northern British Columbia and Alberta.

City council voted unanimously to look at ways to help meet the needs of the association.

"There is obviously a need, but (let's) find a way to support them in a way that would benefit them the most," said city councillor Kevin O'Toole.

O'Toole started watching locals like Parmar play park cricket back in 2011. It was sparked by the curiosity of his parents.

"Way back in the day, my mum and dad used to live across a field where they used to practice," he said.

"My mum and dad were both elderly and they wondered what was going on over there."

O'Toole said he continued to visit the players who were there week after week.

"I told them eventually that I was a city councillor and that's when everything started to happen. So they gave me a list of things that they'd like to see," O'Toole said.

Retaining newcomers 

O'Toole and the association said that the expanding cricket infrastructure has kept people in the city, especially those with roots in countries like India and Pakistan where the game has more widespread popularity.

Waqar Khan, association vice president, said an investment from the city could be particularly valuable in keeping newcomers like international students in the area.

"If they have more options to be more engaged and be more active, they probably prefer to stay in Grande Prairie, which is probably one of the biggest challenges," Khan said.

The association has also expanded to include youth and women's programming alongside the men's league.

"And now it has grown to the point where we need to extend it, otherwise we won't be able to attract more people," Khan said.