S E T T I N G T H E T O N E F O R H O W T H E G A M E I S P L AY E D ā¢ F I T Z D A R E S . C O M ā¢ F I F T H E D I T I O N , C H R I S T M A S 2 0 1 6
DIARY The day I won the World Cup ā and retired
OSCARS Will Natalie Portman be the Academyās First Lady?
HISTORY The Native American pioneers of the forward pass
BY DAN CARTER
BY JOE HODGSON
BY SALLY JENKINS
RACING Willie Carson and Jim Crowleyās training guide
How sport is helping Rwanda bounce back By Jonathan Agnew
he construction of a national cricket stadium in Rwanda, on the site of one of the worst atrocities of recent times, is another illustration of how sport can make a profound impact on peopleās lives. There is a nice symmetry that something that gives people such enjoyment will emerge out of an event as hideous as genocide. The original idea that led to the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundationās (RCSF) creation belonged to the late Christopher Shale, who tragically died in 2011. His son Alby has driven the idea towards reality, and he stresses the fact that the project is ānot just about bricks and mortar, it is more about the individuals whose lives we are changingā. One such individual is the womenās team captain, Mary Maina. From a cricketing point of view Mary says the project has given āa tremendous hope within the confederation and this means we
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can up our game psychologicallyā. The eļ¬ects of the new stadium are clearly more far-reaching than just within Rwandan cricket. āIt is bringing job opportunities now with construction,ā Mary continues, āthen maintenance and cleaning; impacting peopleās lives positively.ā
You play in any space where a ball can bounce, any space in which you can field, any space you can find The history of the site itself is something we must absolutely respect and is starkly explained by Alby. āIn April 1994, on a ļ¬eld in a school in Kigali, 4,000 Rwandans were abandoned by US peacekeepers and attacked by local militia with machetes, grenades and guns. Eight years later, by some strange turn of fate, that same ļ¬eld became Rwandaās ļ¬rst
cricket pitch.ā The situation is comparable to that in Afghanistan, when adversity meant a lot of displaced people moved to Pakistan. Despite never having had any real interest in cricket, they picked up the sport, took it back to their country, and now Afghanistan are a thriving nation playing good cricket. Perhaps through the vision of a father and the work of a son, Rwanda may get there one day as well. It is wonderful the way Rwanda is embracing cricket, and that people here are doing what they can to provide them with a new interest in their lives as they try to recover. People have been incredibly generous in the fundraising, with very highproļ¬le people behind it, including David Cameron, who I saw bowling some terrible pies at Alby in the nets a couple of years ago during Albyās successful world-record attempt at the longest ever net session. Although that record was beaten shortly afterwards, this paved the way for a
fantastic, just ridiculous, achievement in May this year when Rwandan international captain Eric Dusingizimana spent 51 hours in the nets to take the record back. He then came over to England and, between attending fundraising events, spent some time with the one-day squad. While the record-breaking may have just been some fun, establishing the stadium is serious too and they want it to work. While Mary concedes that it is not hard to play cricket in Rwanda, the current circumstances that she describes hardly seem conducive to help the countryās fastest-growing sport: āThere is only one pitch in Kigali, and few resources. You play in any space where a ball can bounce, any space in which you can ļ¬eld, any space you can ļ¬nd.ā With the sport growing for both genders, for adults and children, she also points out how the new stadium will allow them to have two games going on at the same time, which is so important as ā