Earlier this year I made a short post about the Compton Cricket Club. I realised it did not have enough information about the club so heres another post with more in depth information:
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The Compton Cricket Club (CCC), or the 'Homies and the Popz', is a cricket club based in, Compton, Los Angeles County, California, USA. The CCC is the only all American-born disadvantaged exhibition cricket team.
The team is currently appealing to major cash backers for their historical tour to Australia in February 2009.
Recently the Homies and the Popz Team founder, Ted Hayes and team member, Isaac Hayes were interviewed on Light FM Melbourne, Australia on the 27th of November.
The team, which includes Latino and African American ex-gang members, was founded in 1995 by US homeless activist Ted Hayes and Hollywood movie Producer Katy Haber to combat the negative effect of poverty, urban decay and crime in Compton. The club uses the ideals of sportsmanship, and the particular importance of etiquette and fair play in cricket, to help players develop respect for authority, a sense of self-esteem and self-discipline.
“The aim of playing cricket is to teach people how to respect themselves and respect authority so they stop killing each other”
-(Team Founder, Compton Cricket Club, Ted Hayes)
The 'Homies' mission is to:
1. Curb the negative effects of gang activities amongst the youth of Compton.
2. Addressing homelessness in the inner city through the principles and ethics of cricket.
3. Encourage and promote civility, good and productive citizenship.
The team motto of 'Let the game begin again in America' harkens back to former popularity of cricket in the United States during the 19th century.
The majority of the team is formed of the founding members and Hayes sees them as a "cross-generational village-like team".
Club history:
The club began in 1995 in the Los Angeles Dome Village, with initial promotion of the club and game through high school workshops. Since then, they have toured the UK in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001. These tours have included rapping for HRH Prince Edward at Buckingham Palace and presenting Gerry Adams with a cricket bat to help broker a peace in Northern Ireland. Disney bought the rights to make a movie about the team, although they have yet to do so.
In 2003, Warwickshire cricketer Paul Smith spent three weeks helping train the CCC. The trip was a part of Smith's work with 'Cricket Without Boundaries', a charity that seeks to empower communities through cricket.
Past and Present Activities:
CCC vs the Afghan national cricket team:
A match with the Afghanistan national cricket team had been organised for June 7, 2008. Unfortunately the match has had to be postponed due to lack of funding for the National Cricket team from Afghanistan to fly from their home camp to Los Angeles for the historical match.
The two clubs are working towards another match sometime around September 2008.
This will be the first time that a cricket team from Afghanistan has toured to America. The match will help raise money for an orphanage rebuilt by US marines in Afghanistan and continue the CCC's vital work around the world promoting greater peace through 'cricket diplomacy'.
Proposed tour of Australia:
There are currently reported plans for the Compton Cricket Club to tour Australia for which they are looking for sponsors and product donors. This has currently been postponed until February 2009. Preparations for their Australian tour are being managed by Hugh Snelgrove.
The club hope that the Australian tour will continue their development into a world class competitive and exhibition cricket team and sporting club. While the publicity generated by the tour will be used to highlight other Australian non-profit organizations that deal with similar issues in their own communities. Touring Australia also aims to raise awareness of the CCC with key stakeholders to improve cricket opportunities between the USA and Australia.
The proposed tour and background to the Compton Cricket Club has recently (May 2007 - June2008) received considerable attention in mainstream Australian and international media including CNN, Sky News, Channel 7, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC Radio National, Alpha magazine, Courier Mail, NT News, Ninemsn.com, ESPN.com, Dailynews.com, Centralian advocate & the Big Issue magazine. They have also been publicized on KPFK (Radio) and KABC-TV in Los Angeles USA. Music publicity includes articles in Faster Louder (online) and 3D music magazine as well as Sky News UK, and SBS World News (Sam Ikin, Jan 3rd 2008).
The CCC will utilise its high exposure to benefit other organizations in Australia attempting to deal with similar issues in their own community including:
1. Reclink Australia, who provide recreational opportunities for disadvantaged and were recently publicised on ABC’s reality TV program 'Choir Of Hard Knocks'.
2. The Big Issue Street Socceroo’s, who have now played at three Homeless World Cups, in England, South Africa and Holland.
3. The Mavis Abberton foundation, helping youth at risk through sport whose parents are in jail or have substance abuse problems.
The CCC will also play an exhibition cricket match at Australia's premier indigenous cricket competition the Imparja Cup in Alice Springs on the invitation from NT Cricket. A reunion with team members from an all indigenous side that toured the UK and played against the CCC in 2001 is also being planned. The Indigenous Australian's tour in 2001 was commemorating the 1868 tour to the UK by a roving XI of Aboriginal players - the first Australian cricket team to tour to England (See Ashley Malletts 'The Black Lords of Summer: The Story of the 1868 Aboriginal Tour of England and Beyond', University of Queensland Press, 2002).
Due to a lack of sponsorship the CCC was forced to postpone their inaugural Australian tour until February 2009 when they believe they will have enough financial and material support to fund their four week tour of Australia.
Cricket Rap Outta Compton:
The club has recently released two tracks from raps 'Shots' and 'Bullets' that aim to document their transition from ex-gangsters to global stardom[5]. Their cricket raps have recently (November 2007) aired on FBI 95.4FM & Koori 93.7FM radio programs respectively across Australia.
A music video about the Compton Cricket Club produced by current members plans to be presented to the public by the end of 2008.
Links to more information about the Compton Cricket Club:
*Acknowledgements to Wikipedia.org and owners of pictures and videos used.
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