Steve Bunce: Grounds for optimism on Corfu (3 September 1997)

Wednesday 3 September 1997

Grounds for optimism on Corfu

Steve Bunce on Wednesday

NEXT week, an MCC team will walk from cafes, bars, hotel lobbies and other acquired changing areas that surround the forlorn pitch in the middle of Corfu`s main square for a series of matches. They will be stepping back nearly 140 years to a time when visiting sailors first played the fishermen, bakers and labourers of Corfu on the Napoleonic army parade ground.

Now Greek cricket is ready to enter the modern age, and new grounds, including a purpose-built stadium for 15,000 people, are planned for Corfu and the surrounding islands. Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Test fast bowler from Pakistan, has been linked to the job as technical director of coaching and cricket development in Greece. He is likely to accept, having an intimate knowledge of arid wickets.

In 1995, Greece was admitted to the International Cricket Council. It was a late acceptance for Europe`s second oldest cricketing nation. The oldest club on Corfu, Gymnasticos, were founded in 1893.

The Prince of Wales and Greece`s King George II, who was the patron of the Corfu Cricket Association, sat at one of the cafes on the dreamy promenade and watched as a team from Adml Ernie Chatfield`s fleet of 45 ships played a Corfu XI in 1932.

In 1946, Corfu`s prodigal cricketing son returned but there is no record of Prince Philip actually playing when his frigate, Magpie, met the locals. Today, there are eight clubs on the island.

Next week, contracts to buy land for a new ground will be signed. Another ground is under construction, as part of a community sports complex in the resort area of Acharavi. The artificial pitch will be ready next year and cricket will be part of the games programme for schools.

A ground is also planned near one of the island`s best hotels and, in 1999, construction of another will start on the island of Vigos, a five-minute journey by boat from Corfu harbour.

Corfiot cricket has had its own glossary of terms since 1900, some Italian in origin, and the full lexicon appeared in the seminal history of Corfu cricket, Play`s The Game, written by Major J K Forte, British vice-consul on Corfu. Their game of block and wallop, or fermaro kai issia, expresses their often ferocious ambitions.

In 1959, Forte wrote an impassioned letter to The Daily Telegraph appealing to "all lovers of the game" to save any equipment from the scrap heap and send it to the island. Within a few months, 50 bats, 350 balls and two mats had been donated by readers.

The main square in Corfu is a lively place at 3 pm in the middle of each week in the summer when the 33-over games take place. Michael Blumberg, editorial director of Cricket World magazine, visited in May to finalise details for the Acharavi site and attended a game at the Kalo Spianada. "The games are sometimes watched by 1,000 people and always attract a high percentage of children," said Blumberg.

There are idols in Corfu`s cricket legend. Sixty years ago, there was a fat man called Mik Camilleris who was so obstructed by his large belly and so adored by the Corfu cognoscenti that he was forced to play with just one hand, his belly pointing back down the wicket at the bowler. According to Forte, he was a prolific run scorer.

In 1970, an attempt to introduce the women`s game ended in blood and tears. "Stonewaller Stamatella received a bouncer full on the nose from erratic Elleni which shattered both her bone and her dignity amidst a shower of blood and hullabaloo," wrote Forte. The military governor shortly after placed a ban on women playing.

Sport on Corfu is now dominated by the speed of Demetrius Daphnis and Spiros Kantaris, often referred to as `Corfu`s Botham`, and the batting of Yannis Pigis, Costas Vassilis and Joe Misfout, the Greek national captain. When John Cleese and Willie Rushton played there in 1978, one can only imagine the levity as the pair traipsed from Spiro`s bar on the boundary to the field of play. Luckily, Ken Barrington hit 113 to lead the Lord`s Taverners to victory by one run.

The modern game on the ancient ground in Corfu was nurtured by Yannis Arvanitakis, who still coaches children in Athens, but the honour of being the only Greek to play Test cricket belongs to Corfiot Xenophon Balaskas, who played nine times for South Africa against England, Australia and New Zealand in 1930. The status of the national side - who are led by Corfiots, include exclusively Greek players and won the inaugural European Cricket Federation indoor championship in 1995 - will surely change.

Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/)