Tangiers Cricket Stadium: a new chapter in a construction tycoon's dream
The world's newest international cricket venue, the 141st to stage one-day cricket, will be unveiled on Monday in a most unlikely location, at Tangiers in French-speaking northern Africa
Charlie Austin
11-Aug-2002
The world's newest international cricket venue, the 141st to
stage one-day cricket, will be unveiled on Monday in a most
unlikely location, at Tangiers in French-speaking northern
Africa.
South Africa will take on Pakistan in the first match of the
Morocco Cup 2002, a triangular tournament also involving Sri
Lanka that marks the latest chapter in the growth of a remarkable
cricketing empire.
Its all part of an ambitious Dubai-based construction tycoon's
dream - part commercial, part utilitarian - to globalise the game
of cricket, especially throughout the Arab world.
Abdur Rahmann Bukhatir's involvement with cricket started in the
1970's in the desert city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, when
he created the Cricketer's Benefit Fund Series (CBFS), a
fundraising vehicle for retired, underpaid Asian cricketers of
yesteryear.
But the CBFS mushroomed into far more than a cricketers' pension
scheme. Sharjah held its first official One-Day International in
1981 and by the 1990's the CBFS tri-series had developed into a
regular biannual event, feeding Asia's apparently insatiable
appetite for limited overs cricket.
And as the value of television rights soared throughout the
1990's, Sharjah became a financial honeypot, offering Asian
cricket boards a valuable revenue stream and the players
astronomical prize money.
But the new millennium brought fresh challenges, as the CBFS was
faced was confronted by a grave image crisis, as Sharjah became
embroiled in the match fixing scandal that rocked international
cricket.
For years the plethora of matches played at Sharjah (no other
venue has staged more ODIs) had attracted suspicions that
bookmakers had successfully fixed matches.
Amidst allegations that the tournament was fixed in favour of
Pakistan, the Indian government stopped their team from visiting
Sharjah for three years.
With England and Australia also wary of playing there, the CBFS's
future appeared to be in jeopardy, as the value of its television
rights plummeted.
Ironically, the crisis only served to broaden Buhatir's horizons,
as the CBFS moved into television production, setting up Taj
Television and launching a dedicated sports channel called TEN
Sports, a development that paved the way for the new
"made-for-television" stadium in Tangiers.
Morocco will now provide TEN Sports with the compelling cricket
content that it needs to compete with the more established sports
channels such as Star Sports and ESPN that dominate the Asian
television market.
And despite its francophone heritage, the location has two
distinct attractions: a perfect Mediterranean climate that
provides for a long season during the southern hemisphere winter
and a nearby Asian population in Europe that Bukhatir's hopes
will embrace the venture.
"Morocco is very close to Europe and it will be very easy for
Indians and Pakistanis living in Spain and Portugal to come and
watch matches," said Bukhatir.
But although CBFS's involvement is primarily a commercial
venture, Bukhatir is a fanatical cricket fan, possessing a
genuine philanthropists desire to develop the game, a fact borne
out by the scope and scale of his financial investment.
They have already pumped close to USD 15 million into Morocco,
building two stadiums in Tangiers and Rabat, as well as employing
three full-time coaches, including former Indian all-rounder
Mohinder Amaranath, to work with local cricketers.
The infrastructure and coaches will help the Federation Royale
Marocaine de Cricket (FRMC) - which Bukhatir helped set-up and
acquire Affiliate Status of the International Cricket Council -
to foster the game.
Currently there are just 280 regular cricketers and eight teams
in Morocco competing in a 30-over league, but Amaranath believes
that the FRMC can generate much greater interest in the game.
"Cricket in Morocco is like a new language," he said. "When we
started two years ago no-one knew about the game, but they now
better. The game will grow in the future as people become more
aware."
Perhaps the CBFS is unlikely to convert large numbers of
Morocco's football loving, cafe lounging public to cricket, but
they are certainly trying to capture local interest in Tangiers,
offering free entry into the stadium and the chance to win
valuable prizes to those who turn up to watch the games.
And the spectators are not the only ones offered incentives
either, as the CBFS has put up an astonishing USD 250,000 pot of
prize money for the teams, ensuring that the triangular
tournament will be taken very seriously indeed.
At the moment the 5000-seater Tangiers Cricket Stadium is in a
state of frantic half-completion. With 24 hours to go till the
curtain rises bulldozers are still landscaping, walls are still
being painted and terracotta tiles are still being hammered onto
the roof.
Situated adjacent to the verdant lawns of the Royal Golf Club,
looking out on to the hills surrounding Tangiers that are dotted
with plush white villas, the venue will be spectacular when
finished.
The interior is closer to completion and very impressive, with
excellent state-of-the-art facilities for the players, officials,
media and the entourage of VIPs who are being invited to the
inaugural tournament.
ICC match referee, Mike Procter, who inspected the venue's
facilities, was fulsome in his support: "The stadium is ideal for
international cricket and I have no hesitation in recommending
its approval."
Crucially, the cricket facilities are finished. There are seven
practice nets all in working order, the outfield is striped in
lush, green grass and the pitch boosts a gleaming white colour,
similar in look to the high scoring surfaces common at Sharjah.
The exact nature of the pitch though is a point of conjecture.
The two club standard matches played on it in June suggested that
it would suit the spinners, but local observers have suggested
that it has now hardened up, potentially offering the fast
bowlers some pace and bounce.
That will be welcomed by the likes of hard-hitting strokeplayers
such as Sanath Jayasuriya, Lance Klusener and Shahid Afridi, who
will already be relishing the challenge of clearing the
relatively short boundaries.
Certainly the CBFS will be hoping that the new venue starts with
a bang. An exciting, high scoring tournament will go a long way
to justifying the whole ambitious project.
But perhaps the most crucial factor that will determine whether
the CBFS's risky decision to delve into television is successful
or not will be whether they can lure India over to play in the
near future.
To that end the CBFS is desperate for Morocco's reputation to be
squeaky clean, welcoming the advice of the ICC's Anti Corruption
Unit enthusiastically and taking the issue of security seriously.
Some measures are mere window dressing, such as the signboard
nailed to the main entrance that announces in bold red writing
that, "BETTING AND GAMBLING ON CRICKET IS ILLEGAL AND STRICTLY
PROHIBITED."
But the widespread use of video surveillance outside the dressing
rooms and in the team hotels, as well as the now standard mobile
phone ban, will make it harder for determined bookmakers to
communicate with corrupt players.
And should the Tangiers Cricket Stadium be successful in
fostering a clean image, there is even the possibility of
becoming a neutral Test venue, as security fears continue to
disrupt cricket in Pakistan and Zimbabwe.
However, talk of Test cricket here is premature, first the locals
have to be persuaded to embrace the game, a task that starts in
earnest this week.