Compton Cricket Club

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Umbro photographs The Compton CC in South Central LA, February 2009 UmbroCCC.jpg
Umbro photographs The Compton CC in South Central LA, February 2009

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 exhibition cricket team. The CCC has toured the United Kingdom four times.

Contents

The night of the photo shoot for an ad campaign featuring the CCC modelling the new National English Football jersey in LA, [1] one of the team members was an innocent bystander in a drive-by shooting in Compton and died. [2] [3]

Background and mission of the team

The badge and motto of the Compton Cricket Club ComptonCCEmblem.jpg
The badge and motto of the Compton Cricket Club

The team was originally called the Los Angeles Krickets. In the early nineties the club toured England where they played at Hambledon. Upon their return the Los Angeles Krickets took a new direction when Disney signed up all members of the team for a film project. The publicity garnered by the tour was unprecedented in American cricket circles and included coverage by BBC Four, KTLA, ITV, Sky News, The Australian , The Daily Telegraph and numerous local newspapers in England and Australia.

Compton Cricket Club was started at the Dome Village Homeless Community in Downtown Los Angeles in 1995, by US homeless activist Ted Hayes and Hollywood movie producer Katy Haber,[ citation needed ] to combat the negative effects of poverty and homelessness. After a highly successful tour of Great Britain later that year, the LA Krickets expanded to include inner city Latino gang members from the City of Compton. The Compton Homies and the Popz (Compton Cricket Club) emerged in 1996 as the first All American Inner City Cricket Team. 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 Compton Homies travelled to the UK in 1997, 1999, and 2001, joined LASCA (the Los Angeles Social Cricket Alliance) and won the British Cup twice.

(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 the 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".

Tour highlights

The LA KRICKETS 1995 tour of the UK, laid the ground rules for future tours, sponsorship and partners and resulted in a movie deal with Disney. Since then, the Compton Homes and the Popz (CCC) 1997, 1999 and 2001 tours included games against the Windsor Castle Staff cricket team, "Rap" session rapping for HRH Prince Edward at Windsor Castle, a visit with His Royal Highness at Buckingham Palace, and with the Rt Hon Mo Mowlam at Stormont Castle, a cricket bat presentation to Gerry Adams at Stormont, Belfast and a Hurling Stick to David Pringle, to help broker the peace accord in Northern Ireland. [4] [ failed verification ]

A 2001 Game against the legendary Lashings team, with Brian Lara playing on the CCC cricket Club side.

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. [5]

Current activities and plans

CCC vs the Afghan national cricket team

A match with the Afghanistan national cricket team is being planned. [6] The original date for this groundbreaking cricket event 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.

This will be the first time that a cricket team from Afghanistan has toured 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'.

Tour of Australia

The clubs hopes that their recent historic Australian tour January 31 – February 12, 2011 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 US and Australia.

The proposed tour and background to the Compton Cricket Club has recently (May 2007 – February 2010) 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, Dumbo Feather, pass it on magazine, 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 3, 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. Credo Cricket, who provide recreational opportunities for disadvantaged
  2. Father Chris Rileys Youth off the Streets Program,
  3. Queensland premiers disaster relief fund, raising much needed support for victims of the devastating 2010–2011 Queensland floods.

Project Manager for their Australian Tour, Mr Hugh Snelgrove presented the team's story as well as what he has planned for their historic tour at The Pecha Kucha (Sydney Chapter) fundraising night for Haiti at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney at the beginning of 2010. [7] [ failed verification ]

Cricket Rap outta compton: "Bullets" (3:51)

The club has recently released two tracks from raps 'Shots' and 'Bullets' that aim to document their transition from ex-gangsters to global stardom. [8] Their cricket raps have recently (November 2007) aired on FBI 94.5 FM & 93.7 FM Koori Radio programs respectively in Australia.

A music video along with a press release [9] about the Compton Cricket Club produced by current members plans to be presented to the public by the end of 2008.

In March 2009, SKY News released an article about the teams endeavors producing and publicising their inaugural Music TV video clip on their website. [10]

On March 13 Bullets was played at Los Angeles City Hall to cricket fans, diplomats, and members of local cricket organizations of Southern California a part of a solidarity rally, to protest the recent terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan national cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan. [11]

In March, MTV (UK) played 'Bullets' on their website a part of their 'show us what your made of' itdoesnthavetohappen.co.uk anti knife crime campaign on their website. [12]

In April, Neil Hannon blogging for The Guardian Newspaper (UK) called 'Bullets' a great song about cricket. [13] This was soon followed with another article in major Australian newspaper, The Age affirming 'Bullets' global appeal and critical acclaim. [14] [ failed verification ]

In May, Channel V – Australia's premier music television station chose Bullets to be played on its interactive music TV Show 'U Channel'. [15] On April 27, 28 and 29 'Bullets' was voted No. 1 unsigned artist by Channel V's TV and web audience.

On May 9 Cloth & the Compton CC performed at the Hollywood Ashes celebrity Cricket tournament.

First Sydney fundraiser pre-tour promotion

In September, four members of the CCC flew to Sydney to attend a fundraiser in their honor, to raise much needed funds for their Australian tour. The fundraiser held on September 25 raised over $30,000 in cash and tour sponsorship. Cricket Australia, Nudie Juice, Cricket NSW, The Hughenden Hotel, Santavittoria, Otway Estate Wines, Curwoods Lawyers, Kewarra Resort Cairns and The Royals.

The club members airfares and fundraiser was paid for and organised by Hugh Snelgrove, who was also the project manager of the Australian tour.

During their ten days in Sydney, they appeared on The TODAY Show, 2GB/Christian/koori Radio, The Age, Daily Telegraph & Thepunch.com.au.

Other highlights included:

Historic Australia Tour January 29 – February 12, 2011

Between January 29 and February 12, 2011 the Compton Cricket Club became the first all American born cricket club to tour Australia. Highlights from the tour included:

Money raised:

Tour highlights:

Awards

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. Compton CC photographed a part of global Advertising campaign for New English Soccer Jersey Archived April 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Archive blogs". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on January 23, 2022.
  3. Team member named in drive by shooting
  4. Gibson, Joel (June 4, 2007). "How the googly turned youths from LA's gangs". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  5. BBC Sport Website – Spreading the cricket gospel
  6. Compton Cricket Club – The Afghan Games
  7. "Sydney No. 14 – PechaKucha Night". Pecha-kucha.org. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
  8. Compton Cricket Club – Compton Cricket Raps
  9. Press release – American-born Cricketers Release First Ever Hip-Hop Cricket Rap Music Video [ permanent dead link ]
  10. SKY News website – Legendary Cricketers' Rap Video Archived March 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Cricket Fans in Los Angeles Unite to 'Bat Against Terrorism' Rally". Archived from the original on October 14, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2009.
  12. MTV UK
  13. "Eleven great songs about cricket, compiled by Andy Bull". The Guardian . April 1, 2009. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023.
  14. "Cricket is saving lives on the streets of LA". The Age . April 16, 2009. Archived from the original on January 30, 2018.
  15. Bullets (3:51) chosen to be shown on Channel V's interactive music show 'U Channel' May 2009 [ dead link ]

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