HS Sport 30.3.2004 - Maija Scamans is a missionary - on behalf of cricket in Finland

By Hannu Hänninen

Helsinki resident Maija Scamans does missionary work with a difference.

"Cricket is a fascinating game. It is both a one-on-one duelling sport and a team game."

"In schools, cricket can be applied not just as a part of the physical exercise curriculum but also in support of tolerance and against racism", says Scamans.

Maija Scamans is trying to change the generally-held belief among Finns, which is somewhat different. She describes the normal stereotyped response to the game as follows: "For a good many people, cricket is a game of the English-speaking world where the main object of the exercise is to stand around on the grass, occasionally breaking off for cups of tea and to eat dainty cucumber sandwiches."

Scamans is a class teacher at Ilola Elementary School in Vantaa. In her spare time she is a qualified England and Wales Cricket Board Level I coach, and her role as coaching coordinator within the Finnish Cricket Association includes taking the game into schools in this country.

She has clearly succeeded in her task. Just over a week ago, at a forum meeting in Helsinki of the International Cricket Council's European Development Program, Scamans took an ICC award for her efforts on behalf of Finnish cricket in general and junior coaching in particular.

Although cricket is a big sport worldwide, in Finland it is still in the Lilliput category. Hence the scale of the cricketing invasion in schools is also quite modest.

"We've taken cricket to about a dozen schools in Helsinki and Vantaa. The tactic has been to keep a few schools properly interested rather than to attempt to spread ourselves all over the place. We do not have the resources for that as yet", explains Scamans.

In the full competitive game, cricket is played between two teams of eleven on a circular or oval grass pitch roughly 150 metres in diameter (see linked article). In schools, however, the dimensions are a great deal smaller.

"The game we take into schools is very much simplified. You can play cricket indoors or outside, and it can be adapted to suit the number of players available. In terms of physical education it is an ideal sport, as you can develop numerous spin-off games and activities from it", Scamans goes on.

"The equipment is not a problem, either. A light plastic set of bat, ball, and stumps can be carried along easily."

Maija Scamans says that teachers have been enthusiastic about the arrival of an outside coach. The kids themselves have been attracted by the versatility of the sport.

"The teachers should perhaps be encouraged to take a closer look at the game and how it is played", ponders Scamans. She has in fact been part of a group translating a coaching manual into Finnish, with funding provided by the European Cricket Council (ECC).

Scamans believes that cricketing activities in schools are now at a critical phase. "We have to get schools cricket established somehow, in order to get it included as one sport on the P.E. curriculum. The next phase would be to get the schoolchildren so interested in the game that they would continue to play it during the summer months, and this would gradually trickle down into the clubs in the form of new members."

"We strongly encourage clubs to start up their own junior teams. So far only a couple of cricket clubs in Finland have it in their programmes", says Scamans.

Apparently the feedback from parents of children having cricket coaching at school has also been positive. "All the parents whose kids have been involved have clearly been keen on the idea."

There will be a perfect opportunity for anyone to take a closer look at cricket in May, during the "European Spirit of Cricket Weekend". This will be marked in Finland on May 8th at Suomenlinna, with a programme that includes adult and children's matches.

Scamans is eager to attract new young players into the cricketing fold, but she says the game is suited to all ages.

"It's perfectly possible to pick the game up as an adult. You can play at many levels, and you do not need to be some kind of super-athlete. In the early stages a player's skills develop quickly and the interest is easily maintained. The only problem is that it is a hobby that consumes a good deal of time", says Scamans.

Maija Scamans herself is a good example of one who took up the sport later in life. She is married to an Englishman, and started from the non-playing side: "I first got interested in the game socially. I've now been playing for four years. This spring will be my second season in the Finnish league, where I am a member of a mixed men's and women's team from Helsinki."

Cricket is a distinctly multicultural sport in Finland, since only around one in five of the 600 or so active players are Finnish nationals. The remainder are ex-pats from cricketing countries or foreigners who have been drawn into the game by friends.

"The FCA also has an anti-racism project on the drawing-board. We have already agreed that one Indian player and one from Barbados will be taking part", reports Scamans.

On a somewhat larger scale in the tolerance department, Scamans points to the recent case in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistan and India, who have for years been developing rival nuclear deterrents and keeping up a climate of mutual hostility, at last managed to achieve some kind of rapprochement - on the cricket pitch.

For the first time in 14 years, teams from the two countries met "on home turf" in a series of one-day international matches. Other recent encounters have always been in the course of international tournaments in third countries.

Amidst tight security, the experiment apparently passed off extremely well, and the quality of the cricket on both sides was little short of stellar, giving the large crowds no earthly cause to bicker about ethnic differences. India eventually won the five-match series 3-2, but the real victory was in the relaxation of tension and the reduction of political posturing.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 23.3.2004