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Introducing the CCC
Other | Thursday 1st December 2011 | Osh
When something happens in south central Los Angeles, nothing happens, just another… cricket game???
It might be true that results are sluggish in the official campaign to rid Compton of its violent culture. In the world of sport however something is definitely happening and its effects are being felt throughout the Compton community. The sport in question is not what you might expect from our friends across the pond. Indeed nor was it a sport that Ted Hayes had even considered before he was asked to be eleventh man at a match in Beverly Hills. “What’s cricket?” was his clueless response to the request and it was only after much coaxing from an expat friend that he consented to play. It proved to be a life-changing event for Hayes and more than a few others as well...
If you went to an average village cricket club in this country and asked them what they thought about the idea of filling their team with ex-gang members and the homeless they might have a few reservations. But this was exactly what Hayes went on to do and the result is not just a minor success story. He saw cricket as a ‘metaphor for life ‘ and as a long time homeless charity worker recognized it as an ideal means of helping his charges find their feet. In an interview with the BBC Hayes explains:
"We started training the homeless guys in alleyways, with rubbish bins as stumps, in the art of cricket […] most important is the etiquette of cricket - what it means to compete and win but be a gentleman about it."
This ramshackle beginning seems to fit the south central aesthetic but like many a rapper before them this tale is rags to riches- at least metaphorically. Within the same year Hayes had assembled a team and the funds to take the project on tour to these shores. It was a tour that would prove to be the first of many for the world’s first all-American cricket team. The project was such a blinding success that soon after their return home they lost almost all they’re players, most of them having moved out of homelessness.
In search of new talent Hayes expanded his project to Compton, encouraging the youth of the gang torn Los Angeles satellite to take up bats rather than gang colours. It would seem that in a town where kids were killing each other over the colour of their shoelaces, cricket was an alien enough entity not to have any gang affiliation. This means that for anyone who finds the thought of ex-thugs with cricket bats a daunting proposition at their local cricket club might just have to face their demons. The modern incarnation of the team, known locally as ‘The Homies and the Popz’, has returned to these shores three times in 1997, 1999 and 2001 and most recently toured Australia in February and we hope the party doesn’t stop any time soon.
As you might expect of a cricket team raised in Compton, the stigma of stuffiness that has often marred the reputation of cricket has been aptly lifted. Hayes’ two sons, both of whom play for the team, also comprise a hip-hop project called Cloth and their flagship song ‘Bullets’ directly references the transition from gangster to cricketer experienced by many of their teammates. Described by The Guardian’s Andy Bull as ‘the unlikeliest piece of hip hop you’ll ever hear’, the track also beat British rapper Roots Manuva’s track Again and Again to the top spot in Bull’s Guardian list of the best cricket songs ever. You can watch the cricket themed video via the link bellow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMoocnRm1Xs
