Confidential: Cricket returns to Mallorca - Also, it must be time to "Open up" all sport!

I am happy to be able to announce that The Balearic Cup the annual inter island cricket competition is to go ahead here in Mallorca, starting this Friday 21st May through to Sunday 23rd May at the municipal sports ground situated in Cala Millor on the East coast of the island.

After the competition had to be cancelled last year because of Covid-19 organisers are delighted to be able to announce that this year the Balearic Cup will go ahead as planned. The Mallorca Cricket Club committee has worked very hard to ensure everything is in place for this great weekend of cricket.

As hosts, Mallorca CC will open the tournament by playing Ibiza CC on Friday 21st (start time -12.30pm) followed by Ibiza CC v Menorca CC on Saturday 22nd (start time - 12 noon) finally Mallorca CC play Menorca CC in the final game of the tournament on Sunday 23rd (start time -12 noon).

As you would expect there are certain Covid protocols that have to be adhered to - including the reduction of possible attendees from a capacity of 300 to 150. Furthermore, social distancing will have to be observed and the usual rules about face-masks for non-players made plain. Nevertheless, the three teams representing their islands are desperate to become involved once again in this popular tournament.

Cricket at Cala Millor

I have been talking to MCC committee member and representative of the Tourism Consortium of Sant Llorenc & Son Servera (Cala Millor) Roshan Goonesekera, who has done so much to make the Balearic Cup happen this year after the disappointment of 2020. Roshan tells me that all the teams are being ‘housed’ in Cala Millor’s, Castell de Mar Hotel, which is just a 500 metre walk to the cricket ground.

As is tradition, the tournament dinner will take place in the hotel on Saturday night, however this year it will take the form of a buffet. Under the auspices of Cricket Espana, two independent umpires have been appointed and in a new initiative all of the matches will be live-streamed on YouTube with accompanying commentary.

An awful lot of hard work over two years has gone into re-setting the Balearic Cup here in Mallorca - so thanks to the organisers for making it happen and more importantly bringing competitive cricket back to the island once again.

Give sport a Chance

As I’m on the subject of sport, I have to say that it was good to see via the MDB and social media Real Mallorca fans being able to support their team once again, even with reduced numbers. As a grandfather of a football and rugby mad grandson living in the United Kingdom, I have to say that it has taken a rather long time in partially ‘normalising’ team sports over there.

My son and his friends have been urging authorities in his part of the world to open-up ‘outside’ sports of all descriptions for quite some time now. Indeed, here in Mallorca friends with lively kids struggled to work out why their youngsters weren’t allowed to play or practice in a similar manner. Rather them playing sport outside than sat in a bedroom staring at some awful device all day long surely?

Indeed, as a well known tennis ‘tragic’ I couldn’t believe that in the UK ‘outside’ tennis was banned for so long. And the banning of golf, when even in a ‘foursome’ players would be far apart all of the time was frankly ludicrous. It’s not that I’m making a special case for outside sport - it’s just that sport at anytime, given an outside environment, has to be good for the wellbeing of its participants.

Two wheels or four?

Last weekend in my part the island was the 2nd time in three weeks that our local village was once again in ‘lockdown’ for more than a few hours as a cycle race trundled through our, and quite a few other villages. Perhaps it is because our corner of the island is both beautiful and mountainous that we get so many two wheeled events that take place.

Mind you, we also get motor rally time trials and the like screeching past us during intervening weekends, so as to make some of my neighbours extremely irritated. For once, I have to say that mostly I am quite relaxed about the situation, but - my neighbour with the new born baby is rather less than impressed by the situation. Indeed rumours abound - as to some locals lobbying the local council demanding a limit on these types of events.

Where are you from then?

Apropos nothing - I wonder if the British consulate in Palma has it recorded somewhere, where we all came from before we were washed up here on these Mallorcan shores. However, most enjoyable of all, is our collective insistence that we geographically pinpoint a person by where he originally comes from; as in - Geordie-Mike - Welsh-Dave - Birmingham-Betty - American Carl and Aussie-Pete.

Similarly, some of us are identified by what we do for a living e.g. among a certain circle of friends I am known rather mockingly as ‘Scoop’ whereas other pals are known locally as Kitchen Pete and Sparky Dave - Reckless Eric - because they…Oh never mind.

Finally, let me share with you one sure-fire way of making friends when you are away from your roots. This was recommended to me years ago, by a much-travelled mentor who had spent half his working life abroad. He told me that on his arrival at any overseas posting he would always “Join the local cricket club.” I thought I’d get that one in!