Pursuing Associate Member status of the ICC

Aim

We aim to fund the development of cricket in Iceland so that we can apply for Associate Member status of the International Cricket Council.

Cricket began in Iceland way back in 911 AD. It was all documented in many of the Icelandic Sagas. It's fair to say that the early game of bat and ball was rather primitive (violent!) compared to cricket today, and then there was a rather quiet period until the sport became resurgent in Iceland in the 21st Century. 

The last three years have seen considerable growth. Firstly, we obtained the world's most northerly cricket ground, opened by our Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, in May 2019. Secondly, the number of players and clubs has doubled to 102 and 4, respectively. The Icelandic Cricket Association now hosts six tournaments a year, including the iconic Volcanic Ashes and Icelandic Premier League (the real IPL!). Our players belong to 19 different nationalities, and in addition, 10% of the membership are refugees, with cricket providing an important outlet and opportunity to integrate into Icelandic society. 

Even though we have expanded, we have aspirations to be bigger, much bigger, and wish to apply for Iceland to become an Associate Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the next 2-3 years. To be successful, we need to tick several more boxes: (1) have eight teams; (2) have two grounds; (3) have a youth development programme; and (4) have a pathway for the development of women's cricket. 

We are particularly asking for support for the following:

• Development of a second cricket ground and related infrastructure (concrete and matting wicket, sightscreens, net facilities and bowling machine etc.)
• Rolling out of a year-long youth development programme for Icelandic children, including the training and remuneration of our coaches. 
• Further investment in equipment to increase the number of people playing cricket in Iceland. 
• Establishing women's cricket in Iceland. 
• Training courses for our domestic umpires and national team coaches.

We wish to point out that we currently receive no funding support from the International Cricket Council or any other sporting body. Although we are actively seeking commercial sponsors for our domestic tournaments, our only sources of income are currently players' membership fees and a small grant from local government that we receive to support refugees in the playing of cricket in Iceland. 

Any donation that you can make will be greatly appreciated! If we can pull this off, we intend to enter the qualifying tournament for the ICC's T20 World Cup in 2026.

This project successfully funded on 21st February 2022