Read more about the Danish Cricket Federation's thoughts on Nordic cooperation here >>
Here you can read a translation of the Danish text:
"Nordic cooperation strengthens all of us
In Danish cricket there will surely be someone who thinks - what can we learn from our Nordic friends. In Denmark we have a story that goes 150 years back in time. We have a higher level of sports, more courses, more clubs and better organized associations. Okay - a little bit yet.
We share a common association culture with Finland, Norway and Sweden in the sports world. Unlike these countries, we have had the structure, even in cricket for many years in Denmark. In the rest of the world, this structure was quite thin as the large inflow of refugees accelerated, which naturally has created great opportunities, with the number of new citizens coming from countries where cricket is the No. 1 sport and where the culture of society we have is completely unknown. Do you have enough players, you can play a game against others, the culture seems to be.
But here the cultures collide. The Scandinavian culture with the desire for structure, order and preparation and the Asian where the passion for sports is enough to get games started. In both Norway and Sweden, the number of new players has the possibility of new clubs and grounds. In both countries, their response to DIF (Danish sports council) has been involved with the local federations. In Norway there have been start-up problems, which has led to the Norwegian cricket federation being taken "under administration" by the Norwegian Olympic Committee. In Sweden, there has been better control over the process, and here it seems to be on track after the first hectic phase, where the need for grounds and clubs has been a challenge in the country.
In Finland, the trend has been calmer, but common to all countries is that there is a great public interest and support from governments and national sports organizations. Both economically and organizationally. Sport is clearly seen as an important building block for integration and involvement in sport's democratic traditions.
Passion is an important spice for development
We notice a great passion for developing the sport and a great desire to learn from each other, and the other countries look naturally towards Denmark for support and advice. Even though we have our own challenges, we can provide this support while benefiting ourselves. And it is obvious that ICC wants to see that we play this role, and of course they are also working to help us develop with the support of ICC and other countries such as Scotland, Holland, Ireland and England.
Potential cooperation areas
During the conference, the following areas were identified as possible areas of cooperation:
- Sponsorship development
- Education and accreditation
- Nordic festivals
- Nordic "high performance" tournaments
- Nordic camps
- Development of facilities
If we succeed in developing cooperation and utilizing the strong profile that accompanies the Nordic brand, we will all become stronger in the ICC.
Knowledge of each other's strengths and weaknesses, friendship and partnership, Nordic dialogue, learning from each other and enhanced cooperation will benefit all of us and strengthen our profile in the ICC organization.
Accelerated growth
Is a new concept in the ICC that deals with countries in the world where ICC has identified a good growth potential.
Denmark, together with Norway and Sweden, is one of the selected countries, which means that increased support from the ICC can be expected. Not necessarily understood as increasing cash flow but increasing support to: Organizational development, sparring, visits from ICC, etc.
Many other things were discussed between the countries, and we all got a better understanding of where the international cricket is heading."
Link also to the Cricket Sweden page about the ICC Nordic Conference here.