THE fall-out from Cricket Ireland’s decision to snub its largest supporter base and stage its 11 days of men’s international action north of the border continues to rankle with fans.
Dublin-based followers have been left without an opportunity to watch their team in 2026 in the city which, beside Covid-times, has happened only once in the past 54 years. That was in 2001 when an ICC Trophy and a British tour took up most of the summer, with only 23 overs being bowled on the island, a rained-off fixture against Australia at Ormeau.
Now the governing body has decided to shun the capital and stage the four-day Test v New Zealand and two T20s v India in Stormont. The five ODI series against Afghanistan will see three played in Belfast and two in Bready, Co Tyrone.
But besides annoying followers in Munster, Connacht and Leinster, it now appears that a key demographic which Cricket Ireland has been courting faces an extra hurdle in order to travel to the games.
Those two T20s against world champions India are the highpoint of the summer for Cricket Ireland, with a guaranteed bonanza from the TV rights they can expect to sell to Asian broadcasters.
India fans packed out Malahide in 2022
Ticket sales are expected to be strong too, with up to 9,000 attending India’s visits to Malahide in 2018, 2022 and 2023, when the majority of spectators supported the visitors. But the Fingal venue is out of bounds this summer because of a series of concerts in neighbouring Malahide Castle, with Michael Bublé and Calvin Harris down to play the weekend of June 26-28 when India visit.
Cricket Ireland’s only realistic options were to stage the games in Clontarf, with a capacity of 3,200, or Stormont, where 3,000 extra seats can be brought in to bring the capacity to 4,000.
However, the most recent census returns show 6,908 people born in India live in Northern Ireland, while 56,642 live in the Republic.
With turnout of local supporters rarely hitting the heights, CI will be banking on large numbers travelling north for the two games.
But Indian-born fans now face a large added expense on top of the £55 (€64) admission fee (£20 children’s tickets have sold out).
To visit Northern Ireland, Indian residents must secure a six-month visa, costing £127 (€147), as the Common Travel Area applies only to UK and Irish citizens.
The masterplan to engage the growing south Asian community has just hit a speedbump
Sushant Musale has lived in Dublin for four years and works at an engineering firm manufacturing aerospace products.
He plays cricket here for the Dalkey Archive, who play social games, and is a big fan of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Test stars of the recent past.
‘I really only fell in love with cricket since I came here,’ he explained. ‘In India we played soft ball cricket, but here I first played with the hard ball, pads, helmets etc. I enjoyed it so much more and understand the game better.’
Although Sushant has seen Ireland’s men play at Malahide, and the women’s team play in Pembroke, he won’t be travelling to see the land of his birth in Belfast.
‘Because of the visa uncertainty I won’t be able to attend,’ he says. ‘I read online that some guys have hired a bus and will take a chance on not having a visa, but I don’t want to risk that.
‘I would love to go, it’s a very pleasant ground, nice scenery, nice crowd, but the visa cost is just too much when you add the price of tickets, travel and accommodation.’
CI will pack out Stormont anyway, with tickets going on general sale tomorrow.
But the masterplan to engage the growing south Asian community has just hit a speedbump, and looks like an opportunity lost.
