Cricket Cares in 2008-09

Cricket Australia is encouraging Australian men to grow moustaches in November and will appeal to Sydney cricket fans to turn day one of the 3 mobile Test in Sydney hot pink as part of a new “Cricket Cares” initiative designed to encourage Australian cricket at all levels to return something to the community.

CA Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland said cricket is an integral part of communities the length and breadth of Australia and CA is keen for the sport to return something to those communities which make it possible for Australian cricket to exist.

At a national level, CA’s Cricket Cares program is partnering with the Movember Foundation and with the McGrath Foundation to encourage greater awareness of and support for male and female health issues which affect so many in the community.

CA is also encouraging international and state cricketers with their own individual charity work, and encourages Australian cricket at all levels to put something back into the community.

Cricket fans can keep up to date with this community work and how they can get involved in helping worthy causes by heading to www.cricket.com.au/cricketcares.

“Cricket has a long history of supporting community and charitable causes and the Cricket Cares program is an extension of this. We are proud to be standing next to the McGrath Foundation and the Movember Foundation as major partners of the program, while we are also excited about helping individual players promote their own personal charity causes,” Sutherland said.

The McGrath Foundation is synonymous with cricket as the Foundation set-up by former international great Glenn McGrath and his late wife Jane, to fund breast-care nurses across all areas of Australia and raise awareness of breast cancer among young Australian women. The hot pink colour has become strongly linked with the Foundation and will provide the impetus for the major activity during the season.

Cricket Cares and the McGrath Foundation will partner in a number of activities over the year including initiatives such as a ‘Men of Cricket’ calendar which is being produced by 3 mobile, a joint partner to both parties. A highlight of the coming six months will be the 3 mobile Test in Sydney where Cricket Australia’s commercial partners and McGrath Foundation ambassador Matthew Hayden will help turn the new year hot pink. There will be more information on www.cricket.com.au/cricketcares as the Test draws closer. There will also be fund-raising exercises at women’s international matches.

Tracy Bevan, Director for the McGrath Foundation and Jane McGrath’s best friend, said Jane would have been touched by the support being given by Cricket Australia.

“Jane wasn’t particularly comfortable in the public eye but she felt passionately that she should use her profile and her experiences to help other families dealing with breast cancer.

“She would have been so pleased that the wider cricketing family – which played such a huge role in her and Glenn’s life - is now partnering with the Foundation to continue to work towards realising her dreams of access to a breast care nurse for all women diagnosed with breast cancer and increased awareness among younger women of the importance of being breast aware.

“We’re very much looking forward to working with Cricket Australia to help them get in touch with their pink side!” said Tracy.

The Movember Foundation encourages males around the country to grow a moustache through November to raise awareness and funds for men’s health – specifically the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyond blue: the national depression initiative.

Luke Slattery, Director and Co-founder of Movember, looks forward to the cricket and moustache tradition continuing:

“From Graham Yallop and Bruce Reid to The Don himself, the moustache and cricket have been synonymous. So to be an official partner of Cricket Australia means a lot to the Movember Foundation and not just because of the great moustache and cricket history. We are hoping that together we can continue to spread the men’s health message, and with the support of Cricket Australia, encourage all men to learn a little more about their own health and hopefully, by registering at www.movember.com, raise some much-needed funds along the way.”

The Movember Foundation partnership will see a variety of activity through the month of ‘Movember’ including activities around the Emirates All*Star Weekend and Movember’s Countdown of the best 30 moustaches in Australian cricket history every day of the month on the CA website. Cricket Cares will also provide the major prize of the Movember team event; a-money-can’t-buy experience at the cricket that will see the winners kitted out in their own personalised ODI shirt, going into the media commentary box and heading out on to the field for the Australian team’s warm-up.

Cricket Cares has also invited male and female contracted players to nominate their own personal charity or community message to be part of the program. You can find out about player’s own personal interests in this area by heading to www.cricket.com/cricketcares and checking the player’s charities section.

And through the season, the Cricket Cares page will carry a variety of news on community work ranging from the Australian team and the state teams right down to cricket at a local level with the common theme of cricket making a positive contribution to the community.