One hundred and two teams, 286 matches, 2,220 players – all at one venue.
That’s the proud world record of the Singapore Social Cricket League (SCL) recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records (GWR) as the “largest cricket tournament played at a single venue” from July 13 to Sept 15.
On Sept 22, GWR’s official adjudicator, Ms Sonia Ushirogochi, flew in from Tokyo to present the award to the chairman of the SCL organising committee, Mr Shaji Philips, before a crowd of 250 at the Ceylon Sports Club.
She said: “Every record created has a different set of guidelines and for this Singapore record we required video recordings of all the matches and witnesses to attest that International Cricket Council rules were being followed. We also verified the registration data of the players and the scorecards.”
The Eenadu Cricket Champion Cup, held from Dec 30, 2013, to Feb 20, 2014, saw the participation of 16,215 players. But the matches were played in different venues across India.
Organised by a group of 10 Sengkang residents and cricket lovers, led by rail engineer Shaji, the SCL was played with a hard tennis ball and across three pitches at the Sengkang Cricket Ground, near Buangkok MRT station.
The 10-overs-a-side matches were open to players from all over Singapore – including migrant workers – who did not have to pay a cent to play. The organisers footed all expenses.
“I looked through all the data that the organisers provided,” said Ms Ushirogochi. “I had to ask for a lot more. And they worked really hard to provide me the information, as I had to confirm that the league was up to the Guinness Book of World Records’ standard.”
Guinness World Records are not awarded for uniqueness.
“It has to be standardised, something that is measurable and can be broken – because part of the fun is people challenging the records,” said Ms Ushirogochi.
One of the organisers, business development manager Vijay Badami, said the organising team worked “day and night for almost 10 months” to get the matches going and provide the data to GWR. Punit Shankar, a manager at software company DXC Technology, served as the coordinater.
The league was started in 2007 in Sengkang by a dedicated group who shared a vision and passion for cricket. It faced many difficulties, but with the encouragement and backing of the Sengkang Community Club and then Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Charles Chong, they found the initial funding for ground rentals, licences and pitch preparation.
“There were many open fields in Sengkang back then. But as the population grew and HDB construction picked up momentum, we had to move from one open field to another,” said Mr Badami. “Every challenge we faced only strengthened our resolve to make the league better.”
Mr Chong, a former deputy speaker of Parliament, said: “It’s a momentous occasion for Singapore. Never in our wildest imagination did we expect a small community initiative to extend to a world record. I’m so grateful to all who helped achieve this, especially the grassroots people from Sengkang. I hope that we continue and make it an even bigger event.”
According to Mr Shaji, the primary aim of the league was to bring together local residents and expatriates and integrate them into various community activities.
“We also wanted to fulfill the interest of a large number of cricket enthusiasts residing in Sengkang, introduce a new sport to the local community and popularise cricket in the neighbourhood primary schools,” he said.
“In this humble way, we hoped to promote racial harmony, the integration of new immigrants and bonding of different racial groups.”
Mr Hemasundar Ramachandra, a founding member of the league, added: “From 2013 onwards, we expanded our league and formed the Singapore Social Cricket League to give more players from across Singapore a chance to play.”
