New Zealand's sports club structure, and especially that of the Riccarton Cricket Club (RCC), could be the inspiration for improving the lot of urban black Americans.

At least that is the view of visiting American academic, Dr Vernon L Andrews, who has just published a paper in the American sociological magazine 'Social Science and Modern Society'. His paper was one of several looking at Race, Sports and Professionalism.

Andrews is teaching at the University of Canterbury and has a doctorate in sport sociology.

When he happened on cricket at Hagley Oval last summer he knew nothing about the game. Now he has studied all its subtleties and nuances he can't wait until the new summer starts.

As an American he struggled with the notion that you could still score a run although you missed the ball and that one batsman could be out when the ball hit his knee while another batsman could be hit on the knee a few minutes later and not be out.

But those idiosyncrasies required him to go back into the origins of the game to learn why those things had developed.

That was where Andrew was different from so many people who, when exposed to the sports of other countries, can't understand what they see and therefore don't try to learn.

"My view was that if so many people like it [cricket], there has to be something to it," he said.

"The one-day game would appeal to Americans, but Test matches would be a different matter.

"Cricket is about concentration and focus over a period of time, things we are not used to in America."

In his paper, Andrews was putting forward a case towards improving the "enculturation of black youth - both male and female - with values and life-skills needed for success both inside and outside of the sporting arena."

Using New Zealand's community-based sports clubs, and especially rugby and cricket clubs, as his focal point, he noted: "These rugby and cricket clubs have served as community 'glue' for many years, providing not only a structure for play and sports participation, but also providing a vehicle for good times, job networks, educational ties and mentoring, life-long friendships and, no less important, a vehicle that helps give neighbourhoods a sense of continuity.

"All of these qualities vary depending on the club and volunteer participation, but it should go without saying that these are all qualities African American communities can benefit from."

Over 12 years Andrews' studies have led him to try to understand the cultural conception of sportsmanship and how European descendants and African Americans see it, both historically and contemporarily.

"One unexpected finding of my cultural observation here is how passionate Kiwis are toward their sports, their communities and their families. It is here - at this critical intersection - where my attempts to understand Kiwi culture through social observation suggests an institutional structure that could prove beneficial to the multifaceted social problems ensnaring African Americans at the millennium."

Andrews explained how, on a late summer's afternoon, after watching Riccarton Club "thrash yet another opponent", he had walked out onto the empty pitch to have a look and to play a few imaginary shots. Strolling back towards the pavilion he was asked if he would like to come upstairs for a beer?

That was where the club culture really hit home to him as he mingled with well known players, some of them internationals, and others who were humble club servants.

"... it was not who they were that was fascinating, but that they were star players on a team that consisted primarily of people who played for fun while holding down jobs or attending university.

"There is no similar sporting structure I know of in American communities where professionals play alongside amateurs on a weekly basis.

"What is more, the structure is such that the Riccarton club functions without a formal coach, as we know the concept in America. Here, the higher-skilled players 'train' the province's next stars. There is a deeply embedded structure of mentoring in practice sessions, during games and after matches in the RCC clubhouse.

"There are components of the club structure that I believe would transfer well to African American communities. I believe black folks have struggled to find a 'centre' since the mass exodus of professional blacks from cities after the 1960s civil rights movement and since the urban landscape has been all but abandoned by major industry."

Andrews said he believed the one community-based institutional structure that can provide valuable life-mentoring, role models and social continuity is the club sporting structure.

"This institution might in time link with other established institutions and begin to strengthen the social fabric of the urban black community and poor rural communities," he wrote.

By having athletes, who have developed careers outside their sports, rub shoulders with younger potential sports people the message could get through that sporting careers are not forever. The young people would learn they don't have to go to college for a sports career but to pursue a profession while playing sport alongside their studies.

There would be potential sports people then who decided to pursue their studies for a profession. But the community would be richer for that.

"Why can't we envisage black fields of dreams, places of family and community cohesion ... clubs that we build with our own sweat and skills ... places and spaces where we spend time helping each other through work, education or personal difficulties?

"What we are missing are spaces where we all get together and share in the simplicity of day-to-day and week-to-week life. If we build them, they will come. If we build them, they will play," Andrews wrote.

Clubs offered young people the chance to bring out the best in themselves in sport and beyond. There was the added point that everyone plays; no one gets cut out of the team.

"One final note is that the clubs in New Zealand are not racially divided.

"Many New Zealand sporting clubs and teams are biracial. Now wouldn't that be something - black folks and white folks playing together on club teams week in and week out?

"For that matter, blacks and whites alongside Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics and various immigrant groups - all talking loud, barbecuing, sharing beverages, exchanging business cards and, yes, playing sport together. That sounds like the beginning of a golden age of participation in sport," Andrews concluded.

And you thought that was just a simple game of cricket Riccarton was playing!

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