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Posts tagged ‘Stanley Park’

Vancouver: summer cricket at Stanley Park

Above/featured: Grouse Mountain looms over a cricket match at Upper Brockton, with the bowler delivering from the mountain end to the pavilion end.

It’s not typical 21st-century sport in North America, but it is Canada’s first summer sport. Many of cricket’s practitioners in Vancouver’s picturesque Stanley Park have roots from India and Pakistan; among them the shouts of “shabash” are heard often during play.

In childhood, I was enamored with baseball. With its similar origins, I discovered cricket with time spent in Australia, New Zealand, the Bahamas, and South Africa. The natural connection is the former British Empire. I began with T20, the shortest format of the game; with curiosity and time, my hunger encompassed the 50-over one-day format (ODI). It’s my start with the short white-ball format that I’ve developed an appreciation for the long format of the game with red-ball Test cricket.

But is the cricket ground at Vancouver’s Stanley Park “the most beautiful cricket ground in the world”? (With Table Mountain as the backdrop, some might proclaim Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town, South Africa as the most beautiful/scenic.)

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Totem poles at Brockton Point, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

My Vancouver : how totem poles put a spell on me

The pull is undeniable.

Under overcast skies and a forecast of heavy rainshowers, I walk out one January morning from Vancouver’s West End and head out towards Stanley Park for a morning walk. Past Coal Harbour and Deadman’s Island, I arrive finally at the totem poles near Brockton Point.

Totem poles, Brockton Point, Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada
Totem poles, Brockton Point, Stanley Park, Vancouver, Canada

The totem was the British Columbia Indian’s “Coat of Arms”. Totem poles are unique to the northwest coast of B.C. and lower Alaska. They were carved from Western red cedar and each carving tells of a real or mythical event. They were not idols, nor were they worshipped. Each carving on each pole has a meaning. The eagle represents the kingdom of the air, the whale the lordship of the sea, the wolf the genius of the land, and the frog the transitional link between land and sea.

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