NRWCU GAN 2014
The 15th of November 2014 was a historic day for german cricket with the first of its kind GAN event taking place on the Saturday night in Cologne.
This Gala and Awards Night was organised by the NRW Cricket Union in order to help raise the profile of cricket in Germany and to acknowledge the achievements of those who have done so much for the sport in the country. Also recognised were the performances of teams and individual players in recent seasons while young players received awards for their outstanding progress with bat and ball.
As legends of the cricket world took the trouble to visit the city in order to support the cricket development activities of the NRWCU in the state, cricket lovers in Cologne were stunned to see their heroes wandering around the german city prior to the event.
Amongst the very special guests were Arjuna Ranatunga (SL), Aravinda De Silva (SL), Abdul Rassaq (Pak); Andrew Hall (SA), Kabir Ali (Eng), Isa Guha (Eng) and Ian Anderson of Cricket Deal Direct UK.
Kind messages of support were sent by the Lord Mayor of Cologne, Jürgen Roters, and the Lord Mayor of Bonn, Jürgen Nimptsch while Ravi Bopara, Fraser Stewart, Gulfraz Riaz, Moeen Ali, Kadeeer Ali also sent video greetings (see right column).
The occasion also marked the official launch of the NRW Cricket Academy, an initiative started by the NRWCU to help support the development of young players in the state whilst also offering opportunities for other players from around Germany to take part in workshops with leading players and coaches from around the world help raise cricket standards in the country.
Also announced was the establishment of a sponsored German Premier League in 2015. This is to be a new national competition for the strongest clubs around Germany, providing a new challenge for the top players while helping to raise cricket standards in the country in conjunction with the NRW Cricket Academy.
The presentations of the awards by the prominent guests were interspersed with some fantastic song and dance performances while hostess Lisa Wischer of german tv station Sat 1 did a marvelous job of compering the show and Wrapchic provided some delicious food for all the guests.
After the event, NRWCU Senior Development Manager, Ravi Navaratnam, said that he was overwhelmed with the support received and was looking forward to pressing ahead with continuing progress and change in the german cricket world and promised that GAN 2015 would be even bigger.
