Argentina and the Under-19 World Cup
12-15-2010 2:25 pm

Several reports recently have suggested that Argentina is hosting the 2012 Under-19 World Cup. Could it be that the ICC have moved it from one associate country (Canada, who pulled out of hosting duties last year) to another?

This information has been reported on several cricket websites and also mentioned in a BBC article on last years European qualifier. National and regional governing bodies have also mentioned it on their websites, Cricket Kenya and the Asian Cricket Council being two examples.

And most recently, Cricinfo has mentioned it in their "Beyond The Test World" blog towards the end of an article about the suspension of one of the players Bermuda were planning on picking in February's Americas qualifier in Florida.

There's just one problem. It isn't true.

Speaking to CricketEurope, Argentine Cricket Association CEO Grant Dugmore said, "I have been made aware through many unofficial enquiries regarding Argentina hosting the 2012 U19 World Cup, but I can categorically state that no enquiry whatsoever has been made through official ICC channels. The 2012 U19 World Cup will not, and I repeat, will not, be taking place in Argentina.

"Even if there were to be any official interest, logic will tell you that it is literally impossible for Argentina to host an event of this size, as although we have 12 grounds in the country, only 3 have turf wickets, therefore the largest tournament of this stature we could even consider hosting would have a maximum of 6 teams, or would have to be spread over an interminable number of days."

Why does Grant think this rumour has started?

"As romantic and interesting as the notion is, one can only assume it has either grown out of ignorance of the size and reality of the sport in Argentina, where despite a decent number of grounds we have less than 500 active players of all ages and gender, or as I would prefer and hope to think, thanks to Argentine cricket holding a solid reputation worldwide as a host nation for selected cricket events and talented developing cricket country."

Argentina will of course hope to qualify for the tournament, and will play against hosts USA, Bermuda, Canada, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas in the Americas qualifier in Florida in February. The top two from there will progress to a global qualifier, from which six teams will reach the tournament, which is to be played at a venue yet to be announced by the ICC.

One question remains - just how did this rumour start?

The first mentions of it that I can find come in May, with the creation of a Wikipedia article that references an article on the "Sports Pundit" website, which seems to have been written only a day or two previously. As both allow users to submit articles, they may well have been written by the same person. Where this person got the idea from remains a mystery, so the trail ends there.

But how did it get from there to the BBC et al?

One of the problems with the ubiquitous nature of Wikipedia is that, as good a concept as it is, it has become the first port of call for many when they wish to find out about something including, in some cases, journalists.

Wikipedia itself decries this use of it as a primary source, saying that any one looking at an article should check the references. In the case of the article on the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, the reference given is actually to a type of website that isn't usually allowed to be used as a reference under Wikipedia guidelines.

Not every journalist who has been repeating the rumour will have been lazy enough to just use Wikipedia for their research, of course, and may just have repeated other people's errors without checking.

One website didn't repeat the rumour - this one. When we at CricketEurope first read the rumour, we were intrigued and fired off e-mails to the ICC and the Argentine Cricket Association, both of whom confirmed that the rumour was untrue.

So to repeat what Grant Dugmore confirms above, the 2012 Under-19 World Cup will not be held in Argentina. The moral of the story? Don't believe everything you read on the internet and, as always, for the most reliable news on associate and affiliate cricket, stick with CricketEurope!