South Asian Heritage Month: How cricket runs 'in the blood' for one family in Newcastle

• Video report by Hanah Arshad.

Cricket runs "in the blood" for one family in Newcastle.

Hamad Hussain's family's passion for the sport starts in Pakistan, which his father left in 1967 to make his new home in Newcastle.

Now Newcastle City Cricket Club's junior development officer, Hamad said cricket had taken over generations of his family's life.

"Cricket is in the blood, it's essentially our lives," he said. "If you check our cars they are full of balls and bats."

For Hamad's father, Mumtaz Hussain Sunam, the sport helped him feel a little more at home in the North East.

He said: "In school and childhood we were playing cricket. So when I came here, I was fond of it, and I got a job at Gateshead bus service. They were playing cricket and I joined them.

"I was lucky that I found some place to play."

Hamad said he always felt that cricket was a part of his life, even at an early age.

"All we used to play on the field, on the school field and even on the street curbs," he added.

"I started playing cricket more seriously at the age of 17 when I joined Newcastle City Cricket Club. Essentially I've been playing here for 30 years now."

Hamad's son, Moiz, said that cricket is what brings the family together.

"Whenever there are games happening here in Newcastle City we watch matches," he said.

"Most of us in the family play cricket. It's fun to watch, play and it's a part of us."

Moiz, who also plays for Newcastle City Club Under 13s, said he was "proud" to be a family full of cricketers.

The youngest player of the family also hopes that the sport will continue through the future generations.

He added: "In the future I would like my family to also be involved with cricket."

However, due to their ethnicity, playing in the game has brought its challenges.

Opened up about being a British South Asian player, Hamad said: "Being of an Asian background we've faced problems from umpires over the years, we've faced problems on the pitch."

Their experiences are not closed off to the North East, as cricket on a national level has had issues with diversity.

A study by the South Asian Cricket Academy, a programme designed to tackle the lack of British South Asian representation in professional cricket, found that British South Asian male cricketers become significantly under-represented within professional cricket in England and Wales.

In July 2022, cricket in Scotland was found to be institutionally racist in a damning report.

Consultancy firm Plan4Sport was appointed by sportscotland, the national agency for sport, to begin conducting the review in December last year after former Scotland players Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh alleged the governing body was “institutionally racist”.

The Plan4Sport Changing The Boundaries review found 448 examples of institutional racism.

As part of the review, 68 individual concerns have been referred for further investigation relating to 31 allegations of racism against 15 different people, two clubs and one regional association.

Former Yorkshire County Cricket Club player Azeem Rafiq also showed support for the players that spoke out about their experiences.

Rafiq prompted a major inquiry last year into abuse and discrimination in the game after making claims of institutional racism at his former club.

In January 2022, the parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee published a report which concluded that racism in cricket was "deep-seated".

One activist from North Tyneside said that these players speaking about their experience of racism had opened up important conversations about race here in the North East.

Raj Murria has worked for nearly a decade in anti-racist groups, including Stand Up To Racism and Show Racism The Red Card.

He said: "He's given confidence to a lot of people to pretty much open the floodgates and speak the truth about what is going on and expose something that many people in this country might have not known before.

"People might think that these issues don't exist, but it is something that is absolutely evident across the North East.

Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know: