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Britain's oldest Asian cricket club looking to recruit white members

The historic Indian Gymkhana Club, Osterley, which is looking to attract more non Indian members - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph
The historic Indian Gymkhana Club, Osterley, which is looking to attract more non Indian members - Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph

The Indian Gymkhana Cricket Club has long been a bastion of the migrant communities who arrived from the Asian subcontinent to settle in west London over the years.

It counts among its members Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans and within its clubhouse walls in Hounslow dozens of languages are spoken - from Punjabi to Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu.

But now the club is taking the historic step of throwing open its doors to white players, to reflect what it says is the reality of modern, multicultural Britain.

“We want to encourage more diversity in the club,” says Indian Gymkhana’s cricket secretary Sanjay Sood. “We want people from other communities to join. Hounslow is a very multicultural area and we want to reflect modern Britain, which is so mixed now.”

The Indian Gymkhana Club, which first opened in 1916, has never operated a colour bar. Not only would that have been illegal since the passing of the first race equality legislation in the 1960s, but it would have run counter to its own ethos.

Indeed as early as 1966, it’s Golden Jubilee year, it stated its intention of becoming a multi-racial centre where old and young alike could meet to play sports.

But it is only now that it has taken the pro-active step of recruiting a white member to its cricket committee in the hope it will encourage other non-Asians to join.

Mr Sood hopes the arrival of Charlie Puckett, former secretary of the Middlesex County Cricket League, as the first white member to join the club will provide a boost to its new recruitment campaign.

The club had considered dropping the Indian title from its name, but rejected that on the grounds that it was part of its proud historic identity.

A photograph from the archives of the Indian Gymkhana Cricket Club in Osterley, Hounslow
A photograph from the archives of the Indian Gymkhana Cricket Club in Osterley, Hounslow

It’s quite some history. Visiting stars from the Indian league have graced its pitches and in 1973 Clive Lloyd’s legendary West Indies team arrived for a friendly.

Indian Gymkhana bowled them out for an impressive 186, only to be bowled out in turn by the visitors’ fearsome fast bowlers for less than 100.

Until the late 20th century, India would play the opening fixture of their England tours at the club.

During the pre-war years Indian Gymkhana benefited from donations from some of the wealthiest families in India, allowing it to own its own 15-acre grounds, off the Great West Road in Osterley.

Until Asian clubs began springing up in other parts of the UK it would draw Indian players from Essex, Bedfordshire and Kent to play on its pitches.

Mr Sood, 51, hopes that an influx of new members might even encourage less active members of the Indian community to sign up.

“Quite a few Indians do have problems with fitness so it may be that if they see more people joining they might be encouraged to get involved themselves, in the spirit of friendly competition,” he said.

The club is also trying to encourage more female players to join and already has around 20 girls among its 170 colts, the junior players, coached by former Indian ladies captain Chander Kaul.

“We just want to get different types of people involved in our cricket,” said Mr Sood. “We want to make them feel part of the community.”