WBC - English Baseball still far behind.

Great Britain’s omission from the World Baseball Classic was not a surprise to anyone, in fact it was already known in 2006 that earliest WBC they could take part in would be 2013.

Baseball’s popularity lags way behind other sports in the UK with the like of Tennis, Cricket, Football and even Ice Hockey all have a bigger presence in Britain.

Without a drastic surge in popularity in the sport, facilities will not have to chance to improve, nor will the sport be recognised by local councils as a sport which deserves to receive funding.

Most clubs around the country simply play on a patch of grass with a fence behind home plate. As for the state of clubhouses some are on the verge of being classed as sheds. With clubs facilities being at such a low level it is no wonder that MLB overlooked GB for the Classic in 2009, even though the national team have proved that they can compete at a high level by finishing second in the Euro Championships, it is hard to see how the team can continue playing at such a high standard with grass roots baseball at quite a poor standard.

However there is a small change beginning to happen, teams are slowly beginning to expand fielding two to three adult teams, as well as a number of youth teams.

The London Mets seem to be leading the expansion and this season have decided to field a third senior team the London Marauders who will take part British A Division. The expansion to three senior teams indicates the popularity of the sport is increasing.

However despite the expansion of the Mets other clubs in England do not enjoy the high population of London and attracting new players is difficult. The Mets’ initiative may not be enough to have a major impact of GB’s chances of playing in 2013 and Channel Five’s baseball Analyst Josh Chetwynd believes the UK is still some way behind other European countries.

“I don't think any development in the works for the Mets would have an impact on GB and the 2013 WBC. Throughout the country, facilities lag compared to a number of other European countries that have not participated in the WBC -- like Germany and Czech Republic. If the Mets were able to build a proper stadium (which I don't foresee happening anytime soon because of costs and planning permissions) it might indicate to MLB that development is happening at a faster rate than anticipated in the UK”


With such few English players applying their trade in America the MLB is still not convinced that GB is ready to take part in the WBC. The lack of English players in the majors would mean that GB’s team ,full of amateurs would be taking on some on the world’s biggest baseballing names.

“I think there are other metrics that GB would need to improve -- such as indigenous players signing with Major League clubs (another area where we're far behind many European countries). Obviously, GB's performance at the Euros in 2007 shows how well the national team programme is running and I believe that MLB would love to see GB succeeding in baseball, but I believe that domestic baseball does have a long way to go to being among the elite of European baseball (beyond our senior national team).”

If the WBC does expand to the rumoured 24 teams then Great Britain could certainly be one of the front runners for one of the extra places available but even if all the teams in the UK expanded to two teams, it still may not be enough for 2013.

“As for the value of the Mets expansion, it certainly can't hurt. The more teams and the more players involved in the game, the stronger the game will be. That said, I don't think there is a direct correlation at this point.”