Sam Konstas can have a profound impact on the Greek community and cricket in Australia

As Sam Konstas ramp-shotted his way into Australia’s heart, the Greek community puffed its chest out in pride - a sign Australia’s latest Test player could be a real game changer for cricket.

Growing up in Perth in the early 1990s, it was clear to Theo Doropoulos that his type wasn’t supposed to play cricket.

“I certainly remember copping all the racial stereotypes that ‘you should play soccer’ and the ‘greasy this’ and the ‘greasy that’,” Doropoulos said.

For a sport that has long said it is truly national, in a nation where around a quarter of the population was born overseas, Australia’s teams have been overwhelmingly monocultural.

In contrast to the list of the most-capped Socceroos, Australia’s most prominent cricketers have been of Anglo descent.

For every Simon Katich (Croatian) and Michael Kasprowicz (Polish), there are plenty more Smiths, Joneses, Taylors and a hell of a lot of Marshes.

The last census showed there were more than 420,000 Australians of Greek descent, around 1.7 per cent of the population, but over the years there have been very few noteworthy cricketers with identifiably Greek names.

Jason Gillespie is Australia’s first Indigenous male Test cricketer but he is also of Greek heritage on his mum’s side.

Sam Konstas takes selfies with young fans. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Marcus Stoinis, a mainstay of Australia’s white-ball sides over the past decade, is another of Greek background.

There is a hope within cricket circles that teen wonder Sam Konstas, Australia’s latest Test player, could be a game changer.

His parents Pamela and Jim are of Greek descent, and Konstas mentioned his heritage last week when asked what Boxing Day usually entailed.

Greek-Australian Nick Hatzoglou, who has worked at the AFL, Cricket Australia and Football Victoria in multicultural strategy and grassroots programs, said Konstas had already become a hero within the Greek community.

“The Melbourne Test was amazing,” said Hatzoglou, whose son Peter is a Big Bash League player with the Hobart Hurricanes.

“It’s fantastic. Cricket was on everyone’s lips, dominated conversations and I know we went out to a Greek restaurant, a few of us, and all we talked about was Konstas.

Sam Konstas can change the cricket landscape.

“Even my mum, she’s elderly, and she’ll say, ‘Who’s this young boy?’ You could see the impact.”

These days a sport reporter with Channel 7 in Melbourne, Doropoulos, 39, played for Western Australia and South Australia in the Sheffield Shield across a career that included a memorable cameo as a sub fielder for Australia in a Perth Test against the West Indies 15 summers ago.

His name stood out coming through the ranks.

“Pretty uncommon in my experience,” Doropoulos said. “I think I was one of the few that I can remember.

“When (my dad) was growing up, the Greeks and the Italians played soccer and that was it.

“They described themselves with the “W” word that just sends a shudder through my bones.

“They all played soccer and cricket was left to the Aussies.”

Though once he had made it into the talent pathway there weren’t too many issues, Doropoulos said that as a child cricket was not overly welcoming for people with names like his.

“District level was fine,” he said. “You’re accepted once you’re sort of 14 or 15, or even younger very much so.

“But I think it’s more when you’re a kid, is naivety the word, a lack of understanding. But we’re talking the early ’90s. Times have certainly changed.

“But certainly in the early days, kids aren’t used to someone that looks and sounds a bit different.

“You eventually realise that once you get into a cricket team and are old enough to stand on your own two feet with performance then that sort of stuff drops off.

“But when I was a kid it was very much an expectation that cricket wasn’t really for Greek kids, but eventually you get older and you realise that it’s for everyone.”

Hatzoglou said it was imperative that cricket authorities didn’t forget about communities other than the obvious South Asian growth market.

“I think more recently, I’ve been sort of more frustrated that the cricket authorities have put out a multicultural strategy, which is great,” he said.

“But it’s essentially the South Asian strategy, which I think that community warrants their own strategy because they are so invested in the game.

“They warrant their own pathway, whereas I’d love to see Cricket Australia and all the member states having a more sophisticated pathway for Chinese, for African Australians, for Europeans, because I’ve just termed it ‘white flight’.

Sam Konstas with his baggy pink at the SCG. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“We’ve got a real, real challenge because Europeans and white Australians are fleeing the game in great numbers at grassroots level.

“I don’t know what the figures suggest but if it wasn’t for the South Asians filling in that gap, cricket will be in real trouble and that really worries me as a lover of cricket.”

Though Doropoulos said he didn’t know Konstas, he was optimistic the youngster could draw a generation of Greek kids to the game.

“I would say he absolutely could,” Doropoulos said.

“When I was a kid the worst thing you could be was to be Greek because you just wanted to fit in with all the other kids.

“You wanted to do what all the Australian kids (did) … because you didn’t want to draw attention to yourself.

“But I would say now, Sam has the world at his feet. He will be embraced, not only for his performance but also for his heritage and I think it’s amazing.

“It’s not only great for Sam, it’s great for the next generation of kids that want to follow in his footsteps. I’m enormously proud.”

Originally published as Sam Konstas can have a profound impact on the Greek community and cricket in Australia