Mr Bhuiyan, 34, who runs a financial and migration consultancy, came to Italy in 2006 at the age of 16 after his father found a job in the shipyards.
“I came here, I learned Italian, I can speak six languages, I have been elected a city councillor…how can I integrate more than this?” he asks.
Mr Bhuiyan also says It is “ridiculous” to deny the south Asian community a cricket pitch, adding: “You bring people to work here, to build nice cruise ships in the shipyards, but when it’s time to recognise their rights, you deny them.
“In Monfalcone we have skating rinks, football pitches, basketball and volleyball courts – everything except a cricket pitch.
“They’re acting like the pharaohs who built the pyramids, treating us like slaves. It’s discrimination against non-Europeans. They don’t accept diversity. In a time of globalisation, this is ridiculous.”
‘It’s a lack of respect’
Nicola Pieri, the centre-Left mayor of the neighbouring town of Turriaco, accuses the mayor of Monfalcone of denying immigrants a cricket pitch out of “spite”.
“Monfalcone is big – they could easily find the space and provide a cricket pitch for them. It’s a lack of respect, it’s out of spite,” he said.
“These young guys just want to play cricket. Sport is one of the ways in which you can help integration. Bangladeshi kids play football, maybe the opposite can be encouraged – that Italian kids play cricket.”
The culture clash in Monfalcone is a distillation of many of the issues that Italy, as an increasingly multicultural society, is having to confront.
That includes a rancorous national debate about changing the law to make it easier for the children of migrants to become Italian citizens. Currently, they cannot even apply for citizenship until they reach the age of 18, leaving an entire generation in limbo and putting Italy at odds with most other European countries.
Changes worry locals
“The country is changing. The birth rate among Italians is constantly declining. We need to expand our vision and think about what Italy will be like in 10 or 20 years’ time. It will be a much more multi-ethnic country,” said Mr Pieri.
For some locals, it is not cricket per se that they object to, but the dramatic demographic and social changes that have occurred to the town since the Bangladeshis and other immigrants started arriving two decades ago.
“When you go into the piazza, you don’t recognise anyone you know anymore. The Bangladeshis keep to themselves. The mothers speak very little Italian. Their kids have to translate for them. Some want to integrate but they are rare cases,” said Emanuela De Matteis, the owner of a restaurant in the town centre.
Sakib Miah, the 25-year-old who is desperate to play cricket, says he and his friends are now thinking of trying to raise enough money to buy a plot of land to make a pitch.
If each of them chips in 20 euros a month, they might have enough funds within five years, he calculates. He looks forward to the day that he can play a few overs after a long week of working shifts in the shipyards.
“It would be not just for us, but for our kids, and for Italian kids too, if they would like to learn to play,” he said.
“It’s cricket. It’s just a game. We never wanted it to become so political.”
