Now a degree of planning into retirement for cricketers
RON ATKINSON once famously described Cyrille Regis, Brendon Batson and Laurie Cunnigham as the ‘Three Degrees’ while manager of West Bromwich in the Seventies – but if Middlesex retain the Championship this season, they might have the ‘Ten Degrees’ to thank.
That’s how many members of the current Middlesex squad have signed up to complete a four-year course in Business and Sports Management at the University of Hertfordshire. The course itself is tailored specifically for professional sportspeople, with the majority of the course taking place online to accommodate the unique needs of students who find themselves spending as much time in hotel rooms as their own beds.
Started very much with aspiring academic rugby players in mind, the degree is now attracting cricketers from across the county game with Somerset’s Roelof van der Merwe and Graeme van Buuren just two others who are combining sport and study this summer.
It’s the arrival of the Middlesex 10, though, that raised the profile of the course, in cricket circles at least.
Ian Thomas, head of development and welfare at the Professional Cricketers’ Association, said:“The sport element of the course keeps the players motivated but is also gives them that option of understanding the corporate and business world as well.”
All of which is a far cry from the days when professional sportsman only thought about their future outside of the sport when Father Time came calling.
Jarrod Lippiatt, the programme’s leader, said:“We still have athletes studying traditional degrees in a number of subject areas but increasingly we realised, particularly through our work with Saracens rugby club, who are very close to the university here in Hertfordshire, that there isn’t an average week for a player anymore – their commitments vary quite a bit.
“We decided to put something online because it seemed highly sensible.The content of this course is highly relevant for sports professionals and we’ve certainly pitched it towards professional cricketers and rugby players as well as Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
“Currently we’ve got 50 to 60 on the programme and, at the moment, there are around 20 cricketers, including players who’ve had pro contracts in the past or are playing Minor Counties.”
Among those in this summer’s intake are Toby Roland-Jones, who earned an England call-up last summer, England Lion Tom Helm and Steven Eskinazi, who scored his third first-class hundred against Essex at Lord’s last week.
Eskinazi said:“This opportunity has come at a great time for us as athletes. The degree is a mix of something we’re all passionate about, sport, combined with an extremely practical business element. The fact that ten of us are doing the degree allows us to bounce ideas off each other, just as in a cricket environment.”
That suggests there could be some lively competition in the champions’ dressing room this summer and it’s these competitive instincts that, Lippiatt believes, makes sportsmen and women ideal for tackling academic challenges while stilling playing professionally.
He said: “There’s an increasing acknowledgement from the players themselves that they might need a degree or some further knowledge to further their career after cricket.
“But you have to remember that a lot of these guys have already demonstrated the ability they have to succeed in education because the skills you have in professional sport are transferable to that academic environment.
“They’re shown a huge amount of dedication to get to where they are, and you obviously need that when doing a degree too.These are competitive guys – there will always be an element of wanting to do better than your peers. Maybe people with a different approach would be happy with getting 60 or 70 per cent in an exam but what we see is that a lot of those on this course are aiming for 80 or 90 to prove to everyone what they’re capable of.”
What it also demonstrates is that the days of cricketers finishing and having little or no guidance of what to do next are at an end. The PCA, for example, has connections and relations with a number of other academic institutions across the country, all of which are marketed extensively within the county environment.
PCA welfare chief Thomas added: “We’ll have a lot of cricketers who will do things off their own back. But they all know that there’s the option to speak to someone and the option to get resources and funding from the PCA.
“There are no excuses now. Noone can say the game chewed me up and spat me out and no-one looked after me. I don’t believe anyone can say that in cricket.”
Former England captain, Mike Brearley, was once said to have had a degree in people. In four years’ time, 10 of his old county’s men will boast something more concrete.