The Wicked Cricket Column

The Rise and Rise of the 'Sussex Cricket Foundation'
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A colleague recently was in a moaning mood saying that Sussex CCC spent far too much time and money on their off-field activities and not enough on the team and the club’s on-field progress - suggesting 2017 was turning out to be another “poor season” and way behind supporters’ expectations.

He had a point, although I replied there was still another two months of the season left and if Sussex could find momentum, there was still an outside chance of gaining Division 2 promotion while the T20 tournament remained up for grabs. I have always been a supporter of the Sussex Cricket Foundation (SCF), the primary arm of the Club’s off-field pursuits, so an idle Saturday morning was a perfect excuse to carry out some brief research.

sussexcricketfoundation.co.uk

It would be fair to say the SCF is the brainchild of David Bowden, its former Chairman and recent Club President. Helped by other members of the Sussex hierarchy and volunteers, his inspiration was launched in December 2015. The Foundation’s first year financial figures are impressive.

See the annual accounts for 2016 below.

A query: was that sum of £218,145 given by Sussex Cricket Ltd as an initial start-up, a charitable donation or a loan? This helped the SCF to make a profit of £84,718.



Meanwhile, under the new Chairmanship of Jon Filby, employees of the Foundation continue to increase and now the number totals 14. If one bases an average of £30k a year salary for each member of staff that works out to roughly an outlay of £420,000 on wages alone.

sussexcricketfoundation.co.uk/about-us/meet-the-team/

Some might suggest this is too much given the SCF is a charity, while others could argue the excellent work they carry out benefits the local community twice over. There is always that uncomfortable mix of salaried staff and volunteers where some may feel aggrieved they are doing just as much work as a staff member but for free.

The large amount of monies raised in 2016 was primarily due to it being the SCFs launch and Benefit year. I was told around £160,000+ was collected from just charitable events which is excellent. This leads to the conclusion that with increasing salaried staff and no Benefit year in 2017 (Chris Nash has taken over the mantle), the Foundation may find the going tougher.

Other problems have surfaced. The loss of MD, Tim Shutt, and the stepping down of its founder David Bowden as Chairman, the two early driving forces of the SCF, will be difficult to replace and as the county team underperforms on the field, this may make it more difficult to encourage the 250-300 or so active cricket clubs in Sussex to remain or become affiliated with Sussex CCC. The idea of bringing together all of the cricketing activities in the county under one roof - its own County side - is a noble one - but consistent success on the field is not only advantageous for such a scheme but essential.

There are other weaknesses too. The SCF media reporting is underwhelmed because the club cannot afford to pay for two media officers: one to cover the on-field activities, the other the off-field. At present, the media intern from Bournemouth Uni, Matt Neocleous, has done a sterling job covering the Foundation news, but while the Twitter is up to date, the website falls behind. And to add to the club’s woes, the loss of Adam Matthews and the time it’s taken to find his replacement, has meant even more workload for our intern who is learning his trade by the day. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end! Meanwhile, Bruce Talbot with help from Matt, has taken over the running of the much improved club’s Twitter.

Matt Neocleous


twitter.com/SussexCricketFd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fsussexcricketfoundation.co.uk%2F2017%2F07%2F

There are rumours that the new Sussex CCC media officer, allegedly from the professional cycling world, will focus less on Twitter and Facebook giving more time to spend on the club’s off-field activities. It makes sense to hand over this specialist social media work to a freelancer.

So, what is the endgame for the Sussex Cricket Foundation? Philanthropic work for the local community is a fine pursuit but what is the bottom-line?

Q: What does the club hope to gain from all their good works apart from pats on the back?
A: More people - new people - through the Hove gates to home matches.





Placing posters in bus shelters advertising the T20 matches, for example… a waste of finances and time. Advertising home games in local newspapers and magazines… a waste of finances and time. I would suggest the only way to attract new people to the ground is through interacting with them whether it be via education, health, disability, going in to schools or a myriad of other ways.

What we are seeing at Hove is a grand experiment. Other county clubs like Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire who are ahead of Sussex in such community pursuits have shown it can and does work, although proving this through hard facts and figures is more difficult. The extra thousand people who came through the Hove gates to watch a match. Was that down to community interaction, sunny weather or because the club are on a winning streak? Sussex CCC need to devise a logistical way of finding out.

The Sussex Cricket Foundation will complete its second year of operation in December and I wish them the best of luck. We have a CEO in Rob Andrew who strongly supports it and one hopes through the hard work both the staff and volunteers carry out, not only do we have a local community who now know and have heard about Sussex CCC but most importantly, the children, the primary reason why cricket may remain a popular sport in 20 years time, will be sufficiently enthused to come and watch home games.