Spiraling running costs and diminished resources at the turn of the millennium led to local cricket clubs across the country struggling to survive. Debt, dwindling player numbers and the need for expensive renovations left many clubs perilously close to shutting down. Some are still struggling today.
But over the past 16 years, the NatWest CricketForce initiative has helped revitalise many grassroots clubs by staging mass DIY events. Tapping into the popularity of DIY makeover shows, the campaign encourages clubs and local volunteers to spend one weekend each year preparing the club for the new season – whether that’s a quick lick of paint or building an entire pavilion.
Chief instigator of the campaign was Dave Leighton, then the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) national club programmes manager, who set up the initiative in 2002 together with former England captain Mike Gatting. CricketForce began at one solitary club, but now 2,200 clubs – a third of those registered in the country – are engaged in the programme.
“We wanted to get some money into the recreational game,” says Gatting, now managing director of cricket partnerships at the ECB. “There wasn’t enough to rebuild every pavilion around the country, so we came up with CricketForce, which was aimed at encouraging clubs to pull together and do it themselves. Dave Leighton went up and down the country cajoling clubs to get on board.”
NatWest has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the ECB for more than 35 years, and the idea of encouraging local clubs to come together for an annual spring clean every April was born out of that partnership. Few sponsorships have lasted as long, and few initiatives have lasted into a second decade. CricketForce is having a good innings.
“It’s certainly stood the test of time,” says Martyn Wilson, head of sponsorship, hospitality and events at NatWest. “The clubs need support and this helps raise clubs’ profiles and attract more people. At the same time, cricket clubs help bring communities together – if the club is stronger, the community is stronger as a result.”
One of the reasons CricketForce has endured is the support and enthusiasm it receives from professional players. Top cricketers have happily dedicated their time to the initiative, most notably former England skipper Alastair Cook, who was only too happy to turn up and mow outfields. Many England internationals have strong family roots in the local cricket clubs they grew up in, so it’s not surprising they’re willing to help out, bringing much needed publicity to the campaign as well as an extra pair of hands.
“Guys like Alastair and myself are grateful to club cricket and only too happy to put something back,” says Gatting. “It wasn’t school cricket that set us on the road, but club cricket – Brondesbury cricket club in north London in my case. I went from being in the juniors at the age of 10 through to playing for the first team – and was lucky enough to kick on to have a professional career.”
At each CricketForce event a few flagship clubs are selected. These attract bigger grants, plus assistance from ECB officials, the local NatWest bank and a big name cricketer or two. This year’s recipient, Streatham and Marlborough cricket club on the Dulwich estate in south London, welcomed England’s Steve Finn and (the now retired) Zafar Ansari, who joined Gatting in sprucing up the ground. It also received enough backing to finance a new clubhouse, to be built next year.
“We’ve been taking part in CricketForce for years,” says Raj Patel who stepped down as Streatham and Marlborough’s chairman this year to run the CricketForce bid. “Most years we generally see 15 or 20 coming down but I wanted to scale it up. It proved a hugely successful weekend, attracting about 200 people.”
According to Patel, the CricketForce programme re-energised the club. Not only did it look smarter, but it also attracted at least 35 new members.
Gatting recalls attending a club in Sussex with a 400-yard fence encircling it that needed painting. When 150 people turned up with paintbrushes, they had the job finished in no time – it would likely have taken one person weeks to complete.
The long-term impact on the local community is testament to the success of the campaign. The ambition within the ECB and NatWest remains to keep growing it and develop it further. Other sponsors such as Jewson have come on board and now offer discounts on materials to clubs running CricketForce weekends.
“We have no intention of stopping,” says Wilson. “We’re also involved with RugbyForce – and what we’ve done there is add small business workshops. The aim is to roll this into the cricket programme so that it’s not just about doing a bit of DIY – it’s about sustainability. At NatWest we treat them as small businesses and offer advice on how to structure committees and balance the books.”
While NatWest is helping clubs to understand their finances better, Gatting feels the onus is on the clubs to attract more members.
“Clubs have to be better organised today,” he says. “They need to be like small businesses. Good facilities pull in more people. If they become a welcoming environment for children and families, more people will want to be involved – and that’s a good thing for personal health and local communities. It’s a wonderful institution and I’m very proud to be involved with it.”
NatWest has supported cricket, the game for all, since 1981. NatWest are proud to be the principal partner of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the official partner of Chance to Shine, reflecting the bank’s own values and commitment to fairness and inclusion.
To find out more visit natwest.com/noboundaries
