Fair representation in schools starts in the pro game

Former England bowler Dean Headley and ex-Derbyshire batsman Gary Steer, both now in charge of cricket at leading independent schools, talk to ED KRARUP about the representation of black coaches in private schools

Mark Alleyne was told in a recent interview in the Daily Telegraph that his time in charge of Gloucestershire made him the only black British head coach of a first-class county this century.

He was understandably shocked and it highlighted the work that has to be done at the professional level to increase equality. But what is the situation in the levels below that? Namely in the independent school sector.

Dean Headley, once the tormenter of international batsmen, is now teaching the next generation how it is done as the director of cricket at Stamford School, an independent institution in Lincolnshire.

The Cricketer asked him if black coaches are fairly represented in independent schools and his answer was a simple one.

“No. There are coaches out there. It’s hard because I don’t know the stats but I don’t see anybody on my circuit other than Gary Steer at Bedford School.”

About 40 miles south Steer agrees. “We have a reasonable representation of black coaches in our area working in private schools but it would be great if there were more.”

It would be easy to blame the schools for this lack of representation but Headley describes a different reality.

“How can black coaches be fairly represented in schools when you think of the small number of African-Caribbean players in county cricket?”

Fewer are retiring therefore there are fewer looking for post-career employment. The cricket programme in independent schools is serious business. The level of professionalism and quality of facilities on offer rival the treatment of first-class players in the nottoo-distant past. And leading these programmes, schools want the best. They want those who have recently left the professional game.

“Most of us coaches in independent schools are ex-professionals, so if county cricket is going through a dip in these players then schools will also see fewer black candidates looking for jobs,” Headley explained. “I think it’s hard when you talk about representation. If I left here, and only white people applied for my job what is the school meant to do?”

^{Headley (L) and Steer (R)}

Steer, whose father moved to the UK from Jamaica in the 1960s, reflects on his time in charge of the youth section at Warwickshire where he witnessed the same issue.

“I worked there for 13 years before Bedford School and the only West Indian boy to go through the system was Recordo Gordon. It was similar when I was a player too, this has been an issue for a very long time. For some reason black boys aren’t seeing cricket as an avenue to go down that they want to play or the routes into county cricket are not reaching out to black communities.

“By not having boys getting into the county system and playing county cricket, it diminished their chances as a coach.”

The journey to increasing the number of black coaches, both in the county and schools game, is a long one which starts with getting more black children playing the game.

Both Headley and Steer are passionate about ensuring that sports, and cricket in particular, are for all at their schools while focus is given to any pupil who needs it.

“If students feel you don’t care enough, they won’t commit to you,” Headley continues. “My under-12D team will get exactly the same amount of training time as my 1st XI.”

Independent schools, and the pupils who attend them, are incredibly fortunate in many ways but when it comes to cricket it is the facilities on offer that holds the key to increasing participation.

^{Both Stamford and Bedford School are keen for their facilities to be used by all at the school, and by those who cannot afford a private education}

As well as hiring out the indoor nets at Bedford to local clubs during the winter, Steer welcomes several age groups from the London Schools Cricket Association (LSCA) and several county teams for block fixtures each summer, so to “link up with organisations outside of our normal private school circuit.”

On LSCA’s most recent tour of South Africa, six of the boys were subsidised by the association. The ethnicities of these boys isn’t known but what is clear are the efforts to make cricket a more welcoming game for all, not just those of a particular ethnicity or socio-economic background.

Former Derbyshire batsman Steer notes that “pretty much all the other schools on our circuit are predominantly made up of white children, whereas we have a high proportion of Asian and black players. However I don’t think this has an impact on our boys because they just want to play a game of cricket.”

While the diverse team at Bedford is encouraging to see, there is plenty of work to be done across the game.

“It would be good to have somebody at the ECB who understands these issues properly. But not as the token person there driving the rights of black players. They shouldn’t be there to tick a box to say ‘look we’re diverse’,” Headley says.

“At the end of the day, you’re diverse as an organisation when your product is diverse. If I was asked to be on a diversity committee in the ECB I’d wonder whether they are better off just giving me a normal job instead and getting on with it.”

The Cricketer would like to thank Durant Cricket for their ongoing support of our schools cricket coverage. For more on Durant Cricket, including booking a site visit, please click here