Maarten Hoffmann: I understand you used to be a spectator at Sussex a few years back. What are your memories of watching Sussex?

Peter Fitzboydon: Indeed, I was a regular at Hove from the late 2000s, when I was living locally in (ahem!) Kent. Little did I realise the significance of both that era of the men’s team, nor that I would be writing about it a decade or so later as the CEO! My abiding memory was not necessarily about the cricket itself, but the unique and welcoming ‘feel’ that Hove has. This is something that has endured, and we need to work hard to make sure we keep it as we work to evolve Sussex Cricket for future generations. 

I actually grew up near Bath and my cricket-mad uncle took me as a ten-year-old to my first every County match to watch Somerset vs Kent at the Bath Recreation Ground. Bath was an outground where they ran a festival every year. This was a team with the all-time legends of Richards, Garner and Botham (rested for this match) and it inspired a lifelong love of the game. As a related aside, my own experience means I am keen to make professional cricket accessible to as many people in Sussex as possible, both through making it easier to come to the 1st Central County Ground, as well as working to return some matches to our outgrounds.

 

MH: Previously, you were interim CEO of Cricket Scotland. What do you see as the main differences between that role and Sussex, apart from geography?

PF: Despite being a lifelong cricket fan and working in the sports industry for over 20 years, Cricket Scotland was my first time working in the sport. While the CEO job title may have been the same at both Cricket Scotland and Sussex Cricket, the situation could not be more different.

I flew up to take over Cricket Scotland with just two days’ notice, and headlong into a major crisis. A report had been published a few months before outlining the organisation as institutionally racist, with over 50 cases of alleged racism still to be looked into. The media, government, cricket community and both racism accusers and accused were understandably pushing for answers. 

Despite being the biggest challenge of my career bar none, I hold it up as perhaps my proudest career achievement, having led Cricket Scotland through the crisis to a place of stability despite what felt like daily ‘bumps in the road’. I will also always be grateful for the warm welcome from Scottish cricket – despite my Englishness – and for giving me exposure to the sport I love in a global setting. 

Sussex Cricket, by comparison, is a lot simpler! There are challenges, of course, but we are starting from a place of relative stability. Doing nothing is not an option; we need to evolve to stay relevant and improve our financial footing to ensure we are still here for future generations of cricketers and Sussex supporters. But we are building on firm foundations, with positive results on the field helping to reinforce the sense of a new era for Sussex Cricket. 

 

MH: Now your feet are under the table, what are the three top items on your ‘to do’ list?

PF: It was my very first day in the role when I realised the level of responsibility of the position. My name had been added to the honours board in the pavilion as the 35th CEO (Secretary as was) of Sussex Cricket; a list that dates back to 1838. 

I see the CEO role as that of a trusted guardian, to nurture and pass on the institution in a better condition than you took it on. This is one of the reasons why I have spent the first few months listening to as many people as possible, and I am sure many supporters will have seen me walking around the ground to try to seek out anyone happy to share their stories and their views. I certainly get my 10,000 steps in on match days! 

I have been taken aback by how welcoming everyone has been, and my summary of hundreds of conversations is that there is a fair bit of consensus on the way forward. Not everyone loves the same format of the game; not everyone agrees on the ‘whys and wherefores’ recent history; and not everyone watches for the same reasons. 

But there’s a shared passion for Sussex Cricket where we want to get – back to the top of the sport for all of our teams and to grow the popularity of the sport at all levels in Sussex. Paul Farbrace and the wider coaching team are doing a fantastic job on the field, and I see my role as leading the organisation and enhancing our off-field performance to give them the resources and environment to flourish. For me, there are three closely related priorities to help this happen:

A New Long-Term Strategy – an ambitious and exciting vision for Sussex Cricket, agreed upon by everyone, that gives everyone something to work towards whether it is staff, supporters, sponsors or volunteers. This will bring together all parts of Sussex Cricket: the inspiring work of the Foundation; the outstanding league structure; the player development pathway; and the more visible elements of the elite end of the game; into one cohesive and joined-up strategy. 

A slick and effective organisation – I have been taken aback by the dedication, knowledge and know-how of the staff team who make everything happen behind the scenes. But the lean and challenging financial times have had an effect, and it is remarkable how few people there are running things ‘behind the curtain’. 

They need my support in developing an organisation with enough resources to deliver the ambitious strategy I’ve already mentioned. This isn’t simply a case of ‘throwing people and money at it’, as we also need to embed a new culture throughout the organisation to allow Sussex Cricket to excel in all areas. 

Making more money – always defaulting to talking money can sometimes come across as vulgar, but developing the Sussex Cricket that we want will need more income, and lots of it. To get where we want to be we will need to invest more in staff, facilities, our squads and future player pathway. And what is more, I do not think it is right to continually ask our dedicated fans and members to foot the bill. This is why we need to think more creatively to increase our income, grow commercial income and use our Hove home better outside of match days. 

 

MH: How much of a battle will it be to return the team to the first division of the County Championship?

PF: Talking to our members and fans of the men’s team, a return to the top echelon of red ball cricket is everyone’s number-one wish, and that is what we have set out to do. 

Paul Farbrace – and his team – have changed the mentality and culture into that of a winning team, and that is showing on the pitch. It is looking great so far, but there’s still work to do to finish the season as we started and return to where Sussex belongs.

We have a talented team, with a core of young talented cricketers. This is why we are already thinking beyond this year and have managed to sign many of our players on longer-term contracts, as we see them as central to a successful new era at Sussex Cricket. This is a testament to the culture the coaching team have fostered, as the players want to stay and can see it is the place they can develop and flourish as a player. 

 

MH: Women’s cricket is now a very important part of the cricket calendar. What’s the future of the SCCC women’s team?

PF: Sussex has an incredible history and heritage in the women’s game, developing some of the biggest names in the sport, and the current team has continued in a similar vein. This is why we were particularly disappointed to not be included in the top level (Tier 1) of women’s cricket in the new restructure of the women’s game, despite what we felt was an exceptional bid. 

That said, being awarded Tier 2 status – and the resources it brings from the ECB – will still help bring about a step change for our women’s team. While it won’t be the fully professional side we strive for, we will be able to recruit a staff team and help support the team's development to the next level. We are staying true to many of the commitments we made in our Tier 1 bid, most importantly committing to parity with our men’s team. 

The first step was handing overall leadership to Paul Farbrace, as we looked to unlock all the support resources available to the men’s side. As a result, we’ll also be seeing more of our women’s team playing at The 1st Central County Ground in Hove, as we seek to raise the team’s profile, dominate Tier 2 and secure Tier 1 status at the earliest opportunity. 

 

MH: Do you believe T20 is key to establishing cricket in new markets and engaging younger fans?

PF: One of the beauties of cricket is there is something for everyone. For many, nothing can ever match the skill and tactical complexity of the longer format of the game; something from a personal perspective I concur with. 

However, it’s clear that new audiences struggle to go straight to the ‘fine wine’ version of our game, and something simpler and shorter has proven to be more successful at attracting new fans. It's plain to see the immense popularity of the shorter formats of the game, as we routinely sell out our home Vitality Blast T20 fixtures, with far lower attendances at County Championship games. 

When I walk around the ground during games, I see different people at each format, with T20 typically younger and from a wider variety of backgrounds and having been to several Hundred games this year it is breaking into audiences new to cricket. 

What we need to embrace as fans is that we don’t need everyone to love every format of the game, but we do need to make sure we have something for everyone. This is the only way to ensure the long-term survival of all formats, and shorter formats such as T20, the Hundred and even T10 are proven to bring in new audiences to the game we all love. 

 

MH: SCCC is going well this season in the Championship and looking for promotion but the quarter-final T20 in September makes for exciting times at the club. How do you plan to maximise this? 

PF: The number one focus this year for the men’s team was gaining promotion in the County Championship. I wouldn’t say the team’s outstanding success in the Vitality Blast T20 was a surprise, given the talent in the squad, but it was a very welcome bonus to our primary goal. The atmosphere at The 1st Central County Ground has been immense this year and helped reinforce the feeling of a new era for Sussex Cricket. 

The fact that we sold out the quarter-final weeks ago shows the effect the team’s success has had, with great support from the community. The challenge from here is making this level of success the norm and building our fan base. 

We are investing a lot in the staff team to make sure we capitalise on the on-field success, getting into a positive cycle of growth rather than the slightly stagnated picture I saw when I took over. On-field success does not guarantee off-field commercial growth – nor vice versa – but in the well-run organisation we are developing I am confident that the two will live off each other and help the club reach new heights. 

 

MH: SCCC, like everyone else, has had to diversify in a myriad of inventive ways, to become a 365-day-a-year business. What is the board’s strategy to ensure financial stability for Sussex?

PF: Strangely, some of the opportunities I get most excited about have nothing to do with cricket. This may sound slightly perverse given my love of the sport, but we own an exceptional venue right in the middle of a fantastic community and have untapped potential to gain valuable income to invest back into cricket. Crucially for me, that means not asking our devoted fans for more and more money to support cricket, instead looking further afield. 

We already hold many events that are really valued by the community, not least the annual fireworks display but also concerts, having welcomed music legends such as Sir Elton John, Lionel Richie, Michael Bublé, The Who and Sir Rod Stewart among many others. 

Covid has hit the music industry and the viability of venues such as ours, but we are working very hard behind the scenes to bring concerts back to The 1st Central County ground, while also creating new high-quality events for our community all year round. Watch this space!

I am sure many people will be aware of the existing ground development Master Plan. Phase One of Four is already complete which has provided a new pub, 37 new homes and three commercial offices, one of which is a new dental practice. 

The next phases are critical to the long-term financial security of Sussex Cricket and we only get one shot at it. This is why I am carrying out a final review to make sure the plans are optimal, both commercially and to make sure it will provide the new facilities that our local community wants. 

However, we need to do all of this without losing what makes our Hove home so special; something I experienced from my first visits many years ago. Done right, the combination of new ground facilities and year-round community events can make Sussex Cricket sustainable for future generations; another reason why the ‘new era’ in our history is quite so exciting. 

 

MH: Brighton & Hove now has a successful Premier League football club. Have you established a working relationship with them since starting your new role with SCCC?

PF: These links with the Albion go back way before I started work here. Our respective Foundations enjoy an outstanding partnership to help use the power of sport to benefit our communities. 

This partnership is beginning to grow into the commercial end of the organisations. I met with Paul Barber (Albion CEO) earlier this year – indeed I worked with him many years ago at The FA, when I was a fresh(er) faced Graduate Trainee – and we are keen for our teams to collaborate. 

We are working in sports with big differences commercially, as I would dearly love to be able to make hundreds of millions from developing outstanding players! However, there are so many areas where we can work together to develop. Our staff teams are now getting to know each other, having recently established an annual Sussex Cricket vs Brighton & Hove Albion staff cricket match, hopefully followed by a football equivalent in the winter! Let’s see if we can get Jofra to open our staff team’s bowling attack…