Somerset & I: Gordon Hollins
"It might look different, but you don’t easily lose something which has survived two World Wars."
Visitors to my house in York are greeted by a mini cap on my mantelpiece with the Somerset crest on it. Richard Brice gave it to me. When they ask me what it is, I tell them the story of what cricket means to those living across the South West of the country.
Somerset is unique. It is the only professional club in this country where cricket is the biggest sport in the county. The Wickets cafe, and the Ring of Bells are a stone’s throw from the ground, while the Cricketers' Arms is only a Will Smeed six hit away. Walk around the town and you can see that cricket runs through Taunton’s DNA. It’s the same in many parts of the South West. Cricket means so much to so many people there and the club plays a very important role in the community. The connection between players, club and community is what will stick with me most when I reflect on my time at Somerset.
I joined Somerset on 16 March 2020, after 12 and a half years at the ECB. I was, in effect, ‘gamekeeper turned poacher.’ I wanted to ‘walk the talk’ rather than ‘talk the talk’. At the time, I had the opportunity to go to what I’ll call a ‘stadium county,’ but I wanted to work for a club that was very close to its community, hence Somerset.
A week after I arrived, Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown and my first contact with many colleagues was when I had to put them on ‘furlough’ leave. That was completely unexpected, and I admit, I found it challenging. Normally, the first task for a new Chief Executive is to get to know the people, but I was trying to do that in a turbulent environment, with most conversations being virtual, while trying to work out how to navigate the club through the crisis that we, cricket and the whole country was in.
In the early days of the pandemic, I confess that as the club’s CEO it was frightening, as it was for many leaders of businesses that were reliant on ‘mass gatherings.’ We had no ticket money, no hospitality, no catering, commercial partners who we couldn’t honour agreements for, several members wanting their money back (thankfully, we also had several who generously donated their fees) and we didn’t know what the ECB were going to be able to pay us going forward. We had to make some tough financial decisions, including some that resulted in the club losing valued colleagues. What made that trickier, was that we had a close-knit family club. Sadly, the reality was that at the time, the club was in a precarious financial position. It was a genuine crisis, and I remain proud of how our small Executive team, steered the club through it.
Over the years I have concluded that sport can be a welcome escape from reality for supporters, and therefore for many, the sole interest is what happens on the field. My previous experience (I met with three sets of ‘Insolvency lawyers’ in my time at ECB) taught me that when a club loses control of its finances, it loses control of everything. Someone said to me once, ‘show me a good team off the field and I'll show you a good team on it’. I have always believed that to be true, and I therefore tried to navigate Somerset out of the pandemic by re-building the club in its entirety, while maintaining the great progress that Andy Hurry had led in the cricket department since he returned to Somerset in 2017.
In my mind, professional sport is different from other businesses. It’s not about making profit for the sake of it. However, a club does need to generate money to invest in players, staff and the infrastructure of the ground. A commercial focus was therefore critical for Somerset if we were to recruit and retain the best people, who could enable the club to thrive once COVID-19 was confined to history. We had to invest in the commercial department. Caroline Herbert joined us from Bristol Sport to lead that charge. There is no doubt in my mind that if it hadn't been for Caroline and her commercial team, we would not have won the Blast in 2023. We simply wouldn’t have been able to retain and recruit the players we did if more income hadn’t been generated. It was a great example of ‘show me a good team off the field…’
I admit that I didn’t always get it right. I made some decisions that, on reflection, were not the right ones. Deciding to close the members’ bar - big mistake! I was making decisions for the right reasons, but at that point I didn't understand the club’s DNA well enough.
On the field, Andy and his coaching team were doing a wonderful job developing so many talented young players. We did all we could to limit the impact on cricket financially, because they were making such good progress. It was also obvious that to inspire people to come back and get involved in the club when the storm was through, a competitive team was essential. The rest is history as they say, and that night at Edgbaston on 15 July 2023 will live with me until my last breath.
Looking forward, at a time when technology is changing the world faster than at any stage in history, evolution is key. I am in no doubt that despite some opinion to the contrary, there is a future for county cricket. It might look different, but you don’t easily lose something which has survived two World Wars. I think there's a challenge to keep an interest in ‘traditional cricket’, as I would call it, long-form cricket, but the roots of it are very, very deep, and it's got a strong core support. It just needs to adapt to accommodate the shorter versions of the game and the globalisation of our sport, which results in big demands on players all year round.
The Hundred is divisive, and emotive. I don't see that we can continue with what is purported to be the premier domestic short-form competition without a team in the South West. Whilst I'm proud of Sean Dickson and his team for their achievements this year in the Metro Bank One Day Cup - what they've done is incredible - we also need some prime, top-quality cricket whether it be through international matches, the Hundred or another format, during the height of summer and the school holidays. The South West needs to be inspired through cricket, and make the jobs of the excellent Somerset Cricket Foundation and so many volunteers in recreational clubs, easier.
I miss Taunton and the wonderful people I worked with. Since I left, I’ve been to four away matches, one home game and two finals, which has been fabulous. When not physically present, I have followed the team on the wonderful YouTube channel or when travelling, the scores on my mobile phone. Not as good as being there but the next best thing!
I hope the members and supporters of Somerset while being disappointed that we have ended the season without a trophy, will reflect on the season with great pride. We have a wonderful club which gets the most out of resources, which are not as plentiful as several other clubs that have more income streams. We should all be very proud of what is being achieved, on and off the field.
Winter well!
Gordon Hollins