Members go behind the screens

A variety of current and former cricketers travelled to Salford for a BBC taster day held as part of the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s Personal Development and Welfare Programme.

Jack Shantry, Steve Magoffin, Mohammad Azharullah, George Garrett and Robert Yates were given behind the scenes access at Media City with a variety of workshops during the day.

The session, hosted by Head of Production at BBC Sport, Dominique Middleton, gave an insight into different opportunities within the broadcasting company, allowed the cricketers to witness live reporting and offered a more in-depth view of the pre and post-production that occurs during a day of live sport.

Starting with a tour of Media City, the group of five were shown the different areas within the BBC (TV, Radio, Digital) before taking part in a brainstorming activity surrounding the BBC’s future coverage of the sport with players asked to canvass their opinions on the BBC’s future broadcasting rights.

The taster Day was a great example of the cross-section of ages that the PDWP covers with recently retired players accompanied by current professionals and academy players as the PCA continue to explore and assist with the transition into a second career.

PCA Personal Development and Welfare Manager, Tom Jones, was in attendance and believes these taster days give cricketers a greater idea of the careers available outside of playing professional sport.

“There’s always a lot of interest from our members surrounding careers in media and broadcasting, so to be able to take them to the BBC and witness what working on live sport is like was really good,” said Jones.

“These days are integral to the work we do at the PCA, we are always talking to players about what they can do in the future or alongside playing professional sport.

“However, to actually give them the real-life experiences of what goes on in this industry makes a massive difference and really allows players to make more informed decisions on what else they might want to do.”

Former professional cricketer Steve Magoffin recently retired in 2018 and has since moved on to overseeing the women’s pathway programme with former club Worcestershire.

Following a very successful career, the Australian believes the opportunities that are available through the PCA are crucial in helping current and former cricketers explore life outside of cricket.

“It was really interesting to be able to see how much goes into the organisation from a sports perspective and all the different roles that come together to produce the work the BBC do,” Magoffin said.

“It’s absolutely vital that the PCA are putting on days like this for us.

“You get to a stage in your career when you need to start thinking about other opportunities and the PCA are great at allowing you to explore so many different opportunities as well as helping us learn so many different skills.”