Looking back on 23 years as one of English cricket’s most influential and modern-thinking administrators, Rod Bransgrove admits he only intended a brief stay in the sport.
“When I got to Hampshire I was basically out of money and had nowhere else to go,” says the man who saved his adopted club from ruin and became a thorn in the side of the ECB by demanding more international cricket for the field he then built.
“I often wondered what I was doing. I had planned to spend two or three years figuring it out and then move on to something else, and it was a big wake-up call for me when I realized I was really deep in it.
“It took almost all of my resources and there were definitely times when the club was threatened or I ran out of petrol.
“We had significant opposition from the governing body, and that was very hard to live with. Sometimes I even wondered if they wanted us to die. But we got through it. So this is a good time to take a step back.’
Rod Bransgrove has admitted that he initially only wanted to stay in cricket for a short time
Bransgrove announced his retirement as chairman of Hampshire, which he saved in 2000
That process began when Bransgrove, 72, retired as chairman of Hampshire after a reign that began with saving the club in 2000 before completing the move from the rickety old Northlands Road ground to the new stadium on the edge of Southampton which has become the modern stadium. Ageas bowl.
“When I took the job, I promised the members three things,” Bransgrove tells Mail Sport. “The first was to save Hampshire from bankruptcy, which of course we did. Secondly, we said we would build a club capable of competing with the best in the country. Even though it’s been hard, I think we’ve done that.
‘And third, I said we would build a business around what was then called the Rose Bowl, using the whole ground, so that Hampshire cricket will never be threatened again, and I think we’re pretty close to that too. So I felt this was a good time to bring in a new face (new chairman Nick Pike) for a new relationship with the ECB. And I can put my feet up.’
Not that a man who made his fortune as a pharmaceutical entrepreneur before throwing himself into cricket is completely down to earth now. Bransgrove will continue to run the business side of Hampshire for at least another four years for a very good reason.
All the hard work and battle with the establishment for greater recognition for Hampshire’s purpose-built stadium came to fruition earlier this summer with the pinnacle of Bransgrove’s work in Hampshire: the award of an Ashes Test for 2027.
“It’s such an amazingly overwhelming result for us, because we started to think of it as impossible,” Bransgrove said. “But we never gave up. That was one of Shane Warne’s favorite sayings. Never give up and I agree.
“When it finally happened and we knew we were going to host an Ashes Test, we were over the moon. David Mann (the CEO of Hampshire) and I were in Taunton for the first Blast match of the summer when we got the news and no one in the pavilion could understand how we could have so much fun when we got smashed by Somerset! But we couldn’t tell anyone.’
That news is not without controversy. Bransgrove’s clashes with the ECB and his bete noire in former chairman Giles Clarke became so bitter and protracted that, according to a brilliant new book about his time at Hampshire, ‘Back from the Brink’ by journalist Ivo Tennant, he has taken legal action. took. action against them.
Bransgrove stated that he takes inspiration from Shane Warne in terms of never giving up
Bransgrove is angry at the suggestion that Hampshire should always miss when there are Tests at Lord’s and the Oval and improvements will be made ahead of The Ashes in 2027
When a regime change at the ECB and the arrival of Richard Thompson and Richard Gould Bransgrove finally brought the test he has been seeking more than any other, the news was greeted with consternation by those who cannot believe that no testing will take place in the ECB. north of England in the next house Ashes.
Brangrove reacts irritably to the suggestion that Hampshire should always miss it when there are Tests at Lord’s and the Oval. “There are people who live north of London and think Southampton is just London Beach, but there’s a lot of England under the capital and the people who live there don’t necessarily want to go to London for their entertainment,” he stressed.
“The criticism of the lack of testing in the north was unfair because by 2027 there will be two in the Midlands, two in London and only one in the south.
“I felt Andy Burnham (Mayor of Manchester) had a little too much to say about this, especially when it rained at Old Trafford and denied us the Ashes. I wasn’t particularly impressed with that.
It certainly took a change of management at the ECB for this to happen for us. I can’t really say how they came to decisions in the past, but it didn’t seem fair to me.
“We’ve spent over £100m to make this one of the best grounds in the country and as a result the established ground have done their best too and it’s all been to the benefit of the spectators.
“But it sometimes seems we’ve been punished for that and I don’t think we’ve really been credited for the good we’ve done for English cricket.”
Now a man who has spent £15 million of his own money on the Hampshire project is already planning to make his Ashes Test the best it can be.
One of Bransgrove’s regrets is that Hampshire failed to increase their County Championship titles
“We have plans to make the place even better for 2027,” said Bransgrove of the site that will be renamed next year after the end of its partnership with Ageas.
“We have to determine how many spectators we will have, but it will be somewhere between 20 and 24 thousand.
“And we are on top of the access problem. There’s some legacy from antagonists who still like to mention it, but our entry times are pretty good these days.
“The Ashes seem far away and I don’t necessarily wish my life away these days. There’s plenty to do before then and we’re going to be busy.
“But I will demand that when the time comes, I sit in the pavilion, do no work, and take it all in. It’s our next test. People have seen what we can do and then it will be even better. It’s going to be a great opportunity and I can’t wait.’
Bransgrove and Hampshire deserve to enjoy their moment of Ashes triumph.
*Hampshire have won seven white-ball trophies during Rod Bransgrove’s time as chairman and will have the chance to add an eighth following their demolition of Warwickshire in the Metro Bank 50-over Cup semi-final this week. They now meet Leicestershire in their first 50-over final in 22 years, at Trent Bridge on September 16.
But the one thing Bransgrove regrets in his 23 years as chairman is Hampshire’s inability to increase their two County Championship titles, despite several near misses.
“I’m sorry we didn’t win a championship, but it’s a really hard league to win,” said Bransgrove. “There’s a lot to come your way, but we’ve been within reach once or twice. We’ve won the prize twice in our 150 years of existence, which is once every 75 years on average, and I’m not going to give myself another 50 years to try and win the prize now!’