My School Sport: Ian Botham (8 May 1998)

May 8 1998

My School Sport: Ian Botham

Interview by Gareth A Davies

WHERE did you go to school?

Bucklers Mead Secondary Modern School in Yeovil.

Did other famous people attend your school?

Not that I can think of, but we had a very keen PE master guy called Dave Burge and he took us for soccer, cricket, badminton, you name it, after school. I don't think I ever left school before 8 pm.

Did you enjoy your schooldays?

Yes, and I have friends from school who will remain friends forever.

When did your interest in cricket begin?

From the age of four. Basically, it was soccer or cricket. Those were the two sports I concentrated on but I played badminton, too.

Did you excel at both soccer and cricket and how did you progress?

It got to the stage, when I was 15, that I had to make a choice between being either a cricket all-rounder or soccer centre-half or centre-forward. The Crystal Palace manager Bert Head, and a couple of other clubs were interested in signing me. But Somerset sent me up to Lord's, where I was offered a groundstaff contract. I signed it there and then. The soundest piece of advice I ever took was when my father told me he thought I was a much better cricketer than footballer.

Who were your early sporting heroes?

The Chelsea football team of the early Seventies - Osgood, Hutchinson, Bonetti, Cooke and Hudson.

Did you gain representative honours at school?

I played for Somerset at under-15, and in the England schools festival for the South West of England in Liverpool, but after getting wickets and runs I was told that the only reason I had done so was a combination of a bad wicket and lucky batting. As usual they picked lots of southerners and I was asked if I wanted to be 13th man. I think that was the first time I fell out with authority in a big way. I told them where to go, got on the train, and went home.

What advice would you give to schoolchildren interested in pursuing a career in sport?

Get on with it, enjoy it, and go for it. If you go out there and enjoy sport, that's what it is all about. If you have that extra bit of talent and believe in yourself, who knows what can happen?

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)