Key trio honoured in NatWest PCA Awards It may seem strange that three of the NatWest PCA Awards bear the names of men who never played first-class cricket but the contributions of Reg Hayter, John Arlott and Harold Goldblatt to the establishment of the Professional Cricketers’ Association should not be under-estimated. All three played significant behind-the-scenes roles in helping turn a fledgling players’ union, which was viewed with some suspicion when its formation was first mooted in 1966, into the organisation which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2017. The PCA now provides extensive services including educational funding, career advice and health and welfare support for all past and present county cricketers. Reg Hayter was a journalist who established a successful Fleet Street Agency which helped launched the careers of many future national sports writers and commentators. Cricket was Hayter’s great love and he became an agent and adviser to many of the leading names in the sport including Denis Compton, Bill Edrich, Keith Miller, Godfrey Evans, Ian Botham and Basil D’Oliveira. Hayter also helped the PCA in its formative years by seconding one of his staff, Robert Moore, to the Association to work as secretary for a year after Fred Rumsey resigned as secretary when he joined Derbyshire as a player/public relations officer. Hayter’s regard for the players and the respect in which he was held by those who played the game was recognised when the PCA Players’ Player of the Year trophy, the Reg Hayter Cup, was named after him. The award was first presented in 1970 when Jack Bond of Lancashire and Mike Procter of Gloucestershire were joint winners, the only occasion on which the trophy has been shared. Only two players, Sir Richard Hadlee of Nottinghamshire (1981, 1984 and 1987) and Marcus Trescothick of Somerset (2000, 2009 and 2011) have won the Reg Hayter Cup three times. John Arlott was an outstanding journalist who wrote on cricket for the Guardian and who became the voice of the sport during a long career with the BBC for whom he worked on Test Match Special and television. His affection for cricketers and the esteem in which they held him made him the choice of the players to become the Association’s first President in 1968. Other names, including Peter May and the Duke of Edinburgh, were considered but Don Shepherd, the Glamorgan off-spinner, proposed Arlott as man who was universally respected within the game. Arlott served as PCA President for 23 years and helped steer the Association through some rocky times including helping to heal the rift between the cricketing establishment and Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket in the late 1970s. In recognition of Arlott’s outstanding service to the PCA the John Arlott Cup for the PCA Young Player of the Year was introduced in 1991 with Michael Atherton becoming the first recipient. Worcestershire’s Kabir Ali (2002 and 2003) and Alastair Cook of Essex (2005 and 2006) and England’s current Test captain, are the only players to have won the John Arlott Cup twice. Harold Goldblatt was introduced to the PCA by Eric Russell, the former Middlesex and England batsman, who had been impressed by the work that the chartered accountant did on his benefit committee. Goldblatt played an important role in introducing benefits that today’s PCA members perhaps take for granted including insurance, minimum wage, standard contracts, pension schemes and the establishment of the Charitable Trust. The Trust, later to merge with the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust, was initially funded by money from the players’ accumulated share of over-rate fans which was secured by Goldblatt’s skilful negotiations with the Test and County Cricket Board. Goldblatt’s outstanding, if under-stated, contribution to the PCA was recognised with his election as Senior Vice President for life in appreciation of 30 years of service. The Harold Goldblatt Award, which recognises the umpire who has created the best atmosphere in the game, was inaugurated in 1997. You will not find the names of Reg Hayter, John Arlott and Harold Goldblatt in the index of past players in ‘Wisden’ but their efforts to establish a successful union for professional cricketers is recognised by the fact that today’s players all vote to decide the recipients of the three trophies that carry their names. The voting process, which is open to all current professional cricketers, opens around two weeks before the NatWest PCA Awards night with the winners receiving the trophies at a glittering black tie ceremony which will this year be held next Wednesday 28 September at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. The nominees have already been announced for the NatWest Players’ Player of the Year, NatWest Young Player of the Year and Waitrose Women’s Player of the Summer. For full details on the shortlist click here. {{ak_sharing}}
