Dan Whiting looks behind the headlines at the new MCC head coach Steve Kirby and reveals a different side to a man with a colourful past
When Steve Kirby was unveiled as the MCC’s head coach last week, there would have been gasps among the staider elements in the game.
The supposed arch-sledger, flame-haired king of the one-liners and fiercest of fast-bowling competitors had been absorbed, at 38, into the very heart of the cricketing establishment.
But look behind the headlines at the man himself and there is no doubt that the MCC have recruited someone with compassion, energy, social conscience and an inspirational determination.
‘Tango’s’ playing career that spanned 17 years and took in spells at Leicestershire, Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset, had come close to stalling at 19. A debilitating back injury at Leicestershire where he started as a £25-a-week trainee almost finished his professional game before he even started.
It was only the support of Jack Birkenshaw and Russell Cobb who remodelled his action that saved him. “Both of them were amazing,” Kirby said. “Without those two and the support of Kibworth CC where I was playing at the time, I’d have never have had the career that I have had.”
A spell selling industrial flooring followed before Kirby wrote to Yorkshire asking for a trial. Born over the Pennines in Bury, he came in to deputise for Matthew Hoggard who was on England duty in 2001 and immediately made an impact. He took seven wickets on debut and Kirby was an integral part of the Championship winning side that year. England Lions honours followed before he left Yorkshire by mutual consent and went to Gloucestershire.
After turning down a benefit in 2010 in a move to enhance his chances of international honours, he joined Somerset where he played in the Champions Trophy semi-final in India. He finished with 572 first-class wickets.
Kirby’s career had been colourful and controversial. Many stories and anecdotes, some true and some apocryphal emanate, many from the man himself. A chapter in my book Characters Of Cricket on the man known as Tango due to the colour of his hair goes into more detail and a quick look on the internet describes many of these.
Kirby was allegedly one of numerous prime suspects of being Jack the Snipper; a character in the Headingley dressing room who would cut up the clothes of team-mates. The Snipper was never caught, but much hilarity was had in 2001 when no-nonsense skipper David Byas pulled up his boxer shorts, only for them to end up around his armpits due to having no gusset.
There is the famous story of him dismissing Mike Atherton for a pair and telling him that “he had seen better batters in a fish and chip shop”.
For the lazy journalist, the Kirby story ends there. Countless stories of verbals and sledging, brushes with authority and the behaviour of a typical fast bowler are the usual fayre trotted out. But that does him a disservice.
Peel back the layers and there is far more to Kirby. A warm, genial man I am lucky enough to have got to know him via the work that we have both done for the charity, Melanoma UK. As someone who has suffered a couple of melanoma scares himself, Kirby has always been a great supporter of the charity that has such close links with the game.
With ginger hair and fair skin, an outdoor career comes with its dangers and along with his close friend Ryan Sidebottom, he has always been a big supporter of Melanoma UK. Kirby has been the star of the show Pushing The Boundaries that I have hosted, regaling the audience with his stories and humour and travelling from his home in Somerset to Leeds and to London. He has never once asked for a penny in expenses.
Neither are many stories printed about the work that he has done in under privileged areas. Visits to high unemployment areas of Leeds when he was at Yorkshire helping promote the game, or the Halcon Estate in Taunton, where the crime rates are higher than the majority of Somerset county towns.
Stand Against Violence is another initiative that Kirby has been involved in after a friend of a friend lost his life on a night out.
Kirby’s indiscretions as opposed to the positive work he has done in the game always seemed to have been highlighted. He is adored by the fans and a five-minute walk from hotel to Headingley took over half an hour as he was stopped by fans of both Yorkshire and Somerset a couple of years ago. Kirby had time for them all; young, old, male, female, people from all demographics. He is a fantastic ambassador for the game.
He has always had to be competitive. For Tango, there was no public school and university route into cricket. He had to battle to get where he was, whether it was at Lancashire Schools level or coming back from injury to forge a successful career. A man who always gives everything to the cause, it is no surprise that since he left the professional game two years ago, he has built an award winning, successful career in recruitment.
Now in charge of the MCC ‘s community links, academy, university programme and young cricketers, Kirby is the type of character who will ensure that the MCC offers youngsters the best opportunities in cricket as well as in life.
John Stephenson, MCC’s head of cricket, said: “Steve’s passion for the role and for MCC shone through and this was a key reason why we appointed him. He has energy, drive and commitment in spades and his ambition to drive forward all the club’s coaching structures.
“With a successful playing career and impressive coaching credentials, we feel we have, in Steve, someone to inspire young cricketers either to take up the game or take their game to the next level.
“His infectious love of cricket will also rub off on our MCC academy and community coaches and we very much look forward to him joining the staff.”
Kirby added: “Words can’t describe how excited I am to be taking on such a prestigious role. Mark Alleyne did a tremendous job over the previous seven years and they are very big boots to fill.
“This role is about helping to unearth the hidden talent of young players from all age groups and backgrounds, helping them to excel in their dreams of playing professional cricket but most importantly helping them to become truly well-rounded confident people who can cope with any hurdle that life throws at them.
“I want to teach them to treasure and respect the values MCC stands for, nurturing them to be role models and ambassadors MCC can be proud of, but most importantly that they are extremely proud to say they are a real part of.”
The MCC have got themselves, as KIrbs would say, “a good ‘un”.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday April 15 2016
