Honorary Graduates

Orations and responses

Response by Trevor Brooking

Thank you Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman.  I am very pleased and honoured to be here today to receive today’s degree.  First of all I should congratulate everyone who has received an award,  because as I know as a father myself who has gone through a couple of days such as this, its a very proud day – and  not only for family and friends,  but particularly for the students because it is a culmination of several years of hard work. So congratulations and well done.

You are moving into a new phase,  but I am sure you will have plenty of photos and hopefully you will keep in touch.  Certainly my two children, Warren and Collette,  still stay very close friends with a number of students with whom they shared their time.  They were down in Cardiff University doing Economics and certainly had a super time and came back much better individuals.  They still come round and get their washing done – I’m sure the families here  know all about that !  Your children don’t go away  completely, I can assure you - when they need something they will be back!  But it really is an important day and I’m sure you are all enjoying it.  

At this stage I should say well done to the Dean.  From  my experience on  BBC radio and TV,  I know how worried I get when we have a game where we have difficult pronunciations - I rely on John Motson.  I have got to say that even John Motson might have struggled today. So well done to the Dean. I thought he got through  all those pronunciations very well. 

I am on home ground here,  because I am originally from Barking and then I moved with my family to Romford and Gidea Park and now for the best part  of thirty years I have been in Shenfield. So,  this is my area.  But I know  even in Colchester,  there are still quite a few Hammers fans. I have already met one or two on the staff.  I am very conscious of the Tractor Boys down the road.  Ipswich are a growing threat, and of course here in Colchester, I  have got to wish the home team  the best for the new season as well. 

I have enjoyed my whole life revolving around sport and that is why I bang the drum and try to get national and local government to recognise the wider importance of sport. I think its fair to say that in the last 25 years it has been hugely neglected as far as investment is concerned, particularly in the  areas of PE and sport in schools.  Because we all start our interest in sport in school. Certainly my dad and my brother were a big influence,  but it was at primary school and secondary school that there were terrific opportunities to enjoy sport. 

The emphasis for me is for government to get sport back into the primary schools. Because as a Dad I know, that the most impressionable ages are around  4 to 7 years old.  You can really gauge a whole range of life skills which sport can put into place.  Its about developing character and personality and it can influence behaviour, discipline, attitude, confidence, communication skills: a whole range of life skills,  which are related to sport.  Even if you drift away from sport as you get older,  those skills that you learned through sport will stay with you.  They certainly stayed with me. They set certain  standards and challenges,  that you can adhere to as you progress through life. 

Our first introduction to sport, needs to be one that’s fun and enjoyable and makes you want to do it more.  For 95% of the population that is what it remains.  Perhaps though, you may be lucky enough, as a result of your early  involvement, to be part of the few percent  who go on to play regional,  national and even international  sport. I was lucky enough to get paid for playing and for doing  something that I had always wanted to do anyway.   I would have been content to play my recreational sport,  but suddenly West Ham came along. They were the side that I had always supported and so in 1965 I joined. I was lucky enough then to stay with them for the whole of my career of 19 years. 

The orator mentioned the two FA Cups, certainly in 1980, the second one, was a bit special.  Arsenal was the opposition. They are the London side that every other club loves to beat.  They are so unpopular because they are successful I suppose. So it was a great day when we happened to  win 1-0. It was a big surprise that I scored the only goal. It was a major surprise that it was with my head.  There were one or two more than three  that I headed – not many.   I used to get an annual header of the season,  so it was a big surprise to get one in the Cup Final.  Most Arsenal fans I have met since then (its  21 years ago now),   do reckon it just hit me on the head and I didn’t know much about it.  Also, they reckon I am still concussed as a result of it.  That’s probably why I am standing here rambling now.  It was a great moment and if you are lucky enough to play football  as a professional career you want to play in a Cup final,  so to score the only goal was something special. I can genuinely say that not one week has gone by, when  the header hasn’t been mentioned.  It really reflects sport.  It is a great bit of banter and humour and breaks down barriers for me.. 

You have excellent facilities here and I hope all the graduates here have had the chance to enjoy sport. Its very much about the friendship and the humour and it pulls you all together. Hopefully you will continue sport when you move onto other areas.

My involvement with West Ham was an important time in my life,  and then I was lucky enough to get involved in working in the media. Doing TV and Radio has kept the connection for the last 16 or 17 years with the game. Because it would have been difficult to just cut off after 19 years of constant  training.  I’m very lucky now to have been invited onto the Board, and hopefully we can move West Ham on.  Lots of fans are worried about the new season.  I am as well, but hopefully it will be a successful one and I am certainly looking forward to my  involvement with the Board.

I think my role in Sport England  is an important one.  I genuinely believe, because of my personal experiences, that sport has a wide role. We deal with the Home Office,  who have huge problems at the moment with crime and drugs and vandalism, particularly in the 12 to 16 age group. We are working with the Police and Probation Services and Social Services.  Because they keep coming to us and saying sport is the catalyst to try and distract these youngsters away from the problems they have.  Whilst we are happy to work in that area we emphasis the argument that its pretty tough approaching youngsters of  12, 13 and 14 who have had several years of not being focused and  not being in a controlled environment.  So we genuinely believe that  some of those problems could be reduced  if  we invest in the younger age groups at primary school,  and get them involved in sport at a younger age.  So I believe this is being taken on board and certainly health is a problem.  There are statistics showing  obesity problems  with youngsters,  so we are advocating a healthily active lifestyle. Otherwise the Health Service, which is under pressure now, in 15 or 20 years will be exploding at the seams because of that lack of activity and recognition of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. 

We have also got good examples where in the last couple of years we have enhanced the quality of school sport in some of the state schools. And not only has the quality of sport improved but academic results have improved as well. So the argument that you can’t do both,  from my point of view,  is total nonsense. Actually a really good involvement in school sport actually enhances the academic part. I do believe those arguments are now being recognised.  It is going up on the government agenda,  and hopefully we are beginning to reverse the trend. 

Statistics show that during the teenage age years and at  University, sometimes involvement in  sport drops a little bit.  We know all the distractions. But then young people drift back into it in their late twenties.  Hopefully you will continue sport  and try and keep that healthy active lifestyle. 

Naturally we all wish you all the very best in the future and I’m sure you will get plenty of advice as you leave here today. All I can say myself,  is that you have reached the stage in your lives when you know that you have to have a certain inner believe and an inner drive.  I think also, that through sport you set yourself certain standards and challenges - its easy to take the easy way,  but I think it is very important to set your own standards and really achieve whatever those ambitions are.   I want to thank the University for its hospitality today  and wish you every success for the future.  Thank you.