00:00Good afternoon and welcome to Hove. It's the Tuesday the 16th of September 2025 and I've got the chairman of Sussex Cricket with me, John Philby.
00:13John, we were both at a meeting last night where it seems that your chairmanship has been extended until 2028. Congratulations on that.
00:25So, John, first of all, before we sort of get into the gubbins of this interview, just tell us a bit about yourself.
00:34Well, I've been a Sussex supporter since... I was born in Eastbourne, 1959, and I first... my father was at Vicar and we moved to Hove in 1971.
00:46My first game here at Hove was against... it was a counter-temperature match against Gloucestershire in 1971.
00:53And we... and I've been absolutely besotted by the place ever since, so it's lovely to be here now talking to you about it.
01:01I've been involved with Sussex Cricket since 1971, so what's that? This is my 55th season.
01:09Wow.
01:09I haven't been as heavily involved as I am at the moment as chair. This is my 4th year as chair.
01:17I regard it as a complete privilege and I love the responsibility of looking after Sussex Cricket at this very interesting time for cricket as a sport.
01:29That's nice. You live in Serberton, if I'm right, and so it's a bit of a threat for you to come down here all the time.
01:37But that's not a problem for you, is it?
01:39No, it's not a problem. I'm a Sussex boy at heart. As I say, I was born in Sussex. I've lived most of my life in Sussex.
01:45I currently live in Serberton because my wife works in the West Country, and if we lived here, she'd never be able to get to work.
01:53So that's why we live where we do. And I spend a bit of time travelling up and down the M23, but it's a pretty decent road, and so that's all OK.
02:03OK. We're coming to the end of the season here. We've got Yorkshire out there batting at the moment.
02:11So this is the last game here at Ho for the year. What are your sort of jobs, your list of jobs for the winter coming up?
02:23Well, there's a lot to do. The first thing to do is, as you'll be aware, Pete Fitzboydon, the Chief Executive, has resigned and leaves us in early November.
02:34And so the first job is the recruitment and appointment of a new Chief Executive, and that will be very time-consuming throughout October and November.
02:46We'd hope to make an appointment this side of Christmas, and for the new person to be in place before the season starts next year.
02:54Yeah, that's quite a big job, isn't it?
02:56It is a way to do. And alongside that, the financial situation with sausage cricket is not exactly where we would want it to be.
03:06We are expected to make a significant loss this year, and we've got to work to get the balance between our performance on the field and our performance off the field.
03:20It's completely correct.
03:22Right, OK. That seems like a juggling act.
03:25It's not a big one, yeah.
03:26That is a big one.
03:28Going forward to 2.26, I know there's an 18-club vote on the cards to restructure the county championship.
03:39If that was to go through, for me personally, it sounds like a very exciting new venture for next year.
03:47You're obviously very much in agreement with this 13 game, two sets of six, with each playing each other. It sounds very exciting, doesn't it?
03:58I think it is exciting. I think support members and supporters will soon engage with it.
04:04I think it will be very good for players. It creates more integrity than the current competition. Somebody pointed out to me that Nottingham are playing Surrey and they've only played each other once this year.
04:21So the current competition isn't absolutely perfect. The players have asked for a reduction. This offers a one-match reduction, four days, which can make a significant difference when it's lined up with the changes that have already made to the T20 Blast.
04:42So taking some of the long travelling, you know, as a supporter who's travelled to Glamorgan and Bristol and Taunton to support Sussex in T20.
04:51That will no longer be something that's necessary. Instead, you'll be able to go to Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Hampshire and Kent.
04:59And those are much more straightforward journeys, not only for supporters, but more importantly, for players.
05:05There'll be no requirement for overnight stays. And that will take quite a bit of the stress and the strain out of the schedule.
05:16So I'm confident that it's a good schedule in that it reduces some of the strain that the players have asked us to look at.
05:24I think that there's a bottom division of only six, which means every year there'll be 12 teams in with a chance of winning the first division championship.
05:35And if you're in the second division, then you'll be fighting for your life to get out of it and you'll have a 33% chance of doing that.
05:43So I'm very much in favour. I think it will be exciting.
05:46I hope that it gets voted for. It's going to be a very close thing, Colin. There's every chance that not enough counties.
05:55We need to get 12 out of the 18 to vote for it. That may not happen.
05:58And if it doesn't, if it doesn't happen, then we'll be in the same position as this year.
06:03And we've had a lovely season this year, haven't we? So it won't be all bad.
06:07My preference would be to get that vote across the line.
06:10Thank you very much for your explanations there. Very thorough.
06:16Talking about 2025, we've had some really good, really wonderful games here in Sussex, haven't we?
06:23I mean, for me, highlight is probably Arundel.
06:27Did you enjoy the whole club up sticks, go down to Arundel?
06:31I know it's quite a big task for everybody to do it. It's probably a logistical nightmare.
06:37But was that worth it? And was it a fantastic day for the club?
06:41Yeah, it was definitely worth it. That's the first thing.
06:44Secondly, I did enjoy it. I've been advocating it since I became chairman and I'm very enthusiastic about it.
06:50And next year, there's talk of a fifth game in the 50-over competition if the 13-game championship gets agreed.
06:58And if that happens, we'll have a choice between taking two games to Arundel or one to Arundel and one to Horsham.
07:04So I'm very enthusiastic about getting the games out around the county, and we'll do whatever we can to do that.
07:12And I loved the day at Arundel.
07:14Personally, my favourite day was the county championship win against Somerset here.
07:17I thought that was a fantastic game of cricket.
07:20And Sussex proved that we are in the right place in Division 1.
07:25We're proving it again today with Yorkshire about 150-7.
07:29And so I'm very content that cricket is moving in the right direction.
07:35Well, thank you very much for coming out and talking to me today.
07:39It's been really nice getting some insights there.
07:41Today, the sun's out. I mean, there's not a better place to be, is there?
07:45There isn't a better place to be, Colin, and I can't wait to be back.
07:50But I know that we're all going to be busy through the winter, preparing for next summer.
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