Just Another S.C.O.W. Boy: An Interview with Sean Holley

Tell us what you think of this episode Sean is a TV Rugby Analyst for BBC Wales Scrum V. He provides commentary and match analysis. He also works for BT Sport, Sky Sports, S4C and hosts the Sony Award winning ‘Rugby Nation’ weekly show on Nation Radio. Sean was Head Coach for Ospreys Rugby where he spent nine Seasons. He played cricket in his home town of Cwmafan near Port Talbot and developed into a good junior player who played representative cricket in his teenage years. He talks about his early cricketing experiences and how he developed as a batsman and young off spin bowler. He played a lot of football as a youngster but he describes how rugby became his all-consuming passion which squeezed out his cricketing development. Sean spent a year in Australia before going to University and had some experience of cricket there. As his coaching in rugby developed, Sean's playing for British Steel / Tata Steel declined a little but he has always retained a connection with the club and he has been Club President for many years. Sean has a family connection with Alan Rees, ex Glamorgan cricketer and Welsh rugby international and he talks fondly about his contact with him and how important he is in the sporting history of the town of Port Talbot. Sean talks about the players he followed and learnt from and he recalls watching a video about John Emburey. Glamorgan players he watched were Alan Lewis Jones, Mathew Maynard and John Hopkins. He recalls fondly the deal he struck with Gray Nicholls for sponsorship and the bats he used. Tata Steel Cricket Club has been the only club that Sean has played for and he talks with great feeling about how he grew up from a boy to a man with the help of the men at the cricket club. Older men help sustain the club as they grow older, the turning of the seasons see players change their relationship with it. Sean does a lot of work raising money for the club and giving back a lot to it. He talks about being a S.C.O.W, (Steel Company of Wales) boy and how proud he is of this. Sean talks passionately about his own analytical approach to the game and the impact individual coaches had on his game as a young boy. We talk about the transferable skills that make good rugby players also good cricketers and / or footballers and Sean talks about dealing with pressure and the importance of team sport's and leaving a legacy for future players. 'Its incumbent on us to recognise and live up to history.' Sean finishes the podcast with his thoughts about the strength of cricket in Port Talbot and his concerns about the social pressures taking young people away from the game. He finishes with some final thoughts about Alan Rees and the impact that sporting figures can have on those that come behind them.