Research by Tom Brown, a PhD student at Birmingham City University, identified a lack of British South Asian Cricketers progressing into the professional game. The M5 Sports Management Group were pleased to help set up the South Asian Cricket Association (SACA) to address the problem working with First Class and National Counties and other interested parties. Sir John Crabtree OBE, the Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands and Chairman of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Preet Gill, the Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Wasim Khan MBE, General Manager ICC Cricket, Andy Street CBE, Mayor of the West Midlands Combined Authority and Moeen Ali, the England and Warwickshire Cricketer have all agreed to become Patrons of this important initiative going forward.

Since  Nobby Stiles, the former Manchester United and England player,  passed away with Dementia, M5 Group Chairman Michael Giles has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of former players who are suffering from this terrible work related  illness.The M5 Sports Management Group are pleased to support the Dementia in Football campaign to ensure that the Professional Footballers Association (PCA), the Premier League and the Football Association (FA)  meet their duty of care obligations to  support these players and their families financially in respect of the care they will need as the illness progresses.The Daily Mail is leading this campaign together with a number of high profile individuals in the game including Chris Sutton, Grahame Souness and Kevin Keegan.

The M5 Sports Management Group were pleased to be asked to support the Bethan James Bursary, set up by George Dobell, the current Chairman of the Cricket Writers Club (CWC).in memory of Bethan, a talented trainee journalist who tragically died at the age of just twenty one. She was the daughter of Steve James, a highly respected sports journalist and former professional cricketer, and the aim of the Bursary is to provide funds for trainee journalists who are unable to take up work experience opportunities through lack of finance. Appropriate funding will be given to suitable candidates, by the Cricket Writers Club, to ensure that talented young sports journalists from all backgrounds are able to follow their chosen professions in the future.

Every week from October through to April over 100 young cricketers from the age of six to sixteen attend the Moeen Ali High Performance Cricket Academy at the state of the art Edgbaston Cricket Centre, home of Warwickshire County Cricket Club. Director of Cricket Munir Ali and his team of highly qualified ECB coaches have designed a progressive player pathway programme which helps these young players to reach their full potential and many move on to represent their Counties at age group level and beyond. Many of the group are from inner city areas of Birmingham and the Midlands and the M5 Group are pleased to support this community initiative to help young people from all backgrounds and cultures improve their lives through cricket, something which Moeen himself believes in passionately.

The Devon County Cricket Club performance Centre is based at Bicton College, a beautiful location in East Devon and established to provide a progressive player programme for established and potential players. Devon CCC is recognised as the pinnacle of cricket in the County and many of the players in both the Devon Lions and the senior county side progress into the First Class game and beyond, including Dominic Bess, Ben Green, Charlie Morris,Tom Lammonby and the Overton twins, Jamie and Craig. The facilities at Bicton include an indoor net facility, a gym, a residential block, restaurant, outdoor 3G pitch and excellent lecture theatre. NeiL Gamble, the Devon County Cricket Club Chairman, and his management team should be congratulated on setting up this facility and the M5 Group are committed to supporting this worthwhile initiative moving forward.

The global sports market was estimated to be in the region of $440 billion dollars in 2021 with a projection that the market will reach a value of $600 billion dollars by 2025. Despite the growth of the global sports industry there is currently a lack of leaders and administrators with the expertise and experience to take the industry forward in the way that is needed. The objective is to recruit male and female students who have the potential to take up important positions across the ever growing sports industry. An MBA in the business of sport would provide learning objectives and appropriate case studies for 10 modules across a 2 year distance learning MBA. It would target male and female professionals transitioning from playing careers, current administrators and other professional executives who may wish to consider a career in sport. An opportunity exists to deliver real value to the sport sector and to provide a pathway for the students to pursue an executive career in the industry.