This time last year, 11 county clubs were hosting ‘Playing for Success’ education programmes inside their own grounds. In All Out Cricket's latest issue, which is out today, Phil Walker reports that just four of those programmes remain operational.

Rolled out in 1997, Playing for Success (PfS) was conceived as a sport-themed education scheme. Its first task was to persuade a trio of well-stocked football clubs to provide their facilities free of charge, in order to accommodate custom-built learning centres inside their grounds. The thinking went that a place of education situated inside a major sports club would provide a more appealing learning environment for young people, especially those struggling in mainstream education. West Ham, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United duly signed up, paving the way for other sports to follow.

It mushroomed. At the turn of this year 162 centres were in place across a range of sports, with 11 county cricket clubs signed up: Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Kent, Leicestershire, Northants, Notts, Somerset, Surrey, Sussex and Yorkshire. As a vehicle for learning, the scheme was respected and valued: last year’s report on the impact of PfS found 97 per cent of pupils enjoyed their learning at the centre, 92 per cent of parents felt the scheme had a positive effect on their children, and 100 per cent of school staff were satisfied with PfS’s effectiveness. At the cricket centres, a typical session would feature two hours of literacy and numeracy work, often with a cricketing slant, and an hour of concentrated coaching with a club-affiliated coach.

Steve Wilson, a former Brixton deputy head and now manager at The Ben Hollioake Learning Centre at The Oval, has seen the benefits first-hand. ”We use the host sport to motivate young people to learn, and it’s an introduction to cricket for these inner-city kids,‘ he says. ”By the end of it the kids have more understanding of the game because they’ve been learning about it and playing it.‘

Steve Wilson, a former Brixton deputy head and now manager at The Ben Hollioake Learning Centre at The Oval, has seen the benefits first-hand. ”We use the host sport to motivate young people to learn, and it’s an introduction to cricket for these inner-city kids,‘ he says. ”By the end of it the kids have more understanding of the game because they’ve been learning about it and playing it.‘

Three cricketing centres have now ceased operating with a further four facing imminent closure. All the clubs we spoke to voiced their disappointment. Take Sussex. They provided a free facility and enjoyed the benefits of seeing local children from disadvantaged areas walk through the gates into a world previously alien to them. When the axe fell the club lobbied their local MPs but were told that there was no money. Their centre closed at the end of May. ”It’s a great shame,‘ says Dave Brooks, Sussex CEO, ”because it takes away an opportunity for these children. They are the real losers in all this.‘ But the doors have not been bolted just yet. The club remains committed to the scheme; the facilities are still there, just unused.

But the situation is not irrecoverable. Four PfS programmes - at Somerset, Durham, Kent and Surrey - fight on. Surrey’s centre was facing closure until a deal was struck last month with real estate advisors Savills to become a community partner of Surrey CCC. ”It’s good news,‘ says Wilson cautiously, though he stresses it’s far from clear how the Savills deal will impact on PfS, as sponsorship will be spread across various schemes; meanwhile, they remain on tenterhooks waiting to hear if the South London-based Walcot Foundation has met their request for a funding grant. In Kent’s case, their short-term future has been secured with extra funding from Kent County Council, but as Ben Taylor, Kent Spitfires Study Centre manager tells us: ”The future is uncertain, and any additional funding or sponsorship could make a massive difference to us.‘

Durham’s funding structure could be the blueprint. Open since 2001, across the school year from September 2010 to July 2011 they will reach 1,800 pupils across three distinct PfS schemes. Dave Ross runs the initiative and is ”relatively hopeful‘ that this time next year they will still be a going concern. He describes their business model, overseen by the influential Durham Cricket Foundation, as a ”three-way portal‘ made up of local sponsorship from private businesses; the local government authority, which Ross stresses ”is still very supportive‘; and finally local schools, who will pay to get their pupils onto the scheme if they have to. ”It’s about the attitude of the local authority, the attitude of the club, and the attitude of the people,‘ Ross explains. ”So many kids say that they never used to like cricket but now they’re hooked. That comes from exposure.‘

It’s tough times out there. Axes are falling. Belts are tightening. And everyone is fighting their own corner. Here at AOC we’re interested in the cricket, not the politics, so we’ve started a Facebook campaign and begun lobbying cricket’s great and good to see if we can help some of the affected clubs. Please have a look at our dedicated ‘AOC is Playing for Success’ Facebook page and follow our Twitter account @AOC_PfS.

The Yorkshire County Cricket Club Learning Centre has been saved following an agreement with the North West Leeds Area Inclusion Partnership made up of schools in Leeds. The YCCC Learning Centre is running Cricket in the Classroom and Positive Futures programmes during the Summer Term in 2011 and will be fully operational with the NW AIP inclusion projects from September. It is hoped that the Playing for Success programme will be reintroduced during 2012 but the centre will need backing and funding in order to do so. Please get in touch with either Howard Ferguson or Richard Kaye at Yorkshire CCC if you can help.