It's not Life and Death...

It's not that important.

Many people are destined never to receive the credit their work deserves but are ‘sitting ducks’ if something goes wrong. Umpires and referees are among the most obvious, but at least it’s just the result of a sports match at stake, as important as that is to the players and supporters.

    “It’s not life and death…it’s more important than that,” said former Liverpool manager, Bill Shankly, in the days after his resignation following 15 years in the job in 1974. It has routinely been misused ever since. Shankly served in the RAF during World War 2 and would never have joked about lives lost.

    In fact, he was asked about regrets he may have had after devoting his life to football, specifically the years he spent away from his family. It was in that context, admitting huge regret, that his comment was made.

One man who really does deal in potential life and death issues, who rarely receives credit for his work and who most definitely does what he can to cherish his family, is Rory Steyn. He was Head of Security (nominally as a ‘consultant’) during the high-profile USA pool matches of the 2024 T20 World Cup.

    Given the extreme reaction of government security authorities to a spurious terrorist threat before the tournament, Steyn’s role involved as much mediation as security. 

“When Indian cricket fans surge towards their heroes in search of an autograph or selfie, that’s a huge red flag for security officers unfamiliar with cricket. They understandably didn’t have any knowledge or experience of cricket crowds and they didn’t know what to expect,” Steyn said. “That was part of my role, to familiarise US police and private security to the idiosyncrasies of cricket security.”

    “The level of passion, just for the game of cricket, wasn’t something they had experienced before. Again, it’s understandable that they might have mistaken it for something less innocent. The fact that there was very little alcohol involved, or anything physically threatening, was something new to them with such big numbers.”

Steyn was involved in the set-up at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium on Long Island in NY for a month before the tournament began and oversaw every aspect of player security at over a dozen practise sessions and eight matches at the pop-up stadium. Three decades of cricket security experience helped. 

    Timelines and deadlines were tight, there were many 20-hour days. But there was another deadline, provided everything went smoothly and there were no ‘incidents’. 

    “The Glasgow Warriors won their United Rugby Championship semi-final against Munster in Limerick on June 15^th, my last responsibility was the final US fixture in Florida on the 16^th,” Steyn recalls. “I had no involvement in the Windies so I was able to change flights and get home on Wednesday the 19th,” Steyn said. 

For those yet to make the connection, or don’t follow rugby, Rory’s son, Kyle, is the established Scotland international winger and captain of the Glasgow Warriors who upset all the odds by defeating the Blue Bulls in the URC Final at Loftus Versveld.

    Having completed an onerously challenging task in New York, Rory (whose company, NSA Global Security Consultants) is also contracted by the Warriors, was able to write his final T20 World Cup report onboard the Emirates flight to Joburg and make it to Pretoria in time to complete his second assignment – which happily involved celebrating a brilliant victory with his son.

South Africans of a certain vintage might remember Steyn senior as one of President Nelson Mandela’s Protection Team leaders (body-guard) in the mid-90s until the end of his presidency, and again when he rose to prominence during Hansie Cronje’s match-fixing demise when he was called upon in the early hours to protect and comfort the former national captain. 

But his work, with NSA Security, has been relentless (and successful) with Cricket South Africa for the last 25 years and the ICC have been even more grateful. India’s five-match T20 tour of South Africa in November will represent another significant challenge, but nothing like the responsibility of the 2027 50-over World Cup co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. 

    The entire region should be grateful that Steyn, with a fine team mentored by him and his late partner Bob Nicholls, are on hand to continue their two-and-a-half decades of successful work. 

As NSA awaits the result of their tender for the next four years of Cricket SA ‘risk and security’ management up to and including that 2027 World Cup, a “safe pair of hands” is what is called for, as safe a pair as Kyle’s were under the high ball last Saturday. 

    There are many good reasons to review tender contracts. It might be a concern, however, if one of those reviews involves the tournament and players’ security. It’s not the difference in price between samosas and chicken wings. Player security is as close to the top of the priority pyramid as you can climb. It might, actually, be the difference between life and death.