https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2022/04/18/david-lawrence-interview-first-black-president-gloucestershire/

David Lawrence interview: 'To be the first black president of Gloucestershire is a big deal'
Former England international turned body builder is confounding stereotypes about county cricket executives

By
Tim Wigmore
18 April 2022 • 10:00pm
David Lawrence interview: 'To be the first black president of Gloucestershire is a big deal'
David Lawrence played five Tests for England CREDIT: Phill Harris

“I met the outgoing president and you couldn’t have two more different people to be honest,” chuckles David Lawrence. “I’m not going to be a gin and tonic person with a blazer on - that’s not going to be me.”

Gloucestershire’s new president does not fit in with the caricature of the crusty club suit and tie. Lawrence graduated from a state school that did not play cricket in Tredworth, a deprived part of Gloucester, to be a fast bowler for the England Test side, winning five Test caps from 1998-92. After his playing career was curtailed by a horrendous knee injury, Lawrence bought a nightclub - Dojo, in Bristol, which he still owns, regularly working until 6am in the morning - and became a bodybuilder. Aged 58, he remains in better shape than most half his age.

Lawrence is also different from the norm for a club president in another way. He is Gloucestershire’s first black president and - after John Shepherd, who did the job for Kent in 2011, and Michael Holding, who was Derbyshire president in 2017 - only the third black president at any of the 18 first-class counties.

“It’s a big responsibility," he says. "To be the first person born in England of Afro-Caribbean heritage to play for this county, to then play for England and now to be the first black president of Gloucestershire is a big deal.”

Yet Lawrence’s appointment to the role was spurred by shocking revelations. On the Sky Sports documentary 'You Guys Are History', aired last September, Lawrence recounted receiving horrendous racial abuse from a Gloucestershire team-mate. Before his first away match for the club, the team-mate left a banana skin outside his room.

Read more at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket/2022/04/18/david-lawrence-interview-first-black-president-gloucestershire/

RH