We recently caught up with Steve, to find out more about his wealth of experience in the industry, what attracted him to join Miller, and what he thinks are the key changes happening in the sports industry and how this impacts the risk landscape.

What’s your background/career so far?

With over 30 years’ insurance industry experience, I have a wealth of knowledge in the sports industry. 

From starting out as a graduate trainee at a Surrey based broker SBJ Stephenson in 1990, to helping set up and managing SBJ Sport, (latterly Bluefin Sport) in 1997, I was lucky enough to be involved with some of the most prestigious Football clients, including the FA, The Premier League, The EFL and a number of the top English Football Clubs. 

My career expanded later to include oversight of rugby and cricket clients as well as amateur sports businesses. I left Bluefin Sport in 2017 and having moved my family to the South Coast in Poole, Dorset, joined Towergate Insurance. 

To the present, where I have recently joined Miller’s Sports & Entertainment team.

Why have you joined Miller?

What attracted me to Miller was the passion for client service, the expertise of the people I would be working with and the collaborative attitude that exists from the top down. Independence and clarity of direction of travel was also very important.  

The Sports & Entertainment team has had a very successful time of things lately and it was a journey I was keen to join in with.

What are your main areas of expertise?

Service is my number one priority. Whether that is for direct retail customers, wholesale relationships or insurers. 

In terms of particular expertise, I have solid knowledge and experience in a number of areas, but with particular strength and interest in Sports Personal Accident, Liability (including contract wording and claims negotiation), Stadia covers (material damage and business interruption) and Medical Malpractice.

In your opinion, what are the key changes happening in the sports industry that are shaping the evolving risks?

The continued rise of social media – globalising sports audiences, creates both an opportunity and a risk for sports to consider.

Golf and cricket have both seen evolving competitions fuelled by media attention and commercial opportunity. The aim is to create an “event”, focussed on fun as well as revenue generation, which uses that spectator engagement to encourage participation in those sports, and produces characters and champions that young people can aspire to follow.  

In that regard, E-Sports is a fast growing and very interesting development. Access for all is important but we can probably all agree that we want children off their sofas and active rather than pure keyboard warriors! It’s interesting to see that sports scientists are now looking at ways of conditioning and training for E-Sports participants to avoid the risks of long-term damage with hours spent in front of a video screen.

Adventure sports continue to thrive, bringing new challenges. Standard cross country and road running are being replaced with ultra-marathons across deserts, tunnel runs(!), obstacle course and multi-sport challenges, with competitions run worldwide. Extreme versions of most sports seem to be on the rise – testing athletes and organisers. 

Mental health is also a big concern across all sports. Governing bodies, clubs and individuals are heavily invested in addressing this issue. 

The busy fixture calendar in football, rugby and other team and individual sports, highlights the crucial interactive role that sports scientists, video analysts, sports and exercise medicine professionals etc. play in providing data to players and to team management, ensuring players are in peak condition and are not overstretched causing injury.

Lastly the rise of the women’s game (and broadcasting exposure) across multiple sports brings a much-welcomed new dimension and a new set of risks, with different physiologies requiring different training regimes.

What’s your greatest ever sporting moment?

Personally – winning the District Sports 800m in a sprint finish by the width of a vest in a record time aged 11!

In terms of events that I have witnessed live or on TV, that’s so difficult. There’s been many. As an Arsenal fan it would be a toss-up between the Michael Thomas goal to beat Liverpool at Anfield and win the old First Division on the last day of the 1988/89 season and the Alan Sunderland winning goal v Manchester United in the 1979 FA Cup Final (I’d just finished a school relay race and was listening on the radio on a hot summer’s day!).  

That said I am an athletics fan also, so Coe and Ovett rivalry in the Moscow Olympics, Kelly Homes winning double Olympic gold in 800m and 1500m in Athens in 2004, Super Saturday at the London 2012 Olympics (Greg Rutherford, Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah winning gold) and of course Usain Bolt’s amazing 9.63 secs World record 100m dash in the same Olympics – pure class!  

Oh, and I know it’s a bit sad – but Cliff Thorburn’s first ever maximum 147 break at the Snooker World Championships in 1983 – prefaced by the commentator’s whispered “good luck mate”!