This week, Grabyo chief and former product director at Sky Gareth Capon talks about his best tours supporting England – in different sports – and his hopes for a more open-minded sports industry.
What is your sporting passion?
Rugby would be my real passion. I follow a lot of sports: Im a big football fan, I like a lot of cricket, golf and tennis and at Grabyo we work with so many different sports so I have an interest all over. But my absolute passion would be rugby if I had to make a choice.
I follow Harlequins and get down there as regularly as I can. Then there's England and the British and Irish Lions too.
How did you first get into sport?
Outside of kicking a football around in the back garden with my dad as a toddler, my mum took me to mini-rugby when I was just turning seven.
Shes a huge rugby fan, shes been on three Lions tours – two of which were on her own for the full tour. Shes a debenture holder at Harlequins and goes every week.
So I played rugby right up until university age for Salisbury Rugby Club alongside England international Richard Hill.
Do you also participate in sport?
I still play golf and tennis and do a little bit of cycling. My knees are not what they once were – I snapped my cruciate ligament a couple of times in my twenties and it put paid to my football aspirations for a while after that.
Read more: My Sporting Life- PR boss Shimon Cohen on his love for Cardiff City and Welsh rugby
What is your most cherished sporting memory?
There are probably two that I talk about that I really cherish. In both cases the team I was following actually lost.
The first was when I was over in Australia in 2002 for the Boxing Day Ashes Test at the MCG, which was a phenomenal experience. It was a wonderful experience being away with the Barmy Army, the 90,000 in the stadium. Even though England lost the game, it was just an amazing experience. There was a brilliant atmosphere.
The second would be the first Lions Test in South Africa in 2009. It was a close, tough game. The build-up in Durban was on a beautiful sunny day, and probably 60 per cent of the stadium was red, it felt like a Lions home game. It was unbelievable. There was this sea of red inside the stadium.
What is your greatest hope in sport?
England to win the World Cup would be nice! But my greatest hope in sport is bigger than that really. It's such a powerful platform for bringing people together, to learn about teamwork and respect.
If you could change one thing about sport, what would it be?
I would definitely want to change attitudes towards change and trying things out. Sport is still a relatively conservative industry.
Maybe a bit less so on the performance side, but theres still a lot of things in sport that take a very long time to change and I think that actually embracing change in all industries and organisations is a very positive thing.
I think people in sport could embrace change more radically, more quickly and test things out.
This week, Grabyo chief and former product director at Sky Gareth Capon talks about his best tours supporting England – in different sports – and his hopes for a more open-minded sports industry.
What is your sporting passion?
Rugby would be my real passion. I follow a lot of sports: Im a big football fan, I like a lot of cricket, golf and tennis and at Grabyo we work with so many different sports so I have an interest all over. But my absolute passion would be rugby if I had to make a choice.
I follow Harlequins and get down there as regularly as I can. Then there's England and the British and Irish Lions too.
How did you first get into sport?
Outside of kicking a football around in the back garden with my dad as a toddler, my mum took me to mini-rugby when I was just turning seven.
Shes a huge rugby fan, shes been on three Lions tours – two of which were on her own for the full tour. Shes a debenture holder at Harlequins and goes every week.
So I played rugby right up until university age for Salisbury Rugby Club alongside England international Richard Hill.
Do you also participate in sport?
I still play golf and tennis and do a little bit of cycling. My knees are not what they once were – I snapped my cruciate ligament a couple of times in my twenties and it put paid to my football aspirations for a while after that.
Read more: My Sporting Life- PR boss Shimon Cohen on his love for Cardiff City and Welsh rugby
What is your most cherished sporting memory?
There are probably two that I talk about that I really cherish. In both cases the team I was following actually lost.
The first was when I was over in Australia in 2002 for the Boxing Day Ashes Test at the MCG, which was a phenomenal experience. It was a wonderful experience being away with the Barmy Army, the 90,000 in the stadium. Even though England lost the game, it was just an amazing experience. There was a brilliant atmosphere.
The second would be the first Lions Test in South Africa in 2009. It was a close, tough game. The build-up in Durban was on a beautiful sunny day, and probably 60 per cent of the stadium was red, it felt like a Lions home game. It was unbelievable. There was this sea of red inside the stadium.
What is your greatest hope in sport?
England to win the World Cup would be nice! But my greatest hope in sport is bigger than that really. It's such a powerful platform for bringing people together, to learn about teamwork and respect.
If you could change one thing about sport, what would it be?
I would definitely want to change attitudes towards change and trying things out. Sport is still a relatively conservative industry.
Maybe a bit less so on the performance side, but theres still a lot of things in sport that take a very long time to change and I think that actually embracing change in all industries and organisations is a very positive thing.
I think people in sport could embrace change more radically, more quickly and test things out.
