This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Dominic Meiklejohn

Part of UK in USA [New York]

16th August 2010 New York, USA

Brits with Mitts

Guest blog by Mike Niles, Press & Public Affairs, British Consulate-General

It is a reasonable generalisation to say that Brits do not really understand baseball. I get it that you try and score a home run by hitting it "out-of-the-park", that you have 9 innings and that you have to get three hitters out before you can change over – but that is the extent of my knowledge. So when asked to play in the annual softball game between the British Consulate-General and Mayor Bloomberg’s Office, I was a little sceptical. You see, British people are born and raised on football. That’s football, not soccer. When you’re young, you get a child-sized jersey and are taken to watch your local team from the stands. It is cold, windy and often rainy, so you’re given a burger and a drink to keep you occupied while your dad and his mates cheer for "the lads". For me, that team is Doncaster Rovers (I’m sure never even heard of by many people).
 
I find our passion for football is similar to America’s passion for baseball. However, America is coming around to the sport.  A great performance in the World Cup this year by the USA team and some big-name signings joining the MLS (including Thierry Henry here in New York) shows that football is gaining popularity and the USA team is gaining international recognition. 

So the softball game was my introduction to an all-American sport and, to be honest, it went OK. Both sides played well, and the trash-talk was fun (despite the fact I didn’t know what ‘baserunning’ was or when told to stand ‘right field’- they could have been asking me to stand anywhere in Central Park!). The Brits, however, were victorious. There may have been a couple of American staff on the team, but who’s counting? Don’t get me wrong here, I still have no idea what is going on when I see the Mets or the Yankees on TV but having played a version of the game now, I can kind of understand what all the fuss is about. 

It’s just still not football for me though. The new football season begins in the UK this week and whether you look out for the big names of Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea, the English Premier League is the one of the best football leagues in the world. It attracts the biggest names in the sport, including America’s finest such as Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard. Visitors to the UK should list a Premier League match as something they must do. American sporting franchise owners are also investing heavily in British football: Brooklyn’s Randy Lerner, owner of the Cleveland Browns, is also the owner of Aston Villa and Malcolm Glazer and family members are owners of Manchester United along with the Tampa Bay Bucaneers.  

U.S. football fans have had a chance to see some of the British clubs in action this summer with teams like Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic touring the States. I’m sure there will be a large number of British nationals glued to their TV screens around 10 o’clock this Saturday morning, keeping track of the scorelines. While the start of the new football season is imminent, the Mayor’s Office will have to wait another year to beat us at their own game. Maybe we could give them a chance to beat us at ours; we could organise an annual football match? Actually, maybe that’s not such a great idea.

About Dominic Meiklejohn

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise…

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1990. After working for the European Community Department, I learned Polish and began a posting at the British Embassy Warsaw, where I headed the British Know How Fund for Poland (1993-96). In 1997, I worked for the OSCE Mission in Albania, before heading up the India team in the South Asian Department of the FCO. In 2000, I was posted as First Secretary to the British Embassy Warsaw, with a particular focus on European Union issues in the run-up to Poland’s accession to the EU. In 2003, I returned to the UK as Deputy Head of the Environment Policy Department. From 2004-2005, I led the FCO’s Knowledge Management Programme. During this period, I led two deployments of the FCO’s Consular Rapid Deployment Team– to Sri Lanka, after the tsunami in 2004 and to Pakistan, after the earthquake in 2005. From 2006-2007, I served as Deputy Consul-General, Basra, Iraq. From June 2007 I worked with the FCO’s Change Unit.

I took up my current appointment on 22 January 2008. My wife Joanne and I are the proud parents of Olivia. Outside of the office, I cycle around Manhattan, play soccer (football) and, when parenting duties allow, enjoy the cultural riches offered by New York. I try hard to understand baseball.

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