Students visit Lords Cricket Ground
Published 23 May 2012
Final year students studying the sport tourism elective module recently went to Lords Cricket Ground in London to investigate the relationship between the iconic sport venue to tourism.
Students went on a guided tour which helped shed some light on the role of Lords as a symbol of English identity but also learnt how the venue is also becoming more commodified, and how managers are limited in their attempt to develop more attractions.
Final year students visit the Lords Cricket Ground
On the tour students were allowed to go behind the scenes of the ground, visiting the famous pavilion and long room which are also used for exclusive hospitality events.
They were also taken to the England changing rooms and were able to stand on the balcony overlooking the grounds. They also had access to the Nursery Cricket Ground and saw the view of the field from the media centre.
Chantelle Cowlishaw who is studying International Travel Management BA(Hons) said: “I particularly enjoyed hearing knowledge from an expert about modern sport, where the home of cricket is and how the British Empire has influenced cricket around the globe. I also enjoyed seeing the ‘Real Tennis’ court, which is very historical and holds the European Open Championship. I also enjoyed learning about and visiting the story of the Ashes Urn.”
Chantelle thought the tour helped put the theory into practice of what she has learnt on the course. She said: “This tour was particularly useful to put the theory learnt in lectures into a field trip context and reinforcing the ideas that we had previously learnt.
“It was useful to the sports tourism module as it reinforced a number of aspects from the module including commercialisation and commodification, social impacts of sports tourism concerning the local community in the Marylebone area and sports sponsorship issues.”
Dr Nigel Jarvis, module leader, said: "The visit highlighted how many sporting attractions increasingly see how tourism, as well as special events, help bring in extra revenues all year round for their owners.”