Roland Butcher on breaking barriers and the value of persistence and resilience

Roland Butcher’s life is truly inspiring. After uprooting from Barbados in his early teens to move to the UK, he went on to enjoy a successful cricket career at Middlesex through the 1970s and 80s, and became the first Black man to represent England in Test cricket.

Following his playing career – which also included playing football to a semi-pro level – Roland worked in variety of roles in cricket, from coach and selector to commentator. His passion for supporting diversity and helping young people shines through his work at the University of the West Indies, the ACE Programme Charity and the Barbados Royals Girls Cricket Club.

His impact has been recognised with the Freedom of the City of London in 2022 and the Three Lions pin badge from the England Men’s team in 2024. And this year, Roland published his powerful memoir, Breaking Barriers – Barbados to England and Back. We’re delighted to be giving away a signed copy – more details below.

As part of our Black History Month celebrations at Thinc, we’re honoured to have had the chance to spend time with Roland, ask about his life and career, and to hear his advice for young people and professionals on achieving their goals.

Our interview with Roland Butcher

Congratulations on the publication of your book! What prompted you put pen to paper now?

It was not something that I rushed out to do, but I knew at some point in time that I wanted to. For some time, I put it off, until I was being pushed more and more. “You need to do something. You’re not getting any younger!” So, around October, November last year, I finally decided that, yes, maybe this was the time to do it – and we got cracking.

I was pretty strict in terms of deadlines. I said listen to my writing partner Dr Sasha Sutherland, I need to get this done by April for the start of the cricket season! And it worked – we were able to get it done.

You moved to the UK from Barbados when you were 13 – what was that like for you and your family?

It was quite traumatic, as you can imagine. I came to England aged 13 and a half, 1967. I’d grown up in Barbados, a small but very nice country. I lived my grandmother, by the beach, with sunshine every day.

My parents, though, had been in England since the 50s. I hadn’t seen my parents for some 13 years. And on top of that, I also had two brothers and two sisters who were born here. To uproot from Barbados and readjust to all of that was very difficult.

It took a while. I’d come into a new country where customs are different. The weather is different. I’d left all my friends behind. You’ve got to make new friends and get into a new system. I would honestly say I was very, very homesick for a long time.

But a lucky thing for me was because I was 13 and a half, I was getting a little bit older. It was much easier to make friends, because I understood a little bit more, than say if I was seven or eight. So, in the end, I made the adjustment.

Was it always your dream to play cricket? How did the transition to a new life in England, where cricket was more a seasonal game, impact that? You were also a talented footballer – did those passion compete?

Well, I think I was probably waiting for the opportunity to get back into cricket. It was on the backburner for a little while. In Barbados, on the streets, all the kids are playing cricket. When I got to England, that wasn’t happening. All the kids were playing football.

Once I made friends, that’s what I did. I joined in, played football, and really that took over my love for a while, until I got a little bit of luck to get back into cricket with Stevenage. And once I did, my passion was there as it always had been.

It’s interesting: I think you’ll find that most cricketers and indeed other sports people are pretty good at other sports. In the 70s, 80s and 90s, there were many cricketers who were also professional footballers. Arnie Sidebottom, Ian Botham, Phil Neale, Jim Cumbes and Ted Hemsley to name a few. The problem obviously now is because of the professionalisation of the different sports, the touring and the schedules, they don’t really get the time to do that.

You were the first Black man to represent England in Test cricket. Was the significance of that moment something that you felt, personally, or is it something that has revealed itself more over time?

At the beginning, I didn’t feel it was really anything significant. For me, it was very much about fulfilling that dream that you’ve had as a youngster. I wasn’t thinking about being the first Black player or the first one to do anything.

All you’re thinking is: I’ve worked extremely hard. I’ve dreamed of this day and now it’s here. All I want to do is play well and stay in the team.

Obviously, later on, it would become something of significance. Not just to me, but to other people, who see it as a breakthrough point. But at the time, I had no thoughts at all about breaking any kind of barriers.

Through your career as a coach, selector and commentator, you must have watched thousands of sportspeople. Beyond talent, what are the core qualities required to succeed?

I don’t think talent is the be all and end all.  If you are blessed with talent, but are also blessed with a hard work ethic, perseverance and resilience, then you are on the right track. But I think you could also achieve great things without necessarily having the greatest talent.

If you haven’t got the most natural talent, it just means you’ve got to work extremely hard, harder than the person who does. You’ve got to be more resilient. You’ve got to persevere more. You can still reach the same results.

I think quite often the person with talent doesn’t work as hard as the person without. It’s easier for them to believe they have this natural ability to do things and maybe don’t have to try. But the reality is that to achieve anything of any significance, you’ve got to work hard, whether you’ve got talent or otherwise.

So, I don’t always go for the talent – I go for someone who’s really motivated, who’s got the drive, who’s got the determination. Who doesn’t want to give up and loves challenges.

Those are the people that, for me, will not only succeed, but they will succeed over a long period. Talented individuals will reach that ceiling very quickly, but with all those other things missing, it’s difficult for them to maintain that level in the long run.

Through your university and charity roles, you help inspire the talent of the future. What advice would you give a young person starting out in their career?

I think that, for young people, it’s important to be hungry to succeed in whatever discipline they’re in.

There are no shortcuts to success. Something that’s achieved too quickly doesn’t really last that long. So, work to a plan, and work very hard. Make sure that you give your all in pursuit of whatever you’re trying to be to be excellent at.

You will have challenges along the way. That’s part and parcel of achieving anything. You will also have doubts yourself, and will have people who don’t believe in you. But you will also have people who do believe in you. You’ve got to be true to yourself, and say: this is what I want to achieve.

How important is resilience to success? How can others build their own resilience?

Resilience is something that is extremely important. As I said above, you will have doubts about yourself sometimes if you’re not making the headway that you want to make. It might creep into your mind that you’re not good enough.

This is where mentorship can be so important. It is important really to align yourself with people who can mentor you and help you to see the bigger picture. Listen to people who have had the experience of walking that road already; they would have seen the pitfalls and the curves, up and down. They will understand that nothing is ever smooth.

They can instil in you that, if you persevere and have a clear mind in terms of what you want to achieve, you can make it.

The theme for Black History Month in 2025 is ‘standing firm in power and pride’. As you look back at your life and achievements, what gives you most pride?

What gives me most pride is actually the fact that I have experienced what I’ve experienced, and I now have the opportunity really to shape the future – to help the young people in Barbados on their journeys to come.

The fact that I have walked that path, have the experience and am now in a position to really give back to them is what drives me most. I’m proud to help our young people and really move the country forward.

One last word on your book. It would of course be a great gift for a cricket fan, but it’s not just a cricket story. Who are you telling your story for?

I think this book is much more than a story of a former cricketer. Breaking Barriers is really an exploration of identity, belonging and the enduring part of perseverance and resilience.

I want it to be an educational and teaching tool for young people, a guide for young people who will have their own barriers to break.

Everybody has barriers. Mine obviously would have been different to the next person’s, but everyone has them. This book helps young people on their journey to understand some of the things that can happen, how you can overcome them and the results at the end.

Breaking Barriers is really about looking forward. It’s a book for the future.

Win a copy of Roland Butcher’s memoir

Roland has generously agreed to give a copy of Breaking Barriers – Barbados to England and Back to one lucky winner, signed with a personalised message.

To be in with a chance of winning follow these simple steps:

1. Like and repost our post about Roland on LinkedIn
2. Follow Thinc’s LinkedIn page
3. Add your name, contact details and a link to your LinkedIn account profile on the form below.

The competition closes at midnight on 7 January 2026.

We will pick a winner at random from those people who have completed the above steps, then announce and contact the winner on our LinkedIn page on 1 December. Good luck!

Roland Butcher book giveaway form

In addition to providing your details below, follow the steps listed above. We will only use your details for the purposes of selecting and contacting a winner.