By Grockle
March 25 2006

Come with me now and marvel at a story of dogged persistence and heroism that will bring a tear of gratitude to your eye! I bet few of you have any idea who Nick Smyth is do you? Read on and give thanks.

At the end of last season, the mighty Sabres 20/20 unit stormed past the Leicestershire Foxes and then humbled the supposedly awesome and unbeatable Lightening of Lancashire to take the National Trophy in true style.  An event worthy of memory and an event that should have been etched into the pysche of every true Somerset supporter for many years to come.

BUT.....

No souvenir was forthcoming.  The club were very quiet about the release date of the DVD to capture this magnificent achievement for posterity and for our children's children to savour as part of their race memory and genetic history!!  When would it appear?  Answer came there none.

The reason for this was that the DVD would have a very local market.  You see, we weren't supposed to beat Lancashire.  We were supposed to go down with Leicestershire as "plucky provincials" leaving the Final to be contested by the giants of Surrey and Lancs!  When that didn't happen, the DVD plans were put on hold by SKY and anyone else for that matter.

The club did look into the possibility of putting a version out but as SKY charge something in the region of £100K per minute for sports footage and the minimum number of DVD's that would have to be made would be 5000 for any outgoings to be covered, the possibility of the club doing it was extremely slim.  The victory would have to be remembered by those with VHS recordings and the few who had access to a DVD recorder - not many of us.

Enter a man who would did not know the meaning of the word "impossible"!  Nick Smyth, Somerset supporter, St Johns Ambulance supporter and stubborn cuss.  He had a version of the final on DVD, not a very good one but he thought he could do something with it.  He contacted SKY to find out if they had any objection to him doing something with his version if they weren't going to do anything with theirs.  They weren't too keen but had no real objections.  They had the final on record but had no plans to move product with it.  He checked with Richard Gould to see if he had any plans..he confirmed that it was not something SCCC could afford as much as they would like to.  He checked with the ECB to see if they had any problems with him investigating the use of the media?  They didn't seem to.

BUT...how to finance the thing?  Impossible, you would say.  He didn't have that kind of money but his solution was simple.  If you can't afford their prices, make them give it to you for FREE!!  Nick played his 'Charity' card.  He went back to SKY and asked if they would donate the footage to charity and allow him to produce the DVD to raise funds for the excellent work of the St John's Ambulance people who attend most sports events, unpaid, to provide first aid and safety services.

To his (and my surprise) SKY said YES!  They even offered to clean up their version and edit out the adverts etc.  What's more, the ECB said YES as well and he also received the support of the club.  All he had to do was get the bits together, get the thing edited and copied, produce some artwork, box it and find an outlet for the finished product!  All with no previous experience or money to fund it.  Impossible I hear you say!!

Well by the Christmas period he had a copy of the footage but it had been compressed to get it onto discs for him and the compression had sacrificed quality.  He mentioned this to SKY and they told him to send it back and they'd have another go!  All FREE of charge - capitalism gone mad!!  Nick was also searching for artwork...he blocked up something himself and had to send it to the ECB for approval.  They weren't impressed and sent it back...then told him to return it and they set their marketing blokes on producing the sleeves you now see on the copy you have in your hot little hands - FREE of charge!!

Into 2006 and the Smythmeister had a better version of both the Semi and the Final, with interviews with SMIFFY to boot.  He also had decent artwork (after a bit of pushing and cajoling) and a company who can produce it for him at a minimal cost.  Where to sell it?  Enter Richard Brice in the SCCC shop. "You produce them, we'll market and sell them and you'll get a major contribution to St John's (£5+ per DVD).

The rest is history - as would recordings of the Final have been had not one man refused to give up and take NO for an answer.  He hit a brick wall for quite a time before he hit on the charity option.  Even then it was uphill work and would still have gone nowhere had he not persisted with the phone and e-mails to relevant parties.  You have the final version and Nick to thank for it.  Buy him a pint or four when you meet him in the ground.  He is the father of the 20/20 DVD and a lovely bouncing baby it is too.  He gets nothing but the satisfaction of getting there, we all benefit from his (and SKY and the ECB's) altruism.  He only wants people to enjoy the disc and possibly show their appreciation for the work of the St John's boys and girls every time they can.

Thank you Nick from Grockles.com and on behalf of a lot of very grateful supporters who were not there on the day but can feel they were now because you wouldn't give up the chase for the elusive prize!!