Kinnock for president

Date: 02/05/1996

It has taken nearly a year and a half, but Commissioner Neil Kinnock has finally made the grade.

The Welshman has been invited to become honorary president of the Royal Brussels Cricket Club and naturally, being a man who can readily tell the difference between a leg before wicket and a pint before lunch, he has accepted.

Kinnock played cricket in the UK, but has warned that his duties as Commissioner mean he will not be able to be as active an honorary club president as he might like. And clearly he would like - in the April issue of the Commission's internal newsletter, he confides that his epitaph should concentrate more on sport than his political achievements.

He says he wants to be remembered “as a terrific pace bowler, as a wonderful outside half with a full head of hair”.

Another good reason for Kinnock's pleasure at his new post is that it puts him more on a par with his fellow British Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan, who is president of the other Brussels cricket club, the 12 Stars Cricket Club of Tervuren.

Inevitably, Commission President Jacques Santer is one up on both of them - he is honorary chairman of the Luxembourg basketball federation.