December 2017: Chris Davies, recently appointed Chairman of the EFA, has been in conversation with Richard Barber, past President of the EFA, about his background and hopes for the future of the game.
RB: Chris, where and when did your love of Fives originate?
CJD: My association with Eton Fives began and indeed later flourished at Highgate School. I arrived there for the last few years of my Prep School education after some years in Canada and Argentina and took to the game at once. Winning the Prep Schools’ championship in 1972 cemented my love for the game and my school days and memories were all about sport, living from one team sheet to the next.
RB: Where were you at University, what did you read and did you continue your sporting career there?
CJD: Getting to the university of choice was much more straightforward in the late 1970s than in today’s pressurised world. I had Oxbridge options but I would have had to wait for seventh term entry. I was probably in too much of a hurry and chose to read Ancient and Medieval History at Nottingham. Considering the long term friendships made and the opportunities to play in a very strong UAE cricket side, I have no regrets. I also enjoyed some opportunities to play in goal for the university soccer team. There was no Fives however. I played the occasional tournament in the holidays but without regular time on court I did not get very far! Fortunately it is a game you can return to quickly after a playing break.
RB: What drew you to the teaching profession?
CJD: The fact that I had enjoyed my school days so much was probably the major reason to go into teaching. After a few years I found myself back at Highgate teaching history and coaching Cricket and Fives.
RB: What have been the main stepping stones of your career?
CJD: Looking back, I think the return to Highgate really allowed me to do all the things I had really gone into teaching for. In addition to my classroom work I loved helping with the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and coaching sport, especially the privilege of running the 1st XI cricket side; and I also took the opportunity to qualify for the MCC as a playing member.
I started to appreciate the bigger picture of schoolmastering after being appointed a housemaster. There were no routes to Senior Management at Highgate at that time so I was fortunate to find the post of Headmaster of Abingdon Prep School in 1999 – a job so poorly advertised that, with precious little experience of anything I was about to take on, I was offered the job! I moved from Abingdon to become Headmaster of Edgeborough School in Farnham in 2010 from which I retired this summer.
Other roles have included becoming a School Inspector and a Governor of a number of Prep Schools. My current roles of chairing the EFA and the IAPS are a huge privilege. Wherever you are, one of the keys to success I have found is to be surrounded by outstanding colleagues. I have always been lucky in this aspect and it is one of the main reasons why I’m absolutely confident that the EFA will continue to flourish in the coming years.
RB: What have been the main highlights of your Fives career and are you still playing regularly?
CJD: Getting on court twice a week at Highgate helped my own game and in the 1990s I was selected for the Old Cholmeleian team that had been dominating the Barber Cup and which continued to do so through that decade. I also enjoyed winning years with The Village in the League, playing with the legendary Brian Matthews for a couple of seasons and with the Middlesex and North London sides in the county championship.
In recent years the regional sides of North Oxford and the Brigands in Surrey have been wonderfully welcoming, allowing me to keep playing club fives after becoming a Prep School Headmaster.
I am now 57 and still enjoy the occasional day of tournament fives with the veterans, more recently being helped along to a couple of the 50+ trophies by Chris Lloyd. I still see every opportunity to play as one of life’s great pleasures.
RB: How have you found the state of the game as you take over the chairmanship of the EFA?
CJD: Having now retired professionally after 18 years of headship, I have been delighted to be asked to become Chairman of the EFA and, separately, of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools as well.
As an observer of the game, the 1980s and 1990s seemed to be a time of falling numbers and interest in the game, with a decline of coaching and even some court closures. The worst prognosis then would have put the very future of the game in doubt. But the buoyant state of the game in 2017 could not be more different. Thanks to the bold actions of many people who enjoy a real passion for Eton Fives, the game is really flourishing again – and the girls’ and ladies’ games are exploding in both numbers and outstanding talent.
RB: What are the main things you would like to achieve for the game during your chairmanship?
CJD: Put simply, I want to help realise the aims of the EFA’s ambitious 5-Year strategy – our ‘FiveStar Project’ – by expanding the playing of this wonderful game to a wider public through the Universities, through our hopes to open more public courts such as those at Westway and through increasing considerably the EFA’s membership. The project will need significant levels of funding and organisation, but it is obvious to me that the required passion, commitment and dedication of the Eton Fives playing community are there to achieve these aims. It is not an overnight project but numerous strands of encouragement are linking up on a weekly and even daily basis to take us in the right direction.
RB: Do these plans have implications for the organisation of the EFA under your Chairmanship?
CJD: Yes, we shall certainly need to adapt and streamline the overall organisation of the Association to make it ready to manage and drive the future of a growing game. Personally I am thrilled to be a part of a team that is preparing this tremendous game of Eton Fives for such an exciting future.