Nick Keller: "My only thought was, I've got cancer and we're having a baby in two weeks"

Hi, the new Unofficial Partner podcast is out today, with Benchmark CEO Nick Keller as the guest.

If you work in the sports business, there's a good chance you know Nick.

He's the driving force behind the BT Sport Industry Awards and via Beyond Sport, has been a leading advocate of sport as a catalyst for social change.

But we're betting you won't have heard Nick talk in such an honest and candid way as he does in this interview.

It's an hour's conversation about his life and career, from being one of the first player agents in rugby's professional era through to what the judging process of the Sport Industry Awards has taught him about how the business works and how it's changed over the last few decades.

And then, we talked about cancer.

Nick was diagnosed with prostrate cancer at the start of this year, a few weeks before the expected birth of his third child. Read an extract from his first person piece below, and subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, Stitcher or direct from the site.

Nick Keller:

"Knees bent, lying on my side, a tear creeping out of my eye...
For some reason, I had always imagined a prostate examination was 'little pinkie' rather than a fisting.
Half way through I really felt that Dr Ken was rummaging around for some lost car keys using my buttocks as the pillows in the sofa. I could sense that Dr Ken understood my shock as what, for me, had always been a one-way street was soon to be more like the M25.
The man in the white coat tried to comfort me by chirpily proclaiming that I had a “tight arse” – small solace for the diagnosis to come.
So, here I was: 48 years old; prostate cancer; new baby due in two weeks; and the prospect of Brexit, which I had taken quite personally. 2019: what a fucking start.
Next time I found myself opposite Ken, still unable quite to look him in the eye after our particularly rough first date, he opened with the line: “Here’s the good news, you’re not going to die from this.....".
Continue reading at Unofficial Partner

If you think you might like more of our weekly podcasts, subscribe via the site, iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Beyond Sport UK takes place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on June 25th, 2019.

Cheers

Richard & Sean

UnofficialPartner.com