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Former Hampshire Cricket Chair Rod Bransgrove and First Team Scorer Fiona Newnham have been recognised in the New Year honours
Former Hampshire Cricket Chair Rod Bransgrove, who saved Hampshire County Cricket Club from insolvency, has been awarded an OBE (Officer of the British Empire) for his services to sport.
Elected as Chair in 2000, Bransgrove was the driving force behind the club’s move from Northlands Road to its current home at Utilita Bowl, and oversaw the subsequent expansion of the stadium, bringing international cricket to Hampshire on a regular basis.
The move and accompanying investment into the club helped secure Hampshire Cricket’s future off the pitch. Under Bransgrove’s stewardship, the team was transformed into one of the most competitive in the county game, winning three T20 titles and four List A trophies, including a memorable white-ball double in 2012.
He also helped oversee the launch of Southern Vipers, the regional women’s cricket team based at Utilita Bowl which went on to win six trophies over nine years.
In 2024, it was announced that Bransgrove sold his majority stake of Hampshire Cricket and its parent company to GMR Group, co-owners of the Delhi Capitals franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The deal has seen Hampshire become the first majority overseas-owned county in England and Wales.
Joining Bransgrove on the honours list for 2025 is former powerboat racer Fiona Newnham, who has been the club’s First Team scorer since 2023 and has been awarded a BEM (British Empire Medal), also for services to sport.
Newnham, neé Brothers, was once the fastest powerboater in the world when, in 1981, she set world record for inshore powerboating on a stretch of water near Nottingham as she set an average speed of 116.72mph, which she held for ten years.
In 1982, Newnham was the only female to race in F1 world inshore powerboat racing, and was in with the chance of being world champion until a breakdown put her out of the competition on the River Seine.
A year later, Newnham would suffer a near fatal accident at Bodymoor Heath Water near Birmingham when her boat rolled and landed upside down. She fractured her skull and bone fragments cut nerves to her face but she ended up making a full recovery, and has been scoring for Hampshire men’s first team since the 2023 season.
Back in 2012, Newnham scored for South Africa in a One Day International at Lord’s.
Newnham is also the first team manager of Ventnor Cricket Club on the Isle of Wight, and becomes the second person from the club to receive a BEM after former chair John Hilsum.
