City freedom honour for Caribbean sport club chair
BBCA man described as the "driving force" behind a sports club will be honoured with the Freedom of the City of Sheffield.
Des Smith is the chair of the Sheffield Caribbean Sports Club, which offers children of all backgrounds an opportunity to come together and play.
In 2023, he was named the BBC Sports Personality "Unsung Hero" for Yorkshire.
Mr Smith will receive the city's highest honour at a special meeting of Sheffield City Council at the Town Hall next Wednesday, ahead of its budget-setting meeting.
The meeting agenda said that Mr Smith, who is a Deputy Lieutenant of Sheffield, would be honoured "in recognition of his services to youth development, mental health awareness, sport and community cohesion, and, in doing so, rendering eminent services to the city".
Avid cricketer Mr Smith has been involved with a huge number of organisations but is probably best known for his work with the club, which was founded in Ecclesfield in 1965.
Mr Smith said that sport had helped him integrate when he emigrated to the UK from Jamaica as a 13-year-old in 1966.
He said he was "surprised" to receive the award, telling the BBC: "Cricket is a Caribbean tradition but it's not being played a lot nowadays by many kids of Caribbean heritage, so we are trying to encourage as many of those young kids as possible to play."
He has also served on Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, South Yorkshire Probation Board, Youth Association South Yorkshire and Sheffield Business-Link.
A former long-serving magistrate and ex-chair of the Sheffield bench, he has mediated on cases referred to the British Boxing Board of Control and the International Cricket Council.
Mr Smith has chaired disciplinary hearings of the FA chairman's Anti-Discrimination Commission, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
He is also involved with Sheffield and Hallamshire County Football Association.
The most recent Freedom of Sheffield recipients are "the man with the pram" - cancer charity fundraiser John Burkhill – and former city MP Richard Caborn.
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