Graeme van Buuren: Lost in limbo

NICK FRIEND: The Gloucestershire allrounder has been the victim of an administrative delay, still waiting on approval for his indefinite leave to remain, leaving him unable to play as a local cricketer and struggling mentally with a unique situation

Even for a man of Graeme van Buuren’s innate positivity, the last few months have been difficult.

Every inch of the easy-going nature that has made the South African allrounder such a popular figure since joining Gloucestershire six seasons ago has been tested.

For the moment, he is living a paradox: settled in Bristol, the birthplace of his children and where he has made a home for himself, but simultaneously left feeling unwelcome and confused by an unprecedented situation with Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic at its heart.

“I feel like I’m living a dream at the moment,” he tells The Cricketer. “A weird dream. It is quite tough, to be honest. I’m trying to see the positives in everything – that’s the type of character I am, so I’m just taking it day-by-day and hoping for some good news.”

But van Buuren has been in limbo since March, when he applied three months ago for his indefinite leave to remain, a legacy of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, which led to a change in the ECB’s eligibility and registration regulations. The Kolpak loophole was closed and, in order to continue on the county circuit as a local through a family or ancestral visa or an EU passport, players in van Buuren’s position had to provide proof of settled or pre-settled status under the scheme put in place by the government.

Only, 14 weeks on, he is still waiting for approval. Ordinarily, before Covid-19, none of this would have happened: a fast-track priority service existed – which, as it happens, has reopened in the months since his application – to avoid precisely this predicament, where van Buuren – through no fault of his own – now finds himself stuck in no-man’s-land.

For the time being, he can be registered only as an overseas player, unable to represent his county as a domestic cricketer until the red tape is lifted and the bureaucracy complete. With New Zealand batsman Glenn Phillips and Australian seamer Dan Worrall also currently on Gloucestershire’s books – and West Indies Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite beforehand – it has made for plenty of watching.

^{Graeme van Buuren began the season with an unbeaten century to beat Surrey}

Since making an unbeaten, match-winning century in the club’s County Championship opener when he was able to play as one of two overseas options ahead of Brathwaite’s arrival, he has featured in just four games despite feeling “in really good touch”: three times in the T20 Blast, in which he has been a major part of Gloucestershire’s recent success, and once in a famous red-ball win over Somerset.

“I don’t think the boys see me as an overseas player, but in my mind it has definitely taken a toll,” he explains. “I feel different, I take it in differently, I do feel like I’m seen as an overseas by myself. It has a different feel.

“Unfortunately, in my situation – no matter how well I do – it’s so tough to tell Dan Worrall, Glenn Phillips and Kraigg Brathwaite that they’re not playing despite bringing them over. I could be Sachin Tendulkar or Ravindra Jadeja, but it would be unfair to let those boys sit out.”

On the face of it, this is a story of legislation and an administrative delay with a series of frustrating professional consequences: it is hoped that when the green light eventually comes through from the Home Office, the ECB might show some discretion regarding his pathway to British citizenship and allow him to play as a local while that secondary process remains ongoing.

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Had the timeframe worked as initially anticipated, he would have been in the clear for the start of the season and able to take his place as a fundamental cog across all formats for Ian Harvey’s side.

Instead, this has dragged van Buuren onto a personal “rollercoaster” that – at various junctures – has challenged a range of emotions: from anger and frustration to a sense of hopeless sadness.

“This has just been a shock to the system and a rude awakening,” he admits. “I just don’t feel like this ever should have happened. I’ve done my five years, I’ve been disciplined in my days, I haven’t really been home to see my family.

“Both my kids are English; my wife, Hannah, is English-Irish – I have nothing to do with South Africa. It’s not like I can just hop back on a plane and go to play there again; I’ve built my life here now and I’m really enjoying it in Bristol.”

^{A family man: van Buuren's children were born in Bristol}

Born in Pretoria, van Buuren represented the Proteas at under-19 level alongside Temba Bavuma and Rilee Rossouw, before beginning his first-class career with the Northerns franchise. He only joined Gloucestershire ahead of the 2016 campaign after impressing in 2015, when he turned out in the Lancashire League for Enfield and enjoyed second-team success with both Sussex and his future employers. By all accounts, he is a model pro and a tremendous ambassador for those at Nevil Road, regularly giving his time to off-field events and corporate appearances.

He adds: “I feel like we have made a living here now – we’re never going back to South Africa now, no matter what happens. This is us now, for at least a couple of years. This is home, our friends are here, Hannah’s family are all over England.

“The sacrifices you make to come and play here – I left everything behind. It wasn’t easy. I’m a big family man, I speak to my family every day back home. I speak to them every day. If I knew this was going to happen, I probably would have had to rethink my decision.

“I’ve probably been to South Africa once or twice in the last three years – and that’s only been for ten days. I’ve been disciplined and I think that hurts.”

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The pain is even greater at the moment, with van Buuren’s father struggling with ill health in intensive care back in the country that was previously his home. The current global plight means that visiting him is off the table for the time-being.

“It’s tough for me knowing that I’m here and I’m not even actually playing,” he says. “I made the sacrifice to be here, and I can’t even be there to support him. There is nothing else that’s really distracting me at the moment, so I’m thinking about him all the time. I’d love to go and see him when he’s out, so I can help him recover.”

His children, one and three, are too young to have been affected by the stress this has brought on their parents. “They’re just cracking on with life,” he laughs – rays of sunshine amid the exasperation. His wife, Hannah, was born in Middlesex but has British and Irish passports – and it is on her British passport through which van Buuren was first able to join Gloucestershire. “Initially, she took it really hard,” he says.

^{The South African allrounder has become a key part of Gloucestershire's cricket across all formats}

With the support of Gloucestershire and the Professional Cricketers’ Association, the couple have explored plenty of options, including conversations with local MP Darren Jones in an attempt to speed things up.

In light of last season, when circumstances far more understandable caused a four-month delay to the season’s belated beginning, accepting this latest intrusion on his career has proven even more challenging.

“I think the main thing for me was that I thought it was all going to be sorted by the time the season started,” van Buuren reiterates. “Things were looking up and then all of a sudden we got the news.”

It is difficult to know where the culpability lies in a chain of events so rare. Van Buuren isn’t the type to resort to apportioning blame – he has been keen in the meantime to turn out for Gloucestershire’s second team, featuring for Chippenham in club cricket as well – but he is frustrated that no compromise or leeway has been possible, given the rarity of this case and the impact of Covid-19 on an application that would otherwise have passed through without incident. In several senses, this is a one-off.

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He bears no grudge towards the raft of players not facing this issue but points to the fact that several European passport-holders on the circuit “haven’t done close to five years but they can play on the settlement that they’re on”.

“I think that has frustrated me the most, but that’s nobody’s fault.”

It is fitting perhaps that this conversation takes place while van Buuren sits on Gloucestershire’s team coach, travelling with his colleagues to a pair of Blast matches. He didn’t play in either, but the tight bond of their friendship has ensured that his optimism has endured for the most part, even when hope has wavered at times. As a group of cricketers, they have become well-versed in recent years at looking out for one another through instances of individual adversity.

^{It is in van Buuren's nature to remain positive}

“They’ve been awesome,” he says. “The boys have been really supportive – they don’t really understand what’s going on. They understand but it confuses them. The club has been really supportive and really helpful through everything. They have been really good.

“I’ve pretty much been with the squad for the whole time. I’m finished watching cricket for a bit! I’ve been an excellent watcher because I love helping the boys out, getting them a drink or taking a helmet out when they need just so I can run off some energy. I love just being on the park.

“But I just feel like at the moment I’m playing my best cricket, so to be sat on the sidelines most of the time is tough. Even when the boys win or when they lose, just watching is pretty painful.

“It is pretty gutting, it’s actually mind-blowing. In some terms, I feel pretty lost mentally. I feel lost and hopeless, but I’m trying to keep the positive vibes going.”

Because at the end of the tunnel, there is a light: a return to normality and stability; an end to this state of professional homelessness; a knowledge that the future will look more like the past than this strange, uncomfortable present.

“As soon as it comes through,” he adds, “a mountain will be lifted off my shoulders. I can’t wait for that to come through.”