There are not many stories that begin with ‘oh yeah, the pigeon’ but here we are, sitting inside a school gymnasium half a mile from Turf Moor, as Jack Cork explains how he escapes from football.
Cork has just finished a PE lesson at St Peter’s Primary, a session he throws himself into and one which includes a fair amount of playful chat from Burnley manager Sean Dyche.
The community project is light relief from the Premier League’s daily rigours, the sort of respite Cork knows he needs.
Burnley midfielder Jack Cork is about as committed as players come in the Premier League
There are times, however, when he admits that he does need to switch off from the game
He also enjoys giving plenty of time back to events in the community as a footballer
He recently helped take a PE lesson at St Peter’s Primary in Burnley – close to Turf Moor
He is a deep thinker and admits to over-analysing results. They have weighed heavily during his career — some taking a fortnight to get over — and last year, while in an almighty relegation scrap with Swansea City, he sought to fix what felt like a problem.
Cork needed a diversion and went into the horses with dad Alan, the former Wimbledon striker, and wife Freya, a rider herself. It took them to Mick Channon’s stables in West Ilsley. And here comes the pigeon.
‘We were in his Land Rover on the way up to the gallops at his yard,’ grins Cork. ‘This pigeon hit my son Arlo on the head, flapped about a bit, did a poo on his lap and flew out of the car. It’s lucky when birds poo, isn’t it?’
Cork says that he tends to over analyse and that isn’t something that is always productive
But Channon’s yard was too grand, too big a leap for the rookie Cork to take.
‘We wanted a small family thing. I felt like I needed something with the family and to give me something else to think about. To switch off. It really helped.
‘The two years at Swansea were difficult at times. There’s so much pressure, especially in a small place like Swansea. It’s the same here. Both are so reliant on the football. It impacts the businesses, the tourism and how the place develops.
‘You can get stuck in a run and suddenly find yourself in a rut. It’s easy to get into that mindset. A lot of people told me you need to relax, otherwise it takes over.’
He has been tasked this season with holding Burnley’s midfield together ahead of the defence
Stakes in three racehorses with young trainer Archie Watson in Swindon followed. Modest Cork neglects to mention one, Arden Pearl, won on the flat at Royal Windsor last August.
‘We’re going to sell to be a broodmare,’ he adds. ‘We had a filly but sold her to breed.’
Another purchase is expected in the coming weeks and they may eventually go back to Channon if this becomes more serious.
For now, the family hobby is proving therapeutic. ‘Archie lets us go down and take the kids (as well as Arlo, 4, Cork has a two-year-old daughter, Eden). Horses, chickens, dogs: it’s a nice day out, lovely for them.’
It’s also lovely that the children at St Peter’s could mix with Cork and Dyche as part of Premier League Primary Stars, as EA SPORTS announced its support for the programme’s PE resources. Burnley excel at community work and that goes a long way to filling Turf Moor.
Cork has provided himself with a number of distractions away from the pitch
‘Sometimes clubs can be so far away,’ says Cork ahead of a return to Swansea on Saturday. ‘This is a massive thing, especially for the girl who just won the prizes to walk out in front of everyone.
‘The club is such a big part of this small town. The percentage who go is huge — we owe them for that. They pay and it’s only right to give something back.’
At the moment Cork is getting out what he puts in. A basic internet search — Jack Cork horses — actually presents a web page of the ‘top seven workhorses in the Premier League’. He has played every single minute this season and, at 318km (197.7miles), run more than anyone else in the top flight.
But he bristles at the thought that this is his main trait. The 28-year-old’s classy manning of Burnley’s midfield — not merely legging it about — prompted an England debut in November.
Cork says: ‘You don’t want that reputation of just running around. There has to be more to you. That ethic is down to the manager.’
He had it tough last season when he was stuck in a relegation battle with Swansea
He revels in the tales which were told by dad Alan to Sportsmail last month, when he looked back on the 1988 FA Cup win with Wimbledon. But he wants to correct Alan on one thing: he claims dad never told his son that he’d struggle to win another England cap!
‘I did read it and asked him about it!’ laughs Cork. ‘He’ll play things down when they’re good, but be all right about it when it’s bad. My mum and dad split up when I was 11. It was good to have him there to talk. He keeps me on my feet.
‘I know a few of those old stories but can’t repeat them! I don’t think he knows I know them. Secretly he’s proud he played for Wimbledon. They were probably his best times. He’s just a bit embarrassed at the stories coming out. You would get slaughtered now.
‘We got the back-end of that sort of stuff when I was coming through at Chelsea. You can’t say a word now. We did our Christmas carols the other week and had a Human Resources lady watching to make sure we were behaving.’
EA SPORTS is proud to support Premier League Primary Stars in developing innovative PE resources to inspire primary school children to get active. EA SPORTS is also supporting the programme through providing incentives such as referee mascot experiences, match tickets and signed shirts. For more information, head to PLPrimaryStars.com.