Ben Stokes' tattoos are hard to miss and easy to admire, and for him they are a vital source of inspiration and comfort.
The 4CAST founder and England Test captain puts a great deal of thought into what he wants each of his tattoos to represent, from the lions on his back to the Maori script on his left arm.
We caught up with Ben when he visited West London Ink to get a tattoo that pays tribute to his dad, who passed away in December 2020.
Watch the video to see how Ben's idea was brought to life, and read on for the story behind a poignant moment for the England captain.
A tribute to Dad
"The tattoo is Maori script and it's a tribute - it’s to do with my Dad," explains Ben.
"Towards the end of my documentary, there’s some audio from when they were speaking to my dad in New Zealand, before he passed away. There’s a phrase he says at the end: 'That’s the difference between good and great. That would be the proudest moment of my life.'
"So I’ll always be able to look down at my forearm and think that’s the last thing that I heard my dad say.
"The tattoo starts with 'From my father' and then ‘That’s the difference between good and great. That would be the proudest moment of my life.’ And then the last phrase in there is: 'Perceive to achieve your highest aspiration and should you bow let it only be to a lofty mountain.'
"My dad actually used that in a speech to his colleagues in a work presentation. So again, it’s something else that I knew that my dad put a lot of time into thinking [about] and putting into a very important speech for him, when he was still working.
"When I told my mam I was getting that particular phrasing she was a bit emotional.
"I put a lot of time into it, around what I wanted, and I think I’ve come out with something that I’ll always be able to look down and know what it means."
The Maori connection
“Obviously I wanted the translation to be in Māori, from the English sayings," says Ben.
"My mam’s mam, so my nana, is proper full-on Māori and she’s always reminding me of that! Even as a kid, we were naturally shown to respect where our family’s culture comes from.
"My family’s tribe is a tribe called Ngāpuhi. So I wanted to make sure I got everything properly checked, like the spellings and all the little details and stuff that go into it.
"I sent it to my mam and she then sent it over to some very close friends, family friends of ours, who then took what I wanted and passed that over to [the leaders] of the Māori tribes, but kept it very private.
"So the people who were looking into the way in which it was all spelt, they didn’t know it was for me, [as] there’s a big respect factor in Māori culture as well. Even those little things are quite cool to [demonstrate] what’s gone into this.
"We ended up with the proper spelling and I knew that everything’s been checked through and that there were no mistakes. That whole process was about two weeks from when I sent it over. It’s been a really nice process to be a part of.”
A Dad's influence
"What would my Dad think of the tattoo? Well, he had a lot of tattoos as well, and even before I had one he told me that tattoos are for life, so I should make sure they always have a meaning.
"Every tattoo that I’ve got on my body, there’s a specific meaning to them. I can tell a story about them all, which is something that I really like to be able to do. So he’d like the fact that I’ve gone into detail and that it means something to me, because all of his tattoos meant something to him.
"My dad was a professional Rugby League player in New Zealand and eventually went into being a professional Rugby League coach as well. So for me, as a teenager, especially in winter when I was at home, it was great to have my dad around because he was pushing me to do the stuff that a normal 15-year-old probably wouldn’t be doing.
"Getting up at 8am in the morning and taking me to the gym, even though I didn’t want to go. That four-year period between 15 and 19 was invaluable in terms of having someone around me like that, who had lived that life already.
"He knew what it was to be professional, so it was great to have someone like that who knew what they were talking about to push me through those years. When I got to 21 or 22 it was my responsibility to do that, but having someone like him to push me through, that was really important.
“I was so determined to be a professional cricketer, but it might have taken me a bit longer if I didn’t have my dad around me at that age."
A special gesture
“I would probably say out on the pitch actually is where you think about stuff like that more, where I feel close to my dad," says Ben.
“You know, when someone does something where they’ve got a little celebration or a little symbol, stuff like that. Since he’s passed, well actually since he got ill back in 2019, every time I do something, like get a hundred or something like that, I’ve got a little [gesture], because Dad's missing a middle finger.
"I don’t think it ever gets easier to be without him. You just sort of cope with it and deal with it. I don’t think it’s one of those things where you say ‘oh it just gets easier day by day’ because the reality is it doesn’t. You just learn to deal with things like that. It’s part of life, I guess."
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