Cleon Scotland faced a choice: fulfil his duties as pavilion steward at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London or return home to watch his son play in his first Cup Match.

His decision reflected the one he made ten years ago when he and his wife, Kimiko, uprooted their family and moved to England after Marcus was invited to attend football trials with Fulham.

The now 21-year-old was ultimately scouted for cricket, which was the beginning of a journey that intertwined with Mr Scotland’s love for sport. Watching Marcus’s games inspired him to snap precious moments on the field — first with his phone and then with a camera.

A few months ago, he launched Airhorn Media, transforming what had been a hobby into a fully fledged business that captures sporting events and shares digital stories celebrating various athletic communities.

Mr Scotland tested the waters back in February when Marcus made his debut with the Bermuda team in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Knowing that The Royal Gazette didn’t have anyone there to cover it, the Level 1 umpire and Level 2 cricket coach offered his services.

“I know there were lots of amendments to my writing, but basically I got the job done,” he laughed.

By August he had left Lord’s and was unemployed. On learning that the national team were to play in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he signed up for the trip, and when he returned to London after Cup Match, got to work preparing for what was to be his next career.

“I studied at what I want to call the University of Google,” he said, explaining how for about three weeks straight he learnt everything about sports photography that he could.

“Every day, I woke up and was just reading, watching interviews with sports photographers, learning what type of equipment I would need, what types of lenses, focal length, apertures, accessories, and I just taught myself.”

He next switched his focus to building a website, and on September 24 “Airhorn Media was born”.

It’s a path he unknowingly started on in 2014 when he and his family moved to the England “for a year” to support Marcus in his bid to play football for Fulham.

“We decided to give him an opportunity, and if it worked out, it worked out; if it didn't work out, we would come back home and resume our lives,” Mr Scotland said.

Marcus ended up playing for Surrey, the English county champions, on their under-13, under-14 and under-15 teams.

“So every year, we just stayed on. Our daughter, Kacey, was doing well in school, and Marcus was doing well in school. So we decided to stay,” he added.

“Once Marcus got scouted for cricket, we just adjusted. They were already in good schools and so we just took it year by year, really.”

It helped initially that the finances were in place. Before the family left Bermuda, Mr Scotland sold his portion of Gametime Ltd, the business he co-owned with Albert Steede. His wife soon secured a job in London.

“From a financial point of view, everything was OK. We didn't have to worry about that.”

As for family and friends, Mr Scotland’s parents had both passed away and Mrs Scotland’s mother loved travelling to England to see them.

“We didn't really feel we were taking our children away from their grandparents, per se. If all our parents were alive, it probably would have been a more difficult decision. We may not have even gone to England.”

A year, they figured, would be easy in justifying their separation from Mr Scotland’s sister, Patrice, and the rest of their family.

“It worked out but it was still a difficult decision back then. Most times, I think, you hear how people leave for economic reasons, but we left purely for sporting reasons for our son,” he said.

Kacey is now working towards a degree in software engineering. Marcus, who has an undergraduate degree in economics, is pursuing a master’s degree in international sports management.

The move to England also offered opportunities to Mr Scotland, who describes himself as “sports mad”.

“England has some of the greatest stadia around. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve worked at Arsenal in the tours and museum departments as a host — Arsenal’s my team so that was fantastic that I got to work there for a while — I worked in the stewarding capacity at Chelsea, at AFC Wimbledon, at Queens Park Rangers. I've worked in the indoor schools at Middlesex County Cricket Club, at Surrey County Cricket Club. I worked as part of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, the Oval … wherever there's been sport, I've tried to put myself there.”

He is most proud of his time spent at Lord's, “the home of cricket”, where people regularly visit for everything from sponsorship gatherings to ash scatterings.

“That was a fantastic opportunity. The pavilion at Lord’s has been there for over 100 years. It's a Grade II-listed building. It’s like a museum but it's an active working pavilion and visitors come every day,” he said.

“To get that job, you have to know about the sport. You have to be able to interact with cricket fraternity, more or less. I had to learn about the history of Lord’s and the grounds. That was part of the assessment process for me to be selected as [one of the three] pavilion stewards. It was a great honour. I got to raise West Indies flag at the Test match this past summer. It was a great opportunity for me.”

As part of the job he interacted with big names in cricket: David Gower, the former England captain, and other former cricketers Nasser Hussein, Kumar Sangakkara and Mark Nicholas. He also met the actor and author Stephen Fry while he was president of Marylebone Cricket Club.

His employers at Lord’s were “sympathetic” when he explained his reason for stepping down.

“They've given me an invitation that I can come back on a part-time basis in the summer but I probably won't take them up on the invitation, because if you love cricket, that's the one place you really want to be all the time,” Mr Scotland said.

Since launching Airhorn, he has been “fortunate” to find work with a range of sporting organisations and companies.

Trips with the Bermuda team were invaluable learning experiences.

“I've always loved cricket pictures. I would see these guys with big cameras at events but I honestly didn't know anything. I reached out to a couple of cricket photographers — just e-mailed them — and some e-mailed back and said, ‘This is what I use. This is how you go about it.’ And that's how it really started,” Mr Scotland said.

To his delight, some of the players he has been on tour with have reached out asking for pictures, something he assumes would not happen “if the pictures weren’t good enough”.

“It's very stressful. You take so many pictures and then you’ve got the cutting down, the cropping. And then you might have a great picture, but it’s just slightly out of focus.”

Even with the stress, for the sports junkie it is an enjoyable experience.

“One match, my camera died. I wasn't even paying attention to the battery indicator and I didn't have any back-up batteries — I've learnt a lot of lessons. It's not as simple as just buying a [great] camera. You have to compose the shot.”

• For more information, visitairhornmedia.com