CRICKET legend Harold ‘Dickie’ Bird is almost 80 – but he has lost none of his passion for sport.

The Barnsley-born former Test umpire has made it his mission to encourage and enable young people to get involved in sport.

So he was delighted to be invited to preside over yesterday’s ceremonial ground breaking for a £22.5m development at the University of Huddersfield.

The new Learning and Leisure Centre – which replaces the university’s ageing sports hall – is due for completion next year.

Dickie Bird learned about its new eight-court sports hall, fitness suite, squash courts and other features.

“This will be a fine sports facility, for people not only in Huddersfield but all Yorkshire,” said Dickie.

His Dickie Bird Foundation provides bursaries to allow under-18s from underprivileged backgrounds to take part in sport.

“We must get them away from street corners and away from watching TV!” he said. “And for that, sport is the finest thing in the world.”

Dickie played cricket for Yorkshire and Leicestershire before turning to umpiring – officiating in more than 66 Test Matches, 92 One-Day Internationals, three World Cup Finals and special matches such as the Centenary Test between England and Australia in 1980.

“If it wasn’t for sport, I’d have been down the pit,” he said. “But cricket gave me the chance to earn a good clean living and to see the world.”

Test cricket is still the ultimate form of the game, according to Dickie, but he readily embraces the brasher, breezier Twenty20 format.

“It’s getting youngsters back into the game and it puts fans back in the stand. And when they come away they’ve seen a result, so in many ways Twenty20 is good for the game,” he added.