CRICKET AS RATIONAL RECREATION

WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT…..  SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE  GROWTH OF AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL ASPECTS  SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CROWD IN URBAN COMMUNITIES  DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION AND ADMINISTRATION

TASK  WHAT WERE THE INFLUENTIAL FACTORS THAT MADE CRICKET AS RATIONAL RECREATION?

CLASS DIVISIONS  1870s ONWARDS COUNTRY CRICKET TOOK OVER AS A SPECTATOR ATTRACTION.  COUNTY COMMITTEES (AMATEUR) – KEPT PROFESSIONALS FIRMLY IN THEIR PLACE, THEY-  HAD DIFFERENT NAMES – PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR  THEIR NAMES IN THE PROGRAMME APPEARED DIFFERENTLY.  DIFFERENT EATING ARRANGEMENTS  THEY DID NOT TRAVEL TOGETHER OR USE THE SAME CHANGING ROOM.  THEY ENTERED THE FIELD OF PLAY FROM A DIFFERENT DOOR.  THE CAPTAIN WAS ALWAYS AN AMATEUR.  THERE WERE ‘LADS’ AND UNIVERSITY MEN (AMATEURS) IN THE SAME SIDE. THIS DISTINCTION BETWEEN GENTLEMAN AND PLAYERS WAS ABOLISHED IN 1963.

CRICKET BECAME THE NATIONAL GAME OF ENGLAND  RULES WERE REVISED BY THE M.C.C. AND THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS ESTABLISHED.  TEST MATCHES WERE HELD REGULARLY, WITH AUSTRALIA AND SOUTH AFRICA THE MAIN OPPONENTS.  AMATEURS IMPROVED TO RIVAL THE PROFESSIONAL PLAYERS.  WOMEN’S CRICKET WAS LIMITED BY VICTORIAN ATTITUDES, BUT IN THE 1880s THERE WAS A REVIVAL OF THE ‘LADIES’ GAME AS THE RESULT OF INCREASED ATHLETICISM IN THE MIDDLE-CLASS GIRLS’ SCHOOLS.

INFLUENTIAL MEN WILLIAM CLARK

 A REMARKABLE CRICKETER WITH VISION  HAD A BUSINESS BRAIN  TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE CHANGING ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF THE 1840s  FOCUSED CRICKET’S LOCAL AND FRAGMENTED POPULARITY INTO A NATIONAL SUCCESS.  WHAT DID PROFESSIONALS / THE WILLIAM CLARKE X1 DO FOR CRICKET?  MANY COACHED IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS  DEVELOPED PROFESSIONAL TOURING SIDES  TOURED ENGLAND FOR MANY SEASONS, ALSO COUNTY SIDES  STIMULATED GROWTH OF CRICKET  GEORGE PARR TOOK OVER AS CAPTAIN AND SECRETARY OF THE ALL-ENGLAND IN 1856 WHEN CLARKE DIED.

W. G. GRACE ( )

 POWERFUL ALL-ROUND ATHLETE AND THE MOST FAMOUS CRICKETER OF HIS TIME.  GRACE WAS A DOCTOR BY PROFESSION AND GENTLEMAN AMATEUR BY STATUS, YET HE WAS PAID £50 PER GAME. BETWEEN 1870 AND 1910, HE EARNED £120,000 EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY FROM CRICKET.

 THE ARGUMENT AGAINST PROFESSIONALISM IN CRICKET  FEAR OF:  CORRUPTION  PROFESSIONALS OUTCLASSING AMATEURS  LOSS OF FAIR PLAY.

HOMEWORK  COMMENT ON THE LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION IN CRICKET TODAY  WHAT FACTORS HAVE HELPED DEVELOP THE LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION AND PERFORMANCE  WHAT ARE THE MAIN BARRIERS THAT MIGHT AFFECT THE LEVEL OF PARTICIPATION?