A Game Sustained

110 Struggling through to the end: 1918 More Bradford League disputes Tensions between the Bradford League and other cricket authorities continued. Many followers of cricket remained unhappy about the impact of the League’s approach on the game in their areas. In May 1918, a letter in the Yorkshire Evening Post from a man involved with Huddersfield cricket commented that Bradford League clubs weremore concerned in ‘buying’ cricketers than developing them, and there were few clubs in his district without at least one representative in the League; his own had five. Complaints continued about poaching by Bradford clubs in the ‘mad rush for players’ which meant, for example, that leading players of Leeds clubs in the Yorkshire Council were ‘pestered’ by agents interested in recruiting them. Officials connected with clubs in the Huddersfield and Halifax districts were also unhappy, and ‘Old Ebor’ commented that the whole system was ‘unhealthy and wrong, doubly so in wartime.’ In June, a second area of conflict arose over the likely clash of dates for two war charities matches in the Bowling Tide holiday week, one organised by the county club, the other by the Bradford League. J.J.Booth told his committee that P.F.Warner had agreed to bring a team of Army and Navy players for a match on 19 and 20 August, and was keen on playing in front of a Yorkshire crowd. The problem was that Yorkshire County Cricket Club had already arranged a charity match, so that there was now the prospect of them competing for public attention and scarce funds, which the Yorkshire Post described as ‘an absurd state of affairs.’ For a while there was a stand-off, but after discussions, the League put its match back, but with the caveat that no Bradford League player could play for or against the county team on 19 and 20 August without written permission from the Bradford League secretary. Later, the executive of the Bradford League compromised further, deciding that all of its players, except those selected for the game against P.F.Warner’s XI, could play either for or against the county side. A crowd of 3,000 people attended on the first day and a further 4,000 on the second, helping