A Game Sustained

10 Cricket, war and the ethical dilemma possible not to be directly affected by events for some time. While Scarborough and Whitby were shelled by the German navy in December 1914, and Hull was raided by Zeppelin airships in 1915, for many the conflict was a grim stalemate across the Channel, experienced primarily through the press. For many people, life at home carried on as usual. Some men were ineligible to serve in the forces, either being too young, too old, or else rejected on medical grounds, often because of malnutrition. Others were reluctant to volunteer or attest that they were available for military service, and were not drawn in until first the Derby scheme in autumn 1915 (set up to establish whether there were sufficient men available to meet manpower needs through volunteering) and then the Military Service Act in January 1916 (which brought in conscription for single men between 18 and 41) extended the government’s reach. Some were conscientious objectors. There were also essential alternatives to joining the forces and many people were involved in other vital war work, including in munitions factories. Here they worked long hours in filthy conditions to make the shells required by the heavy guns during the long drawn out struggle for territory. These factory workers and others in important industries and trades remained at home, with the focus of their labour often diverted from pre-war occupations to more pressing priorities. In hindsight, of course, we know that the war would last for over four years but for some time there was an expectation that an end was not far away and thus things did not need to change too much, or might swiftly return to normal once peace came. There was also initially a lack of realism about the scale of the task and an assumption that war could be conducted on a ‘business as usual’ basis. The Asquith government showed an unwillingness to embrace the idea of ‘total war’, insisting instead that putting together a large army did not require mobilising the nation. For some time, it refused to interfere with the free market, voluntary compliance was the preferred approach, and there was a lack of coordination or management of the economy. As a