A Game Sustained

48 Keeping going: 1914-1915 engagement of Hobbs and Barnes, but in the end an amendment was adopted which stated only that their contracts required no confirmation from the committee because the relevant clubs had acted in accordance with League rules. Some interpreted this as indicating a lack of support from the wider membership. Never one to avoid controversy, J.J.Booth said he had asked Lord Hawke to clarify whether he had used the reported word ‘scandalous’, and had received the terse reply, ‘Thoroughly disapprove of cricketers of military age being engaged by Yorkshire clubs. Telephone Toone, who will give you the views of the committee expressed Wednesday with regard to players.’ Toone told Booth that the county believed it inappropriate for players ‘to be brought to Yorkshire clubs to create sensations, because it drove people away from the main business of the nation, and was detrimental to recruiting.’ But he denied Hawke had used the word ‘scandalous’. Booth responded forcefully that the arrival of Hobbs and Barnes had not affected enlistment, and 700 men had recently joined up in one week from Bradford, a record for 1915. The town’s industry was also working under great pressure on Government work. Booth’s comments had a predictable effect on informed opinion, and he and ‘Old Ebor’ embarked on a series of increasingly robust exchanges in the press, in which the journalist condemned the clubs, and attacked Booth’s claim to represent local cricketers. In response, Booth wrote long defences of the league’s position and criticised ‘Old Ebor’ for his ‘aristocratic and supercilious style’, pointing out that 30,000 people had watched Bradford League cricket the previous Saturday. Financial consequences for county grounds Another concern in 1915 was the impact of the war on the county grounds in Yorkshire. In February 1915, F.C.Toone wrote to the authorities at Bramall Lane to advise that, as county cricket was impossible, a minimum of £50 would be granted in lieu of the usual annual payments made by Yorkshire. The Sheffield board considered the amount