A Game Sustained

66 Shocks to the system: 1916 that ‘the cricket outlook for 1916 cannot be said to be very rosy.’ Much would depend on developments in the war. Others remained optimistic, not least those endeavouring to organise a Yorkshire-Lancashire match at Aigburgh in May. There was also speculation about the Scarborough Festival resuming, although the club secretary, W.W.Leadbeater, was sceptical. Lord Hawke encouraged all clubs to ‘quietly’ continue to do their best to play matches, and make every effort to meet soldiers’ cricket requirements. Optimistically, he hoped for a first-class programme in 1917. Given the circumstances, some observers were actually quite critical of the closing of the game at all levels. In his regular column in the Star Green’un , J.H.Stainton complained of the ‘inexplicable haste’ of smaller clubs in shutting down, noting that boys wanting to play now found: the glorious open spaces, “the level lawns”...where cricket should be in progress barred to the game...scoring boxes shuttered, gates padlocked, and weeds and rank grass growing on what used to be the unblemished velvet of the pitch. 51 At the same time, while the Bradford League intended to run as usual and there was some extension of professionalism in places, it was clear that certain clubs in the county simply could no longer cope. The Elland Tradesmen’s Cricket Club, for example, was disbanded after a quarter of a century, while Rotherham Town Cricket Club, which had played some friendlies in 1915, decided to play no more until the conflict had finished. Broad Oak Cricket Club withdrew from the Huddersfield Central League as 19 of its 26 regular players had joined up. Castleford Cricket Club decided to drop out of the Yorkshire Cricket Council and Mexborough Cricket Club, which had had a fairly successful 1915 season and had reduced its debts to £345, nevertheless decided not to compete in the South Yorkshire League in 1916. Yeadon Cricket Club opted to play only friendly matches, as again did Scarborough. Increasingly, call-ups began to have an effect. In Sheffield