A Game Sustained

71 Shocks to the system: 1916 for this. One affected by the changes was Frank Woolley, who by the autumn was serving in the motor boat section of the Royal Navy. He had only been able to play cricket in 1916 as a result of being rejected by the army for having ‘hammer toes’, but he was then recalled and accepted instead by the Navy. Yorkshire county club For Yorkshire County Cricket Club the main concerns in 1916 were financial, and the Finance Committee maintained a careful eye on subscriptions coming in at each of its meetings. At the club’s Annual General Meeting in January 1916, Lord Hawke reported that members had responded very well to the request to keep paying their dues and in many instances had offered to do more. He said the club felt justified in collecting money so that when the war ended the grounds were in good order, the club efficiently run and everything ready for ‘a happy reunion of members, players, and supporters.’ In May 1916, the Yorkshire Post commented that many members had continued to pay their subscriptions the previous year, even though no county cricket had been arranged. A similar appeal was made again, despite the ‘prolongation of the war, the drain upon individual resources, and the call to national service of all men of military age’. Over 400 people had submitted their subscriptions, and Toone contacted members around the world, including men in the trenches. Although the result of the 1916 appeal for subscriptions was not quite as successful as the previous year, the committee was happy that it enabled them to ‘maintain the organisation of the Club in a satisfactory state of efficiency.’ 53 Arrangements were again made for the players engaged by the county – Rhodes, Hirst, Denton and Drake – to assist local clubs during the summer, and county members continued to gain free access to matches where these players were involved. As most were participating in war work, they were not expected to be available as much as in 1915, and there were more restrictions on their allocations, with clubs which