A Game Sustained

72 Shocks to the system: 1916 were paid-up members of Yorkshire having precedence. The club resolved to pay the players £1 a week for 17 weeks over the summer provided they turned out for the county and local clubs whenever possible, ‘without undue interference to war work’. Those players who had joined up were again supported; Major Booth was awarded £1 a week, as were the wives of Kilner and Dolphin. 54 Yorkshire maintained its central offices in Park Row, Leeds which at Lord Hawke’s request also became the headquarters of the West Riding Volunteers, with Hawke as staff officer and with much of the regiment’s organisational work performed by F.C.Toone. Despite some difficulties getting it printed, the club again issued the annual Yearbook, which this year contained photographs of the players and members of the county committee who were serving in His Majesty’s Forces. Later in the year, the subject of pay was again considered. Winter pay was only given to those who were enlisted – Dolphin and Kilner – at the rate of £1 a week up to the end of the year. This was extended in January 1917 when it was agreed that they would continue to receive £1 a week while serving in France. Thereafter, a summer wage of £1 10s per week for 17 weeks was agreed for Hirst, Drake, Rhodes, Dolphin, Kilner and B.B.Wilson. At the same time, however, the club declined applications from some players for advances on their winter pay savings, although the year’s interest could be paid over. 55 Indirectly, the Yorkshire club was responsible for saving one life, that of A.H.Gofton, a fast bowler from Filey who had played in the county Second XI before the conflict. Yorkshire sent a postcard to all players at the start of the war to try to compile a list of all players who had joined up and to encourage everyone to do ‘their bit’. By 1916, Gofton was responsible for training his company in bombing operations. A bomb was accidentally dropped and fragments penetrated his tunic, going through his Harrogate cricket club fixture list and lodging in the Yorkshire postcard. Gofton forwarded it and a fragment of the shell to the county committee.