A Game Sustained

81 Shocks to the system: 1916 at Oldham between Lancashire and Yorkshire in aid of soldiers blinded in the war and local Red Cross hospitals. County players ‘willingly gave their services’ and about £200 was raised. Around the same time, another fund-raiser was held in Skipton between the previously mentioned Captain Flanagan’s team and a local eleven. In Halifax, F.E.Woodhead (who had played for Yorkshire as an amateur four times in the 1890s), Woolley, Denton, Leach, B.B.Wilson, Barnes and Walter Lees took part in a charity game involving Flanagan’s side, a number of them appearing after working long hours overnight in their munitions factories. Wilfred Rhodes was unable to leave his duties, but 3,000 people saw the first day which raised around £200. Unfortunately, the much- anticipated match at Fartown between Huddersfield and Leeds was postponed again when the August Bank Holiday was cancelled. When it was finally played, Leeds had to send a weakened side. Among more significant games, on 14 August, a match between Yorkshire and the Bradford League was held at Bradford in aid of the Bradford Wounded Soldiers’ Fund. The county side was almost at full strength with the exception of B.B.Wilson who could not play owing to his munitions work. Always looking for a chance to highlight local achievements, J.J.Booth claimed that never in the history of the game had any local cricketing organisation been able to put into the field such a high quality team. He emphasised that players had only asked for legitimate expenses and had made considerable efforts to be there. For example, J.P.Wilson had obtained leave from his military duties on the east coast and John Tasker had come over from Ireland. A large number of wounded soldiers from a nearby hospital attended, a reporter observing that they had ‘their crutches by their side or laid in front of them. One rejoiced over the presence of the soldiers, but the crutches hurt.’ A week or so later a Yorkshire side played a Lancashire team at Haslingden in what was described as a ‘patriotic cricket match’ in aid of the late Lord Kitchener’s Fund for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors and various military hospitals. This was