Cricket 1898

“ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.” — Byron. No. 47!. voi». x'vit, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1898. p r i c e 2a. A N IN T E R V IEW W ITH M R . F. C. B A RCH A RD . A^ the honorary secretary of the Crystal Palace Cricket Club,Mr.Barchard holds a responsible position in the London cricketing world, and all cricketers who come in contact with himare agreed that he is just the man for the office. He learned his cricket at Ton­ bridge School, and was at one time secretary of the Games Committee and captain of the School X I, His best perfor­ mance as a boy was one of which any boy might be proud ; he scored 140 not out and 80 in the same match for the School against the Sixth Form. In 1888 he joined the Crystal Palace Club of which he has been honorary secre­ tary for the last seven years, and is now entering upon his eighth season of office. He has always been a very useful member of the team, as he generally makes a fair score, while, in addition, his bowling has often been of service. “ Have you any difficulty in arranging your matches and getting up the teams ? ” “ The work of arranging the match list is frequently a troublesome one, for we play from 50 to 60 matches in a season—two every Saturday and one in the middle of the week. The matches, as a rule, work in fairly easily, but the list cannot be completed until after the annual meeting of County Secretaries in Decem­ ber, as neither the M.C.C. nor Surrey C.C. can confirm its club fixtures until the meeting has been held. The work is, therefore, of long duration, sefing that some clubs write to arrange matches for the following season before even the existing season is over. It would be of g?eat help to secretaries of large clubs, I feel sure, if some date could be fixed limiting the time for arranging matches, say from October 1st or November 1st and onward until the next season com­ mences. As regards getting up our teams I only take a small part. It has been the custom for many years for the teams to be selected by members of the Com­ mittee. I believe this Club was the first to institute this arrangement, which has since been adopted by other prominent clubs. The chief difficulty experienced is in obtaining a really representative side for many matches. This is attribut­ able to the fact that a number of our members are attached to other clubs, more especially wandering clubs, and there are days on which they play for these clubs regularly, when they are lost to us. After all, the aim of a club is not so much to win every match as to give every member, good or inferior, his fair share of matches, and this, I can unhesi­ tatingly say, the members get. We do not win all our matches it is true, but we do not do so badly when taking into consideration the composition of our teams at times.” “ Do your men turn up punctually ? ” “ As arule they do, but on one occa­ sion last year, in a match against Wimbledon, several men were late. We lost six wickets for 60 at lunch time, but I managed to keep in when my turn came, and the next wicket did not fall till 160.” “ Do you find that new members join in satisfactory numbers ? ” “ Yes, I am very glad to say we do. But up to a few years ago, no one could become a member of the Club for less than three guineas. We began to find that other clubs in the district were much less ex­ pensive, and were attracting all the best youngsters. Our rules, however, have since been revised, and members under 21 can now enter for one guinea, and those over that age for two guineas, without entrance fee. The effect has been very satisfac­ tory, for in the first year there were 60 new members, and la«t year, though the numbers fell off a little, several promis­ ing young players joined us, which is what we want. A year or two ago there seemed a probability that the Palace Company would require our ground fora sports’ arena, but I don’t think it will be now wanted for that purpose, and I hope that we may continue to use the old ground for many a long day yet. Most of our members take season-tickets, and the Cricket Club keeps a good many people in the neighbourhood, many of whom would go elsewhere if the Club were abandoned. We have always got on well with the Company.” “ Have you any other clubs in con- ne tion with the Cricket Club ? ” “ Only a lawn tennis club, and that is