Cricket Witness No 1 - Class Peace

69 of the swivel stiles of animal husbandry, were introduced in the early 1870s. The 2000 or 3000 daily totals of the 1840s were, on occasion, as much as ten times that by the end of the Victorian era. The gradient has been delineated as, in respect of daily average attendances, 3000 in the 1840s; 4000 in the 1860s; 8000 in the 1880s and 10,000 in the 1900s, with by this stage 15,000 or 20,000 not uncommon. The county record for the 19 th century was set in 1892 at the Oval when over the three days of the Surrey and Nottinghamshire game, then one of the choicest fixtures of the summer, 63,763 people paid; it has been estimated that with members and guests over 100,000 watched that match. For the Lord’s Test of 1886 over 33,000 shimmied through the new turnstiles whilst at Leicestershire’s Grace Road in 1878 the visiting Australian tourists attracted an attendance record of 12,000. 2 Another source 3 suggests the following average daily paid numbers (that is, exclusive of members) at the beginning of the 20 th century: 4500 for Sussex; 7000 for Essex; 8000 for Middlesex; 12,000 for Surrey and 17,000 for Yorkshire, Thus although the London based clubs and those centred in major industrial conurbations obviously attracted the largest custom, all the sixteen counties that competed for the County Championship at the turn of the century were reasonably supported. As well as the demographic disparity, there were, of course, the vagaries of the climate and the variables of team performance to take into account but all the counties were being supported in some degree. It has been calculated that average county attendances per day ranged from 8000 to 24,000, inclusive of both members and ordinary paying customers. In 1900 there were 209 first-class games played in the British Isles. Very roughly, including both paying and subscribing patrons, 1.5m people attended those matches. With the possible exception of horse racing, cricket had been the most popular sport up to and at that time. Many local clubs also had healthy followings. Some northern league clubs had regular gates of 6000 and the more prestigious southern clubs often enjoyed a similar patronage. The first FA Challenge Cup Final was played at the Oval in 1872 before a scattering of 2000 supporters on a ground where 20,000 for a day’s county cricket was not exceptional. Cricket was inexpensive. 6d was the standard charge everywhere, even Lord’s, for a day’s outing, 1s was the charge for a Test match, often for a game in which W.G.Grace was starring, for some of the festival matches and, out of sync with the rest, Surrey’s fixtures at the Oval. League cricket was 2d and 4d. Football League prices were slightly higher at 3d and 6d. At many cricket matches ladies were admitted free. Although the Oxford and Cambridge and the Eton and Harrow meetings attracted an elitist following of loyal alumni and their families, it is apparent that, even on those occasions when the lower orders came to rubberneck, there was something of a social mix, while across the range of county, league and recreational cricket the audiences must have had a modicum if not a majority of working class representatives. There has been a tendency to think that the great London cricket crowds were very much The Cricket Crowd