Cricket Witness No 3 - The Daffodil Blooms

50 Chapter Five Team spirit Another important change to the way Glamorgan Cricket operated during the 1930s was the addition of a series of new venues as the Welsh county sought to further raise revenue through gate receipts. During the 1920s, and indeed for much of the Club’s existence, the majority of home fixtures had taken place at either the Arms Park or St. Helen’s, with the occasional Minor County game at The Gnoll in Neath or a few miles away at Briton Ferry. During the late 1920s, Glamorgan had flown the flag in the Taff valleys by visiting Pontypridd, with an annual Championship match being staged at Ynysangharad Park from 1926, as well as the game with the 1929 South Africans. Taking first-class games away from the Arms Park and St. Helen’s had met with opposition from members of the committee who were closely associated with the Cardiff and Swansea clubs. Their stance summed up the cosy, rather parochial, attitude of those who put their clubs first, with Glamorgan paying rent to the two clubs for the use of their grounds whilst the clubs benefited again by having first pick of any talented professional considering a move to South Wales. But this was more than just a debate about whether club or county came first, as there was also – as in rugby – friction between the west and east. The rivalry was decades old and even back in the 1870s, when the South Wales Cricket Club had organised an inter-club competition, there were many occasions when these Challenge Cup matches were interrupted by disputes between players as well as complaints about biased umpiring. 1 To appease this, the Glamorgan committee had carefully split their annual quota of matches between the Arms Park and St. Helen’s, but now it was a case of looking at other venues in the east or west in order to raise invaluable income. During the 1930s, Llanelli, Cowbridge and the Rodney Parade ground in Newport were all added to the fixture calendar. The introduction of Stradey Park in 1933 was an instant success as a first-day crowd in excess of 4.000 were present at Llanelli for the visit of Worcestershire. George Lavis celebrated by hitting a