Cricket Witness No 4 - Women at the WIcket

42 ‘The cohorts of cricket are being swollen’ The Women’s Cricket Association, 1926-1939 As the sport captured greater audiences, its popularity as a summer sport also grew. The number of women playing organised cricket in England before 1914 was relatively low and largely confined to educational institutions, and likely never exceeding 1,000 players in any one year. But as women began expanding their sporting horizons in the interwar years, cricket experienced a surge in participation that was also shared by golf, hockey, netball and tennis. A conservative estimate of the number of women and girls who played organised cricket reveals steady growth in the interwar period, and is far higher than first thought. If we assume each playing body had an average of 30 members, as one media outlet estimated in 1933, the number of female cricketers greatly exceeds previous guesses. 19 Although many clubs had fewer than 30 members, not all struggled to regularly field a side. In 1925, Gunnersbury Cricket Club was formed in Ealing by 16 players, yet by 1931 it had 31 members and two teams, and by 1933 a third XI formed. The club grew so large that by 1935 it could no longer accommodate all wishing to play, and a separate team, Wagtails, was founded in North London. 20 A large proportion of schools, workplaces and leagues would have had even more players. The Co-operative Wholesale Society League, made up of factory sides in Manchester, was considered a single affiliated body by the WCA, yet contained eight teams in April 1933. Other large bodies with numerous sides were also considered a single affiliate. The University of London Athletics Union Women’s Cricket Club had ten affiliated university colleges, and Bournville Girls’ Athletic Club had between three and four outward-playing teams and many more sides playing in interdepartmental work competitions. 21 By 1939, the WCA probably had just under 7,000 players. The Association expanded year-on-year, seeing its greatest growth between 1927 and 1930 when it doubled in size. While the Great Depression (1929-32) slowed their development, mass unemployment did not greatly impact those in work and disposable income continued to rise in the 1930s. 22 As young, working women represented the vast majority of players, it is likely existing cricketers were little affected by the economic situation, even if attracting new players proved difficult. In fact, the Depression years are the period when the English Women’s Cricket Federation experienced its biggest crowds, as women’s games offered spectators a cheaper and novel alternative to men’s league cricket. Women and girls were given the chance to play a sport which would have otherwise been an unaffordable luxury in a period of hardship for many northern towns. If we include the Federation, which was still operating (but declining) in 1939, as well as the hundreds other clubs, leagues, workplaces and schools outside either body, it is probable that at least 10,000 women and girls were playing regular cricket in England by the start of the Second World War, but possibly more. This may have represented over one-tenth of the number of men playing. 23