Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

13 Early cricket in Swansea Livingston was also a leading figure in the negotiations ahead of the 1868 season over a new base with local landowner Robert Eaton, who owned a field, known as Bryn-y-Mor Field on higher ground, a mile or so inland. Together with his good friend JTD Llewelyn, Livingston was delighted with the choice of a new venue and in a bid to raise further funds to enhance the facilities at the Bryn-y-Mor ground, and promote cricket in the area, they made contact with former Surrey cricketer Charles Lawrence who was making negotiations for a tour of the UK later that summer by a team of Aboriginal cricketers. The Swansea officials agreed to the proposal by Lawrence and his business manager, George Smith, a former mayor of Sydney, that the tourists collected all of the gate money, covered all of the expenses and in return gave a £20 donation to the local club. It duly led to the first-ever visit by an Australian team to Wales with the two-day game in Swansea being one of the 47 matches on the tour, and followed by a third day on which the Aborigines had an opportunity to raise further revenue for themselves with a display of boomerang throwing, spear throwing, sprinting and hurdling. Fittingly, JTD led the home side, taking 6/64, but the tourists proved far too strong for the locals, winning the contest by an innings on the second afternoon, before entertaining a decent-sized crowd the following day with their athletic prowess ahead of travelling by train from the High Street station for their next fixture at Bradford in Yorkshire. Besides boasting superb views of Swansea Bay, the Bryn-y-Mor Field was adjacent to the Uplands Hotel, a fine local hostelry which quickly developed into a popular meeting point for the town’s cricketers. Unlike their previous venues, the cricketers now had a place where they could celebrate a victory, or drown their sorrows after a defeat, as well somewhere for getting changed and holding meetings. 7 The Swansea cricketers certainly enjoyed their summer activities at Bryn-y-Mor and by the early 1870s they decided to maintain their camaraderie by playing football during the winter months. Their first fixture, played against Neath on 23 November, 1872 was played under Association rules, but two years later – perhaps because of the influence of several former public The notice from The Cambrian newspaper promoting the visit of the Australian Aborigines to Swansea in July 1868.