Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

41 Local rivalries wicket, and the umpire raised his finger to give Reid ‘timed out’. A furious row duly broke out as the match abandoned with Swansea on 48-5, with the home batsmen claiming that Dr. Reid, who had quickly returned to his practice, had not been told that the lunch interval had been reduced to half an hour rather than the usual forty-five minutes. The row continued in the letters page of the Swansea Herald newspaper with some of the Swansea members complaining about the partisan behaviour of the Morriston supporters. A correspondent wrote how: “the downfall of each Swansea wicket was greeted with yells of delight, whilst any good form shown by the batsmen was observed with chilling silence. Then, when the dispute arose, they flocked to the pavilion and gave vent to their feelings in language far more forcible than polite, applied the grossest epithet to the Swansea men, and demanded that their entrance money should be refunded.” 6 Further letters subsequently appeared from the Morriston lobby criticising the time wasting tactics of the Swansea team, followed by retorts from the latter about the hasty decision of the Morriston team in removing the bails. As the Editor of the Swansea Herald subsequently wrote “there was wrong on both sides – Swansea for not turning up before they did and Morrison for being too hasty.” 7 The upshot of the dispute was that Swansea withdrew from the competition, with Morriston going on to win the Cup, defeating Llwynypia in the final. This ugly spat proved to be an unglamorous end to Swansea’s participation in the competition as 1886 proved to be the last year of the Cup as the officials of the South Wales CC would up their organisation at their AGM and laid instead the foundations for a proper county organisation. Within three years of this local in-fighting the cricketing community of west Glamorgan united to support Glamorgan as they entered the world of county cricket. 1. The Cambrian , 17 May 1878. 2. South Wales Daily News , 1 August 1879. 3. South Wales Daily News , 18 December 1882. 4. South Wales Daily News , 17 September 1883. 5. The Cambrian , 20 August 1886. Dr Reid also played rugby for Swansea, whilst his son J.S. died whilst serving in the Great War during 1917 and is one of the people listed on the Club’s memorial plaque at St. helen’s. 6. Swansea Herald , 18 August 1886. 7. Swansea Herald , 25 August 1886.