Cricket Witness No 5 - Whites on Green

79 Wartime and after occupants in their white shirts and flannels. One concession brokered by the Corporation with the military authorities was for the cricket square, so beloved by the Bancrofts and the Crebers, to be roped off allowing some basic work being done on it by an interim groundsman. There had been talk of festival matches over the August Bank Holiday of 1940, to bolster both the coffers of the Club and to help lift morale, but the idea was abandoned as the Government called for factories to keep working and build up replacements for military equipment lost in the defeats and hasty retreat from northern France. With Swansea badly blitzed by the Luftwaffe in 1941 it was some time before anyone had time to think again of cricket as entertainment. The local league went into hibernation after 1940, though many clubs and works sides kept up a programme of friendlies. Glamorgan organised a game at the Arms Park in 1942, and ran a series of matches in 1943, on the Barry Island, which, as in the Great War, staged matches to channel the energies of those employed in the busy port on the South Wales coast. The rugby ground at St. Helen’s also held a number of fund-raining rugby matches from 1942 onwards, as well as an American football match in December 1943. Each was well-attended with the Wales-England international on 7 March 1942 being watched by a crowd estimated at 20,000 raising over £1,900 for service charities. Over 15,000 were also present during March 1944 when a South Wales XV defeated a Dominions XV 42-19, whilst later in November, there were further bumper crowds at Swansea as firstly South Wales defeated NZ Services 32-14, whilst three weeks later Wales beat England 28-11. An aerial view of the St. Helen’s ground.