Lives in Cricket No 11 - CP Lewis

Like C.P. and his friends at Swansea, many of the gentlemen who played for the South Wales C.C. in their games at such grounds as Lord’s and The Oval also turned out for the South Wales F.C. in their black and white jerseys during the 1870s against the strongest rugby teams from neighbouring parts of England, including Hereford, Clifton and a combined West of England side. Amongst his colleagues in the South Wales rugby team was Swansea’s cricket secretary, Charles Chambers, known as ‘Zulu’ by his friends. Chambers was a well-known rugby player, but cricket was clearly his first love as he kept close control of the followers of the oval ball, allowing no rugby at St. Helen’s until November, and insisting the footballers were off the field by March in order for the grass to recover for the cricket season. The situation was reversed by the 1990s, when lush, rugby-length outfields on the Mumbles side of the ground kept county cricket scoring down to singles on one side, and where Championship matches always had to switch to Cardiff in September as the All-Whites would be in occupation. It was measure of his standing within the rugby world, as well as his athletic abilities, that C.P. captained the South Wales side in many of these games. Given the strong overlap between cricket and rugby personnel, it was presumably quite natural for the participants from the Club to be led in their rugby-playing activities by the dynamic and skilful Lewis, who helped the winter game secure a toehold in the region. His commitments at Oxford meant that, at first, he was just an enthusiastic supporter of the South Wales Football Club, playing from 1876 until 1882 against the likes of Clifton, Hereford, Gloucestershire, Old Leysians and Old Monmouthians. 26 However, in October 1878, he was appointed, as a representative of Llandovery College, to the Club’s match committee, serving for the next few years alongside other eminent players including Raoul Foa, the captain of the Cardiff club, plus representatives from the thriving clubs at Newport and Swansea. It may have been no coincidence that following his appointment, the Club’s fixture list broadened to include games with teams further away from Severnside. The Lone Full Back 75 26 For example, Lewis was in the South Wales side in 1876, when they played Clifton at Cardiff and Hereford at Hereford. In that same year, Gloucestershire won a match against South Wales at the Spa Ground in Gloucester, with Lewis captain and full-back for the visitors.