Lives in Cricket No 19 - Frank Sugg

retained his position at the school for ten years and when he left in 1904 (to be succeeded by John Gunn of Nottinghamshire), his contribution to cricket at the school was warmly recognised. 92 The local newspaper commented: ‘He was quite the most popular and painstaking coach who ever entered this famous seat of sport and learning.’ 93 In 1897, past and present members of the school had shown their appreciation by subscribing £19 9s 6d to Frank’s benefit fund, a sum which was described in the school magazine as ‘substantial’ – as indeed it was at the time and in the context. As far as is known, Frank did not take on any other regular coaching responsibilities after his retirement from first-class cricket. His family believe that at some time he coached at Clifton College, Bristol, but the school archivist has told me that there is no record of Frank ever being a designated professional at the school. He was not able to say whether Frank was an additional coach at Clifton at any time, though, with Frank’s Gloucestershire connections, that is a possibility. It is of course quite usual for cricketers who have played at the top level to extend their playing careers at club level, in some cases as a club professional or coach. What is unusual in Frank Sugg’s case is the wider contribution he made to cricket after his first-class career was over. Prominent among these is his founding in 1910 in Liverpool of the Sugg Cricket League. The aim of this sponsorship, as we would now call it, was to encourage the game at the grass-roots level by providing a well-organised and competitive cricket league. Frank was the first president of the League and his commitment ensured the support of other sporting notables in the town. Among the teams participating in the Sugg League was a team made up of employees of the Sugg business. It is possible that Frank turned out at least occasionally for the Sugg team to give a boost to its chances and publicity for the league. In 1911, following Frank’s initiative, Walter Sugg established the Sugg Thursday Cricket Club in Sheffield and the following year a Sugg Thursday League was formed with the same purposes as the Liverpool League but designed for teams that could play on 92 Away From Old Trafford 92 James Joyce was a pupil at Clongowes between 1888 and 1892. His time at the school did not overlap with that of Frank Sugg, but with Sugg’s distinctive surname one might have expected his inclusion in the passage in Finnegan’s Wake in which Joyce mentions no fewer than 31 cricket personalities, or in other Joyce works, but Sugg is conspicuous by its absence: see Geoffrey K. Whitelock, Cricket in the Writings of James Joyce, Journal of the Cricket Society , Vol.7, No.2, 1975, p 7. 93 Lorna Brown cutting.