Lives in Cricket No 38 - Lionel Robinson

51 Robinson And Hockey Whilst Robinson’s interest in cricket and horse racing are well-known, his support for field hockey has all but been forgotten. One of the few surviving pieces of evidence is the following paragraph, from the Norfolk Chronicle of 6 January 1912, headlined: FAMOUS CRICKETER’S LEG BROKEN: While playing for Mr Lionel Robinson’s eleven against the Norwich Wanderers, at Old Buckenham on Monday, G.A. Faulkner, the former [sic] South African cricketer, fell and fractured his leg. The accident occurred during a mix-up round goal. At the time the score was 1-1, but the regrettable occurrence took all interest out of the game, which was won by the Norwich team by 6 goals to 1... RO Schwarz, the South African ‘googley’ bowler, obtained the goal for Mr Robinson’s team which also included such well-known cricketers as BJT Bosanquet and AE Lawton. This passage indicates that the Old Buckenham team was packed with Robinson’s favourite cricketers and therefore suggests that ‘his’ players continued to enjoy his hospitality during the close season. Alas, it is unclear whether Lionel put out hockey 42 elevens at other times; local historian, Roger Wilson, has failed to uncover any evidence of further activity and Tom Walshe has suggested that this may have been a ‘scratch’ side raised from guests who were already present at Old Buckenham, enjoying their host’s excellent shooting facilities. 43 42 Australian sources insist that Faulkner injured himself playing association football rather than hockey, and state that Archie MacLaren was refereeing the game. 43 As well as facilities for cricket, shooting and hockey, Lionel also had tennis courts, billiard rooms and card rooms available for his guests, for whom nothing was too good. Putting Old Buckenham on the cricketing map Mare and foal at Old Buckenham Stud around 1919. (Ian MacLaren album, courtesy of Michael Down)