Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

30 Raikes’ Meteoric Rise as a Top Quality Footballer reports in the press that he was “amongst the forwards” do not indicate that he was defending his goal while surrounded by the opposition but rather that he was enjoying himself whilst turning out as a ‘striker’ rather than as a ‘keeper; he even notched the odd point whilst enjoying a run out in the pack in a game of lesser importance. One must start by noting that Raikes actually played very little club football sensu stricto ; most of his career consisting of matches for his school, his county, his college and his university, the meta-clubs (the Corinthians and the Casuals) and England. Indeed he actually played relatively little football at all, at any level, retiring at the age of just 23 to study for the priesthood when he was the man ‘in possession’ of England’s goal and widely praised in the press (note 10) . A Seemingly Dreadful Start for Norfolk Upon finishing his education at Shrewsbury, Raikes had the opportunity to play some football in the county of his birth before ‘going up’ to Oxford. He opted to play for Wymondham Town, a club not too distant from his mother’s place of residence. At first sight his chances of ‘keeping in more significant matches appeared small. The Eastern Daily Press reported that there were many competent keepers in Norfolk and ranked the top few in the following order: Morley, T (Thorpe) E.H.Fryer (Wymondham & St Bart’s) R.A.Clifton (King’s Lynn) G.B.Raikes (Wymondham) Gruggens H.Soame (CEYMS – Church of England Young Men’s Society) Raikes was listed in fourth place and, given that he was fresh out of school he could not expect to challenge the likes of Tom Morley, the professional cricketer, who notched up ten appearances for the county side between 1889 and 1893. He was, however, fortunate when the combination of an impressive display between the posts for the Dark Blues, which earned them a draw with the London Caledonians, and the late withdrawal by Soame, saw the selectors call him up as a late replacement for the match between Norfolk County and Cambridge University. This was likely to be a tough debut for Raikes as Cambridge generally gave Norfolk a sound thrashing (the last two fixtures had finished 5-0 and 6-0). As the match report made only too clear, the Light Blues made it a hat-trick. Norfolk County v Cambridge University: 30 November 1892 “A Heavy Defeat” NORFOLK COUNTY G.B.Raikes (Oxford University) H.C.Scotter (CEYMS) H.J.Freeman (Thorpe) Lt. Burns-Lindon (8 th Hussars) J.Bates (Nth Walsham) H.Upcher (Thorpe) T.H.Brown (King’s Lynn) F.R.Barwell (Thorpe) E.Orams (Thorpe)