Lives in Cricket No 46 - George Raikes

68 not have been considered a suitable sport for a ‘Christian Man’ who was (consciously or not) following in the wake of Kingsley and Hughes in his enjoyment of many forms of physical recreation, free from concerns about filthy lucre. However, Dil Porter has calculated that, of the 16,151 players who appeared in English Football League matches between 1888 and 1939, a suspiciously low number of four were ministers of the church (personal communication). Given such numbers, it appears that almost all clergymen, of whichever beliefs, appear to have found participation in football at the top level unacceptable; perhaps they found themselves not entirely unsympathetic with the amateur doctrines of “Pa” Jackson? Therefore it is both unsurprising that Raikes might feel obliged to put his religious calling before full-time soccer and choose to make more-or-less a ‘clean break’ when he enrolled in theological college (note 15) and that, alas, there is still insufficient evidence to be able to make a definitive statement on Raikes’ ‘brand’ of Christianity. The balance of the evidence might seem to suggest that he probably was a Muscular Christian but the case might remain ‘not proven’ as a Scottish court of law might put it, if it were not for a final piece of evidence which is found in its proper place in chapter nine. If any aspect of his soccer career is surprising it is that he retired when practicing successfully at the absolute summit of the world’s game and that he walked away with so little fuss. With absolutely no evidence to guide the historian, any comment on this somewhat unusual turn of affairs could easily be dismissed as supposition so it is perhaps best left to stand alone as a remarkable but inexplicable turning point in the life of George Raikes. Raikes’ Cricket Whilst at Portsea Raikes played in as many as six matches for Norfolk in 1897 but was conspicuous by his absence from the county team for what turned out to be the next six years. He was, however, able to return and star (as usual) for the Suffolk Borderers in two of their programme of fixtures at the end of the 1898 season. First, he played against Gunton, who barely escaped defeat. They were dismissed for 170 (with Raikes taking five wickets), then their attack was dismantled and conceded 401 for four (Raikes making 104); finally they had to play out time, finishing on 193 for seven. His second match was against the Billingford Incapables, who made 234 and 128 (with Raikes taking eight wickets) and went down by eight wickets as the Borderers made 237 and 137 for two (Raikes leading the way with 67 not out). When he journeyed back to aid the Borderers, Raikes had already commenced a successful spell as a club cricketer in the Portsmouth area. He represented a variety of sides with a distinctly clerical flavour; some were obviously so (Rev Nelson’s XI, Portsea Vicarage, Portsea Clergy, St Mary’s) but he also turned out for the White Company (note 16) who were sometimes referred to as the “St Mary’s Lads” and who also seemed to include a significant number of Lang’s curates. They seemed to have been The Curate of Portsea; Was Raikes A Muscular Christian?