Lives in Cricket No 47 - Brian Sellers

110 do something for nothing, they answered not to shareholders, the press, or public even, but to themselves; their conscience, if you like. They did what they thought was best; and if they tended to be old and conservative, even conservatives had to manage change. They only argued over the details, the timing and pace of change – and argued over and over without deciding anything, it seemed, as Lord’s set up one committee and inquiry after another. In August 1957, for instance, Lord’s named Sellers in a committee to consider the place of amateurs in first-class cricket. Looking back, the members – let alone the chairman, the Duke of Norfolk – were laughably one-sided. They were holders of offices: Lord’s insiders such as Rait Kerr and Gubby Allen; the old such as Harry Altham; and current players, such as England captain Peter May. Most came from the south; of the 13 on the committee, only Sellers and the Lancashire secretary Geoffrey Howard had northern connections. All had played as amateurs and stood for amateurism. Whole books have been written about these years when English cricket tortuously gave up amateurism. Most are guilty of assuming that because professionalism – that is, paid play for all – came in 1963, the end of amateurism was inevitable, and right; and its defenders were behind the times, even stupid. At the committee’s first meeting on Wednesday afternoon, 9 October 1957, Sellers was emphatic (in the words of the minutes) in wishing to send the best MCC tour side; even if that meant paying some. That implied Sellers was ready to compromise on the pure amateur principle, for the sake of a strong England abroad. Likewise in the second meeting on Thursday afternoon, 28 November, Sellers reminded the committee that it had agreed to separate the issue of tours (when amateurs might get help) and seasons at home, ‘as it would be a tragedy if the amateur was run out of the game’. As that suggested, the committee was looking for ways to keep the amateur in play. Indeed, a memo for the committee beforehand set out the aim of encouraging more amateurs to play first-class cricket, ‘and bring with them the leadership, drive and enterprise traditionally associated with the Amateur game’. The wish of Lord’s to revive amateurism had a hitch: reality. Few if any were playing cricket purely for the love of it: they were signing bats, putting their name to press articles (including Peter May) and adverts; altogether making a business of being an amateur cricketer. Hence Gubby Allen spoke of the ‘real amateur’ and the Duke of Norfolk of the ‘genuine amateur’, which implied some amateurs were fake. The committee’s report in February 1958 admitted that unlike 50 years before amateurs could not afford to play first-class cricket at their own expense. When Burnet ‘resigned’ in October 1959, Sellers told Frank Rostron of the Daily Express : ‘There is absolutely no prejudice against professionals and all candidates will be judged solely on their merits. The Express named Derek Blackburn of Bradford and Mike Crawford of Doncaster as two possible amateur captains; Yorkshire however chose one of their older professionals, Vic Wilson. Why did Sellers go against a tradition of amateur The Sixties