Lives in Cricket No 50 - Tom Emmett

127 Gildersome/To see TOM EMMETT play’). 105 P.F.Warner said that boys at Rugby loved Emmett, and he commented that ‘No one who saw Tom can ever forget him, for personality was written all over him’, adding he had a ‘mischievous eye, and a merry laugh’. 106 Wisden too commented that ‘his cheery nature, and the inexhaustible energy with which he played the game, [made] him a prime favourite wherever he went.’ 107 In 1887, it was suggested that: a more sprightly, spirited player never existed; both on and off the field he is continuously giving such exhibitions that at once dismiss the thought that he is really an old man. In company he is the drollest of all, and his tales are always in the cause of immense merriment. There’s originality in his very walk and when that good left-hand raises a tankard to his ‘sunburnt’ face there’s a smile of satisfaction that seems to suggest the words ‘Tom, you deserve it.’ For some, it was not just what he said – which could be quite straight forward – but the tone and timing, and the circumstances in which his observations were made, which made him so entertaining. Some of his comments were clearly of their time and seem tame today (and in at least one case, would now be considered racist), but there is little doubt that they were widely appreciated on the field, as well as off it when they were relayed in friendly, post-match gatherings. Emmett’s hyperactive on-field antics and displays of emotion meant he was often the centre of attention. One reporter asked ‘who has not seen him skip around the wicket as friskily as a two-year-old?’ Another referred to him as a ‘jumping frog’ and said he was ‘beside himself’ during one game in 1882. Such behaviour enamoured him to Yorkshire cricket followers, and consequently he could get away with more than most players with the crowd. He talked to them and they listened. Rev.E.S.Carter told the story of when, at Scarborough, Yorkshire had put G.A.B.Leatham in the team instead of the local favourite Joe Hunter. ‘The crowd resented this, and ‘barracked’ Leatham in a most disconcerting way. Tom Emmett at last walked up to where the noise was being made, and addressing the crowd said, ‘Nah, lads, Scarborough has allus had a reputation for being respectable. Doan’t loss your character.’ After this exhortation, not a word was said.’ At Bramall Lane on another occasion, the crowd expressed disappointment with him over a short run which he refused to take, ‘and from the middle of the ground he addressed them, amid a dead silence, upon the virtue of letting him mind his own business. The crowd apologised and the game went on.’ He was not always successful. Kent’s Jimmy Wootton remembered another occasion when the Sheffield crowd encroached on the field during a game. Even Tom Emmett’s ‘finest efforts at elocution’ failed, and it was left to Lord Harris to threaten to take his players off if they did not move back. Spectators looked at Harris for a while and then moved far enough away for the game to restart. Emmett’s popularity lived on throughout his career and beyond. Around the time he retired from the county game, he received excellent welcomes at Birmingham and Stockport, for example, being cheered with ‘heartiness’ Personality, performance and popularity