Strathmore Cricket Union: the first 90 years a history 1928-2018

6 There was also a great deal of competitive cricket closer to home. The Western Union had been in existence since 1893, and the Scottish Counties Championship began in 1902. It was fairly limited in 1902, but from an early stage the Forfarshire v Perthshire rivalry was a strong one, attracting large crowds, and on one famous occasion there was an unfortunate and almost fatal outcome. This was at the North Inch on 1st August 1903 when, with reportedly 8,000 present, a rickety wooden stand collapsed causing 67 injuries. The resulting compensation claims almost bankrupted the club but by tact and careful management, each of the 51 claims lodged were settled without recourse to court action. This disaster did nothing however to lessen the interest in local cricket. Indeed 8,000 at a cricket match! Many a Scottish Premier League football team would be happy with that today. The First World War brought a temporary halt to local cricket, but did not kill the game, for cricket, as we have seen in previous generations, was a popular game for soldiers to play. It took some time for cricket to re- establish itself after the War, particularly in Brechin where the loss of the ground at Nursery Park to war-time food growing meant that no cricket was played in the city between 1st August 1914 and the start of the 1922 cricket season. The club continued to function but played only a few matches away from home. The field which was to become Guthrie Park was secured and opened officially in 1924 and, largely due to the efforts of Alfred O’Neil and others, funds were raised to fit the ground out properly to produce the top-class cricket venue it was to become. The early 1920s saw a massive increase in interest with everyone looking to entertainments like cricket, football and the infant cinema to help take their minds off the horrors that so many people had experienced in the war. Indeed there were still horrors going on in poverty, ill health and labour disputes as Great Britain singularly failed to live up to Lloyd George’s promise to become a “land fit for heroes to live in”. Yet the 1920s were not called the “roaring twenties” for nothing. Everyone was just so glad to be alive. 1926 was infamous for the General Strike – but it was also the year that Jack Hobbs and company won back the Ashes. Local cricket, as we said, flourished but increasingly through the 1920s, attempts were made to form a competitive League. R W Sievwright of Arbroath, the famous “Bob” or “Sivvy” now a Scottish Internationalist and well known as the best spin bowler in the country, was well to the