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

1 CHAPTER ONE THE PRE-HISTORY OF THE STRATHMORE UNION Contrary to public perception, cricket is actually a very old game in Scotland, and certainly was played a great deal earlier than football was. Documentary evidence exists, for example, of a game being played in Alloa in the late 18th century in the time of Robert Burns and there is the odd reference to complaints about the game being played on a Sunday in Perth even earlier than that. The game however certainly did originate in England, in places like Hambledon, for example, long before the urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution. The wardrobe accounts of the future King Edward II in 1300 contain a reference to the young Prince playing a game called “creag” at Newenden and being granted £6 for the purpose of buying equipment and clothing. No-one knows how the game went, but we certainly know that he was hit for six some 14 years later at Bannockburn! In a real sense, cricket was “the game of Empire” and became so when it was played by soldiers. This clearly explains why cricket took off in places like India, Australia, the West Indies, Canada and America. Indeed, the first International contest recorded is between USA and Canada in 1844, long before England played Australia. In Scotland the historical catalyst for the arrival of cricket was the Jacobite rebellions of the early 18th century, and in particular their aftermath. The butchery and repression of the Duke of Cumberland and his ilk are well known and thoroughly deserve their place in any demonology of “man’s inhumanity to man”. A more positive side, however, of the holding down of the “rebellious Scots” as they are called in one of the lesser sung verses of “God Save the King/Queen” was the arrival of cricket, particularly to the garrison towns of Perth, Stirling and Aberdeen and surrounding areas. It gradually became more and more obvious throughout the latter part of the 18th century that there was not going to be a third Jacobite rebellion, and that the country was settling to a certain amount of peace, and even in a few areas, not a little prosperity. The occupation of Scotland, after its initial brutality which, for example, included the banning of the wearing of the kilt and the disapproval of people singing Scottish songs and playing bagpipes began to lessen, and the locals began to get on a little better with the forces of occupation.