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‘Wales says G'Day’: National identity, Glamorgan CCC, and the 2009 Ashes Test Match at Cardiff

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17430437.2012.730693

1743-0445

Andrew Hignell,

Historical Studies of British Isles

Abstract Cardiff entered the cricket record books on 8 July 2009 as Glamorgan's headquarters hosted the first-ever Test Match on Welsh soil, with England meeting Australia in a gripping opening encounter in the Ashes series. Although the match was drawn, Glamorgan CCC and Wales were the winners as the Club successfully achieved their long-held dream of hosting a Test. The stadium and the leafy walkways leading to the parkland ground, were full of signs reminding everyone that, for the first time in Ashes history, a Test Match had come to the Principality. This paper explores how Glamorgan CCC established themselves as Wales’ representatives in first-class cricket, besides cultivating over time their unique Celtic identity in the English County Championship. Indeed, the Welsh county was created in 1888 with bold ambitions and attention is also paid to how the Club – when still only a Minor County – had made an abortive bid to the MCC to host a match in the 1905 series against Australia. Financial problems during the twentieth century prevented Glamorgan from making a further bid for Test cricket, but following support in the twenty-first century from both the Welsh Assembly and the City Council, the creation of the Club's permanent headquarters in the Welsh capital city, and Cardiff's burgeoning reputation for hosting high-profile sporting events, the lofty dreams of the early pioneers were finally realized. Notes 1 CitationJohnnes, Soccer and Society:1900–1939. 2 South Wales Daily News, 25 August 1887. 3 ‘Old Stager’ a journalist with the South Wales Daily News spoke for many when he wrote in April 1886 ‘when, oh when, shall we be able to put in the field an XI sufficiently strong to oppose, with some prospect of success, a really first-class team? Not I fancy until the miserable cliqueism that at present marks the management of our leading clubs.’ 4 Sir John Talbot Dillwyn Llewelyn was born at Penllergaer on 26 May 1836. Educated at Eton and Christ Church Oxford, he was perhaps the leading personality in sporting circles in South Wales during the second half of the nineteenth century, acting as the first President of the Welsh Rugby Union and the man who helped form Glamorgan CCC. He had been a prominent figure with the earlier Glamorganshire club as well as the South Wales CC, and besides appearing for Glamorganshire between 1863 and 1875, he also played county cricket for Carmarthenshire and Breconshire, besides representing Swansea against the Australian Aborigines in 1868, the United South of England XI in 1876 and the All England XI in 1877. He was a generous benefactor to many organizations, besides serving as Mayor of Swansea in 1890/91 and acting as the town's Conservative MP between 1895 and 1900. He died at Penllergaer on 6 July 1927. 5 South Wales Daily News, 7 July 1888. 6 Ibid. Born in Notting Hill in 1854 and raised in Harrow, Foulger had been working in Leamington Spa when Warwickshire CCC had been formed in the early 1880s. Foulger only had a brief stay in South Wales as he subsequently returned to the Home Counties and died in Hertfordshire in January 1896. 7 Educated at Clifton College and Oxford University, Brain had won four Blues besides leading the Oxford side in 1887 and playing regularly for Gloucestershire. In fact, many regarded him as a likely successor to Dr W.G. Grace as captain of the West Country side, but in 1890 he moved across the Severn Estuary to oversee the running of the Old Brewery which his uncle, Samuel Arthur, had acquired in 1882, and Brain subsequently became the most important figure in Glamorgan Cricket during the 1890s and 1900s, besides masterminding the bid for the Test Match in 1905. 8 Glamorgan CCC, Committee Minute Book, 1891. 9 Willie Llewelyn might have been one of the greatest batsman in Glamorgan's Minor County days, but just when on the verge of an illustrious career, Llewelyn took his life in August 1893 by shooting himself in the grounds of Penllergaer House, just a few weeks before his marriage to the daughter of Lord Dynevor. Educated at Eton College and Oxford, Willie won a Blue in 1890 and 1891, besides captaining the Glamorgan side on several occasions, and was seen as a future captain and administrator of the club. His younger brother Charlie followed the same educational route before going into local politics and becoming the MP for Radnorshire in 1910. 10 Bancroft's batted and bowling right handed, besides keeping wicket if needed. In all, he scored seven centuries for Glamorgan including in 1903 a career-best 207 against Berkshire on his home ground at Swansea. 11 The 21-year-old Marquess was also one of the special guests invited to the prestigious match at the Arms Park, and he also arranged for the Australians to have a special tour around the Bute Docks, with the Dockmaster as the guide. 12 Western Mail, 6 August 1902. 13 In opening the bazaar, Jack Brain paid tribute to the kindness of the Bute Estate in supporting county cricket on the Arms Park – ‘we have in Cardiff what I consider to be the finest natural cricket ground in the country, and through the kindness of the Marquess of Bute and his late father, we have enjoyed the privilege for many years of playing upon that ground.’ 14 Glamorgan CCC Committee Minute Book, 1904. 15 South Wales Daily News, 5 August 1905. 16 Glamorgan lost to Lancashire 2nd XI, Staffordshire and Wiltshire. 17 Glamorgan CCC Committee Minute Book, 1909. 18 Ibid., 1920. 19 With significant backing and financial support from the North Wales Cricket Association, all bar one of their home games took place in North Wales. The Union's first contest took place at Swansea in August 1924 against Scotland, with other contests at Llandudno, Colwyn Bay and at Rydal School. 20 Born in Cardiff in March 1906, Maurice Turnbull was perhaps the most talented sporting all-rounder Wales has ever produced. He played for Glamorgan between 1924 and 1939, during which time he won Blues at Cambridge besides leading the University in 1929. After coming down, he was captain and secretary of Glamorgan from 1930 until 1939, besides winning nine Test caps for England, and serving as a Test selector in 1938 and 1939. On top of all this, he also played rugby for Cardiff, London Welsh and Cambridge University, won two caps at scrum-half for Wales in 1932/33, in addition to playing hockey for Cardiff, Cambridge University and Wales, founding Cardiff Squash Club and winning the Welsh Squash Championships. 21 The 1958 Empire Games – now The Commonwealth Games – which Cardiff hosted only exacerbated the problems. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the athletics events, were staged at the Arms Park, but the running track had not been properly laid and after it was taken up, there were a number of problems with compacted soil and the drainage and aeration of the turf. 22 The Millennium Stadium remained the largest sporting stadium in the UK until being surpassed in capacity by Old Trafford in 2006. 23 This was not the first One-Day International in Wales as in 1973 the MCC awarded a Prudential Trophy game to Glamorgan CCC, with the fixture being allocated by the Club to Swansea rather than to Sophia Gardens. The match between England and New Zealand duly took place on 18 July 1973 with a bumper crowd watching Warwickshire's Dennis Amiss score a match-winning century and fast bowler John Snow of Sussex take 4/32 as the Kiwis were defeated by seven wickets. 24 The National Cricket Stadium for Wales Appeal, Glamorgan CCC, 2004. 25 The Economic Benefits of Major Sporting Events, UK Sport, 2006. 26 In January 2006, the ECB revised the process for allocating major international matches, creating a new body called the Major Match Group, under the chairmanship of Lord Bill Morris, the well-known cricket lover and former trade union leader. No longer would there be long-term staging agreements, and instead there would be a whole new process: any county could bid for any match provided they complied with new, more onerous criteria and submitted an acceptable bid against something called ‘the balanced scorecard’, which earmarked proportions of a total 100% mark to specific areas such as financial bids, quality of pitch and practice facilities, location, ticket prices, security and so on. 27 Western Mail, 21 April 2006. 28 Western Mail, 4 March 2008. 29 The Sunday Times, 12 July 2009.