Lancashire League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lancashire League may also refer to
- Central Lancashire Cricket League
- One of the rugby league county leagues
- The Lancashire Football League, which became part of the Lancashire Combination in 1903
- The Lancashire Football League, which caters for the reserve teams of non-League clubs.
The Lancashire Cricket League is a competitive league of local cricket clubs drawn from the small to middle-sized mill towns, mainly but not exclusively, of East Lancashire. Its real importance is probably due to the history of employing professional players of international standing to play in the League.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Lancashire Cricket League was formed on March 16th 1892, growing from the North East Cricket League that had been formed 17 months earlier. Its members are Accrington, Bacup, Burnley, Church, Colne, East Lancashire, Enfield, Haslingden, Lowerhouse, Nelson, Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall, Rishton and Todmorden. Bury was also a member during the first two seasons but withdrew.
The early 1890s saw the sudden emergence of cricket leagues all over Lancashire, with the first in 1888 ‑ the Bolton Association. The North Lancashire League and the Central Lancashire League all started the same year as the Lancashire League in 1892. The Football League had set a trend in season 1888‑89 and also had its heart in Lancashire, and with professionals and regular friendlies and local derbies, the leagues quickly became very popular institutions, with games played at weekends when working people had rare leisure time.
In the early years, until 1899, it was possible for each team to field two professionals, but this was restricted for the 1900 season to one professional. The League Centenary was celebrated in 1992, and in 1998 a major exhibition about the League was mounted by Horse and Bamboo Theatre at their Centre.
In 1981 the name was amended to include the name of a sponsor, initially Blackburn brewer Matthew Brown, later E.W.Cartons, and currently Sponsorbank.
[edit] The Professionals
The existence of the Lancashire League is a testament to local cricketers and their supporters, but the sheer quantity and quality of the professional cricketers that have been drawn to the milltowns of East Lancashire and the surrounding area is astonishing. Players came from all over the world have come to live and play in the League. Dik Abed, Bill Alley, Sydney Barnes, Sir Learie Constantine, Kapil Dev, Bruce Dooland, Charlie Griffiths, Roy Gilchrist, Wes Hall, Roger Harper, Chris Harris, George Headley, Clive Lloyd, Charlie Llewellyn, Mannie Martindale, Cec Pepper, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, Fred Root, George Tribe, Shane Warne, Chester Watson, Steve Waugh, and Everton Weekes, to name but a few, have all made significant contributions to the Lancashire League.
[edit] Beyond A Boundary
In C.L.R. James autobiographical 'Beyond A Boundary', the Trinidadian writer writes about his visits as a young man to his friend Learie Constantine, at that time living in Nelson whilst playing as a professional for the town Lancashire League team. He gives a vivid sense of what is must have been like for a young West Indian to arrive in the wet and strange East Lancashire. He also describes how his subsequent education at university in Paris is helped by a local baker, and how his gradual politicisation is given a boost by meetings with local socialists, concerned with the harsh treatment and conditions suffered by the local working class millworkers. Although an extreme example, the meetings between other professional cricketers from the British Empire, and the mainly working-class amateurs of the Lancashire League, must have resulted in many other instances of mutual support and understanding.
