A Game Sustained: The impact of the First World War on cricket in Yorkshire 1914-20

Download or read book A Game Sustained: The impact of the First World War on cricket in Yorkshire 1914-20 written by Jeremy Lonsdale and published by Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. This book was released on 2019-05-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over two million British men were injured or killed in the First World War. Millions more people supported the war effort at home – in factories, fields or by keeping essential services going. In these circumstances, how could something as trivial as cricket continue? For some, it was not acceptable; for others, watching or playing sport were reasonable responses to government calls to ‘carry on’. A Game Sustained examines what happened to cricket at all levels in Yorkshire between 1914 and 1918; how it kept going with so many men away; how its top league managed to attract players such as Hobbs, Barnes and Woolley; and how, when peace came, cricket resumed its place in county life in 1919 and 1920. It is a story of divided opinions and of guilt and uncertainty about the correct way to behave. It is also the story of efforts to sustain traditions and to keep some sense of normality at a time of crisis.