SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Committee, but as the number of clubs mul- 

 tiplied this method grew too cumbersome 

 in its working, and an efficacious departure 

 was made when the system of club repre- 

 sentation under which the interests of the 

 county might occasionally be overlooked 

 was abolished and divisional representation 

 substituted. For this purpose the county was 

 grouped into four divisions, each of which 

 is represented by two independent men 

 elected at the annual meeting. In 1904, 

 there are about fifty affiliated clubs, but 

 of this number fourteen, although affiliated 

 direct, are connected with the Carlisle and 

 District Charity Shield and do not take part 

 in any of the county competitions. 



Any record of Cumberland Association 

 football would be incomplete without allu- 

 sion to that pioneer of the game, Mr. F. J. 

 Hayes of Workington. He was one of the 

 first representatives on the Association, has 

 ever since its formation occupied a seat on 

 the Executive Committee, and has for several 

 years impartially filled the post of chairman, 

 succeeding in that capacity the late Mr. G. 

 Hetherington of Wigton. In this direction 

 may be mentioned the good work done by 

 the secretaries of modern times : Mr. R. K. 

 Malone of Workington, who on his departure 

 to the west of Ireland far removed from the 

 haunts of the dribbling code relinquished 

 the secretarial duties to Mr. R. Graham, 

 then of Workington and now at Ebbw 

 Vale. Mr. Graham was in turn succeeded 

 by Mr. J. C. Ellis of Grasslot, Maryport, 

 who at the time of writing carries out the 

 duties. 



West Cumberland has ever been the hot- 

 bed of the Association game, but the eastern 

 clubs have been gradually asserting themselves. 

 In the season of 1893-4, when Carlisle City 

 brought back the cup to the ' Border City' after 

 seven years' absence, and the Wigton Harriers 

 carried the shield eastwards for the first time, 

 the west county clubs received warning that 

 they must look to their laurels, and, roused to 

 greater activity, they still succeed in more 

 than holding their own. The admission of the 

 Workington Club to the Lancashire League 

 in the season of 19012 introduced a better 

 class of football into the district, and aroused 

 greater interest in Association rules. At the 

 present time almost all the players are 

 amateurs, professionals being practically un- 

 known in the north-west county. 



RUGBY 



The Rugby Union game in Cumberland 

 is a product of the last thirty years. The 



earliest trace of any real organization for 

 the development of football under that code 

 is to be found in 1870. In that year the 

 Carlisle Club had not only a local habita- 

 tion but a name which it has actively main- 

 tained up to the present time. Carlisle's 

 enterprise before long received the flattery of 

 imitation in outlying parts of the county. 

 In 1876 the Whitehaven Club was already 

 making a reputation as a staunch supporter 

 of Rugby football. A little later Workington 

 followed suit, initiating a movement which 

 very soon found plenty of support in the 

 western division. So rapid indeed was the 

 development in that district that by the com- 

 mencement of 1882 a silver challenge cup, 

 mainly the result of a subscription from 

 the western clubs, had been instituted. 

 The inauguration of the cup competition 

 necessitated an organization of some sort to 

 control it. The outcome was the estab- 

 lishment of a county club which was in time 

 to become the Cumberland County Rugby 

 Football Union as it is to-day. In con- 

 nection with this county club two names 

 deserve to be remembered with gratitude. 

 The Rev. J. W. Wainwright of Aspatria was 

 elected the first president, but the credit of 

 the initial work in the main belongs to 

 J. E. Birkett of Workington and E. G. 

 Mitchell of Maryport, who did active service 

 as vice-president for several years. At the 

 time the number of clubs of any influence 

 was limited. The County Union in fact 

 had a constituency of only seven clubs. 

 These were Carlisle, Aspatria, Eden Wan- 

 derers, Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven 

 and Cockermouth, and these seven at the 

 outset alone competed for the challenge cup 

 which fell into the hands of Aspatria at 

 the first contest in 1883. This club won 

 again in 1885, Whitehaven having proved 

 successful in the intermediate season. As- 

 patria's second victory was of the greater 

 merit from the fact that in 1885 the county 

 club had received considerable accession 

 to its strength by the addition of Millom, 

 Penrith and Wigton, among other clubs. So 

 far Rugby football had gone on steadily in- 

 creasing its area as well as its influence. But 

 it had difficulties in store for it. Carlisle won 

 the cup in 1886 only to secede from the 

 county club with two others of the most 

 influential clubs, namely, the Eden Wanderers 

 and Whitehaven. 



Meanwhile Cumberland as a county had 

 been making history. Matches had been 

 arranged and played with Northumberland, 

 Durham and Westmorland. Fortunately too 

 the withdrawal of the three clubs just men- 



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