A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



tioned did not give rise to prolonged anxiety. 

 For a time it looked as if the rupture would 

 have serious effects in retarding if not alto- 

 gether checking the extension of the game. 

 The restoration of diplomatic relations was 

 due in a great measure to the patriotic efforts 

 of two stalwart supporters of Rugby football. 

 The one, R. Westray of Carlisle, took office 

 as president; the other, C. J. Lewthwaite of 

 Cockermouth, became honorary secretary of the 

 county club on its resuscitation, or rather on 

 its commencement of a new career in 1887. 

 With the two workers already mentioned, 

 J. E. Birkett and E. G. Mitchell, as vice- 

 presidents, the Cumberland Union had the 

 advantage of four keen and enthusiastic 

 workers for its principal officers. Under their 

 auspices a great impetus was given to the 

 game throughout the county. 



By 1888 Cumberland indeed had gained 

 so materially in strength that the Rugby 

 Union paid it the compliment of allotting it 

 a representative on the committee of the 

 national body. By this time the supremacy 

 in club football had passed away to the 

 western district. Millom was able to gain 

 possession of the challenge cup and to retain 

 it for the two succeeding years. In the interim 

 the area over which the Union itself had 

 control had naturally been extending in pro- 

 portion as the game grew in public favour. 



The immediate result of the elevation of 

 the county to a seat on the Rugby Union 

 was an extension of the programme to be 

 undertaken by the Cumberland Fifteen. 

 From the very outset the Lancashire exe- 

 cutive had extended the hand of fellowship to 

 their neighbours, a kindly act which did 

 much to encourage the Cumbrians when they 

 really needed encouragement. Lancashire's 

 example was soon followed, with the result 

 that before long Cumberland's match list in- 

 cluded fixtures with Cheshire, Northumber- 

 land, Westmorland, South of Scotland and 

 Cambridge University. The addition of these 

 important fixtures naturally brought with it 

 a corresponding increase in the influence of 

 the County Union. In 1887 the clubs 

 affiliated could almost have been counted on 

 the fingers. By 1892 no less than twenty- 

 six acknowledged Cumberland's jurisdiction. 

 The institution of a challenge shield for 

 the advancement of junior players in 1889 

 had perhaps a good deal to do with this 

 increase. The new competition proved an 

 undoubted success, so much so that in 

 1892 no less than twenty teams had en- 

 tered to contend for the possession of the 

 trophy. Just about this period Millom was 

 undoubted champion of the Cumbrian clubs. 



Thrice victorious for the challenge cup, this 

 club not only scored a " double first" in 1889 

 by landing both cup and shield, but after an 

 interval of a year won the latter again, as 

 also in the following spring of 1892. 

 Millom's record between 1887 and 1892 

 was indeed one of the most remarkable feat- 

 ures of Cumberland football in the earlier 

 days of the Union. In only one season 

 during this period was the team without one 

 or other of the two trophies. Both were 

 missed in 1890, and that season, oddly enough, 

 Egremont rivalled Millom's performance of 

 the previous spring in securing the shield as 

 well as the cup. In the earlier days of the 

 County Club, Cumberland's record, as was 

 only to be expected, was one of but partial 

 success. At the commencement of the ' nine- 

 ties,' Lancashire was quite in the forefront 

 of Rugby Union counties, and the Cumbrians 

 were thought to have done well at White- 

 haven in February, 1890, in having only 

 7 points, the entire score of the match, regis- 

 tered against them by the Lancashire Fifteen. 

 But the men of Cumberland were apt pupils, 

 and the practical experience they were gain- 

 ing in meeting players, who were at that time 

 of a better calibre, soon bore fruit. 



The close of the season of 1893 gave some 

 conclusive evidence of the reality of the pro- 

 gress made under the new regime. In the 

 County Championship the Bordermen had 

 run out winners of the North Western 

 Group and tied with Yorkshire for possession 

 of the blue ribbon of the sport. The season's 

 record for a hitherto obscure county was re- 

 markable. After defeating Cheshire and West- 

 morland and drawing with Lancashire, the 

 Cumbrians vanquished Cambridge University, 

 South of Scotland, Middlesex and Devon. 

 But one try indeed was registered against 

 them, obtained on the Corpus ground 

 by Cambridge University, and this was the 

 only occasion upon which Cumberland had 

 her line crossed during the whole of the 

 seven matches. The final contest with 

 Yorkshire, coming as it unfortunately did 

 within two or three days of the arduous 

 tour of over 1,000 miles, with its severe 

 encounters, naturally found the Border team 

 somewhat stale ; anyhow it fell an easy 

 victim to the fresh and more vigorous York- 

 shiremen. The position however was an 

 honourable one in standing next to a county 

 which had for some years monopolized the 

 honour of being declared champion. The 

 succeeding season, if producing a less pro- 

 minent position for the county team than in the 

 preceding year, found the clubs more than 

 maintaining their progress in inter-club fix- 



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