SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



CLUBS 



Rich in Cricket Clubs as Surrey is, and 

 always has been, the task of making a selection 

 in any order of merit must be a thankless one 

 at best. To attempt the briefest record 

 of even part of the hundred and more clubs 

 distributed all over the county w^ould ob- 

 viously be impossible within reasonable limits. 

 For the purpose of this history the standard 

 has been rather one of service to County 

 Cricket than of playing strength or local 

 importance. It would be easy to challenge 

 any list of course. In the districts imme- 

 diately bordering on London there are 

 numerous clubs fulfilling aims as high in 

 many respects ; Honor Oak, and Dulwich, 

 for example, not to mention others, have 

 done and are still doing, in their ways, as 

 much for the game as the clubs we have 

 chosen. More than that, they and the clubs 

 in like circumstances are doing national good 

 in preserving as long as possible from the 

 encroachments of the builder open spaces 

 which would otherwise soon be lost for 

 recreative purposes. There are village clubs 

 too, such as Kingston, Dorking, Godalming, 

 Famham, Ewell, Cranley, Redhill, and many 

 others doing equally good, if not better work. 

 Some of these have seen better days, and 

 more than one has had a chequered and not 

 altogether continuous career. The village 

 greens in their day laid the foundation of 

 Surrey's greatness in the game. Reference 

 to them has been made in the history of the 

 county, and a proper tribute paid to the 

 important part they have played in training 

 and perfecting the cricket of the rising talent 

 of Surrey. Some of them, Mitcham Green in 

 particular, have long and honourable records 

 of generation after generation of cricketers 

 born and bred on the spot, trained in the 

 best traditions, and carrying on in unbroken 

 descent the best principles of the game. 

 But if the village greens laid the foundation, 

 it is the clubs that have given opportunities 

 to the players who have formed the backbone 

 of County Cricket. How far they have done 

 it the record of the followdng will show. 



Founded in 1865, under the title of St. 

 James' Cricket Club, the Croydon Club 

 took its present name in November 1875. 

 The few home matches arranged for the 

 first season were played in Oakfield Park. 

 The following season saw the ground changed 

 to Duppas Hill, the first of four moves made 

 between i868 and 1882. In 1868 the head- 

 quarters were again in Oakfield Park, but in 

 1874 they were moved to Fairfield, which 

 site was given up in 1878 for a field in White- 



horse Road. In 1882 the club had to find 

 another habitation, this time in the Frant 

 Road, where it has remained ever since. In 

 its time Croydon has played most of the best 

 clubs of greater London, though to its credit, 

 be it said, Surrey has as a rule furnished the 

 larger proportion of its opponents. At the 

 present the principal clubs it meets are the 

 M.C.C. and ground, Surrey Club and ground, 

 the London Cricket Club, Epsom, Bedding- 

 ton, Granville (Lee), Clapton, Whitgift 

 Wanderers, Forest Hill, Mitcham, and 

 Dulwich. Though the members who have 

 taken part in first-class cricket have not been 

 many, some of them have done well for their 

 counties ; among them Mr. S. M. Tindall 

 of Lancashire, Mr. L. de Montezuma of 

 Sussex, Mr. H. T. AUsopp, who played for 

 the club in 1874, got his blue at Cambridge 

 the following year. Mr. A. L. Kemp, a 

 regular member of the Croydon team, also 

 played for Middlesex two or three times. 

 In 1884 a new pavilion was erected from the 

 designs of Mr. Alfred Hill, A.R.I.B.A., a 

 member. In respect of its officers the club 

 has been particularly lucky. Mr. A. H. 

 Groom, who joined the club in 1868, has 

 been its Honorary Secretary for the last 

 twenty-seven years. The President, Mr. 

 T. F. Roberts, has served a term very nearly 

 as long, as he succeeded to the office on the 

 death of Mr. G. Andrews in 1879. Among 

 its records Croydon can recall one of a quite 

 exceptional kind in the feat of Mr. H. A. 

 Roper, who took 5 wickets with 5 consecutive 

 balls in 1878. 



Amongst the principal clubs, several of 

 which do not now exist, which Croydon has 

 played at different times may be mentioned 

 Addiscombe, St. John's Wood, Owls, Lau- 

 sanne, Lordship Lane, City Ramblers, Black- 

 heath, Morden, Sutton, Stoics, Putney, 

 Pallingswick, Dorking, Granville (Lee), 

 Clapton, Burlington Wanderers, Yalding, 

 Norwood, Whitgift Wanderers, Mr. J. W. 

 Hobbs XI, Tunbridge Wells, Beddington, 

 Epsom, Crystal Palace, Reigate Priory, 

 Mitcham, Brixton Wanderers, Spencer, 

 Forest Hill, Dulwich, London County, 

 Surrey C. and G., M.C.C. 



Cobham is another village that has done 

 its best to maintain the standard of Surrey 

 cricket. It is certain that the game was 

 played there on an organized basis long 

 before the oldest inhabitant can remember. 

 Fifty years ago there was a cricket club in 

 full and regular practice. Tilt Common 

 was then the village ground, but as the space 

 became more and more restricted the club 

 moved first to Pypart Field, and subse- 



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