Sports

A keen cricketer, M c Clure recognised the crucial value sports played in a boy’s education. M c Clure actively promoted the development of the school’s sports facilities by overseeing the building of the fives courts, a gym and outdoor pool. He saw to the levelling of Top Field and the purchase of ‘Park’ for cricket. All of this raised the school’s profile as a major public school. Not a noted sportsman himself, he was an enthusiastic cricket and rugby coach and in other sports showed his support from the touchline

‘I cannot recall him refereeing in any football matches but he was always on the ground and a keen critic of the game; but in cricket he personally coached the Second and Third Elevens, encouraged the First at the nets and wrote their characters in the Magazine for the 1892 season. When the cricket ground was being levelled he permitted ‘impots’ to be substituted by work on the ground. I was often down for hours of ‘clay-shifting’.’

‘One of the charms to us about the new Head was the lively interest he took in the games. He played cricket with us, coached us in batting, bowled to us at the nets, and was enthusiastic about all that concerned the great game. Cricket at Mill Hill had just then fallen on dark days. All our heroes were of the Rugger field. The Head taught us to feel that if we despised cricket we were ourselves despicable.’

‘He took a great interest in athletics. Often in the early days he played single handed hockey with us in the playground and his appearance struck us as something like a great eagle hopping about and flapping his wings. This produced the original designation of him as ‘the ‘Vulture’ but it was considered disrespectful and was replaced by ‘The Bird’.’

‘At the beginning of the year the First XV came out with a record never beaten and only once approached; the same set of boys ran all three main branches of athletics during the year; the enthusiasm of the School it was something to be remembered and the devotion lavished on the heroes remained throughout the years. It was rumoured that some of the masters thought twice about tackling some of them, and that one or two were beyond control of the Head, Masters or Seniors; rumours only, but they indicated a School ideal.’

New sports facilities 1891-1922