Cricket
THE GENTLEMEN VERSUS THE PLAYERS The Chap’s Cricket Correspondent Sam Knowles gallops through the tale of Gentlemen v Players, finding that it is also a history of the British class system
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rugby is said to be the most democratic of games, providing a meaningful role for anyone and everyone, whatever their height, pace and frequently substantial girth. It’s democratic in as much as it accommodates all sizes and shapes of humanity, from the gazelle-like ectomorphs in the backs to the buffalo’s strength and immovability of the endomorphs in the scrum. It also welcomes a broad spectrum of personality types, too, from the quicksilver double-dealer to the pedestrian honest John. But that’s another story.
“The Gentlemen were upper-class amateurs, dabbling with cricket as a way of crossing the chasm to hoi polloi; the workingclass Players, meanwhile, attempted to earn their living through the game and received a stipend for playing, including in the regular fixture against the Gentlemen”
THE BRITISH CLASS SYSTEM IN MICROCOSM Cricket, by contrast, developed not as a broad
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