'It's the greatest game in the world' he would say, 'ruined by the buggers that run it'.
I would question him from time to time and his main grouse was George 'Gubby' Allen and before him Sir Pelham Warner. Both of them establishment, amateur, public school figures, diametrically opposed to those of us from 'oop north' and the coalfields. Indeed, there has long been a story that Allen might have been the illegitimate son of Warner, so similar were they, so admiring was Warner of Allen's mother. This excellent and well-researched book dispels that story, but doesn't shy from portraying its subject, warts and all.
I tried to go into it with an open mind but it was quickly evident that from an early age Allen was an inveterate snob, who had little time for professional cricketers. The comments about Larwood and Voce on the 'Bodyline' tour being 'swollen-headed, gutless, uneducated miners' do him no favours and there are numerous examples within these covers and in his surviving private correspondence that show him as having little time for those whose company he would not normally choose to keep.
It is easy to see why Les Jackson only got two Test caps, because as David Foot pointed out, Allen 'was happiest in the company of clipped accents and a background that incorporated all the social graces'. Nor did Allen approve of the low, slinging action of the Derbyshire man, despite him being one of the most prolific wicket takers in the 1950s.
It is not difficult to see why he and Fred Trueman clashed frequently. Allen was a self-confessed believer in the outdated class system, treating professionals 'with condescension tempered with paternalism'.
Yet it is important to remember his lengthy contribution to the game. He pushed through a number of reforms, helped to introduce better coaching facilities for deprived youngsters, accepted the case for one day cricket and helped to instigate the World Cup. This as well as being the driving force for the MCC Cricket Coaching Book, hugely important then, though considerably different to modern coaching resources.
Perhaps it is unfair to judge a man of his time by today's standards. As the book rightly says, he lived and worked in a period when Britain was governed by a privileged elite and presided over a worldwide empire. His handling of the D'Oliveira affair was poor and yet he managed to survive it as ranks, unsurprisingly, were closed.
It is a fascinating read. I got to the end of it still convinced that my Dad's assertion from long ago was correct and it is good to see the subject having a proper biography written, rather than the blatant hagiography produced by his good friend EW Swanton in 1985.
I don't think Gubby Allen would have had much time for me, even though I respect his long service to the game, on and off the field.
I'm fairly certain that would have been reciprocated... but you should read this book and make up your own mind
It is well worth the time and once again Mark Peel has delivered an excellent cricket book
The King of Lord's - The Life of Gubby Allen is written by Mark Peel and published by Pitch Publishing
Malbar. Your dad is totally correct. I would add a third Freddie Brown. Surprisingly Allen. from memory got a 10 fer in an innings and was a good player himself. A WHOLE GROUP OF PLAYERS WERE IGNORED DUE TO THEIR SNOBBERY . TO READ ALLENS BIOG I WILL HAVE TO BRACE MYSELF AND HAVE A GLASS OF WINE CLOSE AT HAND !The past is a different country they do things differently over there but that is not an excuse to not select good players that didn't go to the right school or Oxbridge !
ReplyDeleteAlthough unfortunately it still matters quite a lot which school you go to. There are still far more players in county cricket who went to private schools then who didn’t. My own son had trials for Suffolk under 14s about 10 years ago and he was one of only 3 kids out of about 30 who were from non paying schools. Cricket is only all inclusive up to a point. With practically no schools other then private playing cricket anymore it’s way harder for children who don’t go to private schools to play high level cricket because especially for batsmen they can’t get anywhere near the amount of practice in. It unfortunately hasn’t changed a huge amount
ReplyDeleteI wonder if some of our younger contributors (under 60) are aware that first class matches used to take place between Gentlemen and Players?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first went to the County ground our Chairman was Major DB Carr.
As a lad from Chadd I had never encountered anyone quite this posh.
I could never understand how someone who looked like a gust of wind might blow him away could ever have been in the army, or why he continued to call himself Major.
I'm sure he was a jolly nice chap though. He didn't seem to have any obvious qualifications to run a cricket club.
Of course the practice of using your army rank after you left the forces gradually fell out of fashion especially after The Damned's Captain Sensible gave us Happy Talk.
I can't help wondering what these posh chaps would make of the current crop of England players who seem to be more famous for their exploits in bars and clubs than on the cricket pitch.
Different times. That's for sure.
Gubby Allen took 10-40 in an innings at Lord’s in 1929. The only cricketer to challenge that feat is James Harris who took 9-34 in an innings in 2015.
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