Question

Discuss the social discrimination that existed in the game of cricket during the Victorian era.

Answer 1

• The way cricket was organized in England, had reflections of the nature of English society.
• The rich who could afford to play it for pleasure were called amateurs and the poor who played it for a living were called professionals.
• The rich were called amateurs for two reasons:
  • They considered sport a kind of leisure.
  • There was not enough money in the game for the rich to be interested.
• The wages of professionals were paid by patronage or gate money.
• Most professionals worked as miners or in other forms of working class employment in winters that was the off-season.
• Amateurs were called Gentlemen while professionals were described as Players. They even entered the ground from different entrances.
• Amateurs tended to be batsmen, leaving the hardworking aspects of the game, like fast bowling, to the professionals.
• Cricket is a batsman's game because its rules were made to favour Gentlemen, who did most of the batting.