🥊Moderate
William Clarke's Iron Grip on the AEE — Player Grievances and the Coming Rebellion, 1848
All-England Eleven — players vs Clarke management
1848-07-01
By the late 1840s, William Clarke's management of the All-England Eleven had generated serious discontent among the players he recruited. Clarke kept the lion's share of gate money for himself, paid players a fixed day rate regardless of receipts, and selected and dropped players according to personal favour rather than merit. By 1848–49 a core of leading professionals — including John Wisden and James Dean — had concluded that Clarke's terms were exploitative and were planning the breakaway that would become the United All-England Eleven in 1852.
#roundarm-era#early-victorian#1840s