#shrewsbury

2 incidents tagged

The Nottinghamshire Players' Strike of 1881

Nottinghamshire CCC v Captain Henry Holden (committee)

1881-06-01

In the summer of 1881 seven of Nottinghamshire's leading professionals — Alfred Shaw, Arthur Shrewsbury, Fred Morley, John Selby, William Barnes, Wilfrid Flowers and (briefly) Mordecai Sherwin — refused to play for the county after a dispute with the secretary, Captain Henry Holden, over fixtures, pay and the right to a guaranteed benefit. The strike crippled Notts' season, was the first major industrial action in English cricket, and laid the groundwork for the formal employment contracts that professionals would gradually win across the next two decades.

#nottinghamshire#strike#professionals

🔥Serious

Gentlemen vs Players — The Class Divide in 1880s Cricket

Amateurs v Professionals

1880-07-05

Through the 1880s, English cricket maintained the strict separation of Gentlemen (amateurs, with initials before the surname) from Players (professionals, with initials after). The annual Gentlemen v Players match at Lord's drew vast crowds; behind it lay separate dressing rooms, separate gates, and the awkward fact that some 'amateurs' (notably WG Grace) earned more from cricket than any professional. The Notts strike of 1881 was the era's most public eruption of this contradiction.

#gentlemen-v-players#amateur#professional