History_The_Early

‘The earliest evidence of the game of cricket is from a drawing depicting two men playing with a bat and ball dated c.1250. The game was played in Guildford, Surrey as early as 1598. The earliest major match of which the score survives is the Kent v. England match of 1744 at the Artillery Ground in London.’

— The Guinness Book of Records

1876 in Perspective

Clontarf Cricket Club was founded in 1876. Otherwise it wasn’t much of a year! The USA celebrated the first 100 years of its existence and the pint was less than 1p, or – if you prefer – a fraction more than a cent in Euro terms! It was a quiet sort of summer enlivened by George Armstrong Custer, who on 25 June virtually threw away the Western League to Crazy Horse, who caught him on a drying wicket at the Little Big Horn.

James Larkin, one of the leading figures in Irish trade union history, and the great S.F. Barnes of Lancashire and England were both born in 1876. Barnes was at his best for his country at the age of 38, which only shows it’s never too late to baffle the opposition as our 2nd XI has shown many times.

All this happened a year before the first England v. Australia test.

‘How Green Was My Wicket’

The original ground was at the Fairview end of Howth Road, near the railway embankment. It was a junior club, and had one team only. Getting from ground to ground was the major problem in the early days. It was not always easy to get transport from Clontarf to such exotic and far-away places as Sydney Parade and Observatory Lane. For northsiders, in a city with poor public transport (not like now!) these were faraway places. The sense of distance lasted well into the twentieth century. Within living memory, a pavilion member describing the whereabouts of his new home far away in ‘a place called Templeogue’ was asked how remote it was and replied ‘Very far – you have to change horses at Terenure’.

It was this remoteness that made Clontarf CC maintain a low cricket profile until the turn of the twentieth century.

Some Quotable Quotes

It is sufficient therefore to quote two extracts from The Irish Sportsman which are, each in their own way, indicative of the rapturous reception the club received. The issue of 27 July 1878 describes a match between Pembroke and Clontarf in these terms: ‘We are heartily rejoiced to welcome the suburban Club, Clontarf, and wish them every success in their endeavour to promote so healthy and manly a sport in their own district. Although they lost the match by 43 runs on the first innings, yet their performance was very good, and they seem to have amongst them some very excellent cricketers.’ The issue of 7 June 1879 paints a different picture – ‘On the same day Civil Service had another team in the field on their own ground, playing Clontarf, which Club they managed to defeat by 20 runs, on the first innings. The Home team was bad enough, but Clontarf were worse, about seven of the eleven seeming as if they had never seen a bat, the fielding was very good on both sides, and Messrs Brook and Boswell bowled in capital form for their respective clubs. For Service, Mr Treston got 26 and 0, Mr Coffey 8 and 29, and Mr Tracey 13, Clontarf – Mr Boswell 10 not-out was the only double score. Service 58 and 66. Clontarf 38 and 11 for one wicket.

Note the ‘Mr’. None of your “Redser” and “Macker”.