CRICKET PIONEER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 230, 29 September 1933, Page 5

CRICKET PIONEER.

MR. FRED EARL, K.C.

PLAYER AND PATRON.

OVER 50 YEARS OF SERVICE.

Next month will be the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Auckland Cricket Association, and among other decisions at the annual meeting last night for the suitable celebration of the association's jubilee was the election of the president, Mr. Fred Earl, K.C., as a life member. There were previously but four life members, and Mr. Earl's appointment would no doubt have been made many years earlier had it not been for the feeling that the honour generally comes at the end of the recipient's active participation in the affairs of the game, and Mr. Earl's at' • ' interest still (/•mains keen to the point of enthusiasm. However, it is now felt that the jubilee year is an occasion when the I-onour might be most fittingly conferred on one who for more than fifty years has been a stalwart of both football and cricket in the citv. In 1875 Mr. Earl was a ]>!aver in the first Rugby football representative team that left Auckland on tour; and a fortnight ago he presented to the Auckland Rugby Union, on behalf of the "old-timers" who had subscribed it, the Jubilee Trophy, which is to keep memories of the old-timers green in the minds of present-day players. Mr. Earl's connection with Auckland cricket also goes back to 1875, and for the past 50 years he has been, among a small band of patrons, one of the moving spirits in promoting .the game in the eity. "Imbibed Spirit of Cricket." A tribute to Mr. Earl's services to cricket was paid by Mr. E. C. Beale, another strong supporter of the game, to-day, in the course of an interview by a '"Star" representative. "Bom at Melbourne on December 19, 1857, educated at the South Melbourne Grammar School and Melbourne Um-

versity, and a member of the South Melbourne Cricket Club, it would have been passing strange if Mr. Earl had not imbibed the spirit of cricket.

"In 1879 Mr. Earl was elected a member of the Auckland Cricket Club, and was appointed honorary treasurer forthwith, and later vice-president (1880). He rendered invaluable services to his club throughout his connection with it and until its extinction in 1902-3 by the inauguration of the district scheme. "First elected as a vice-president of the Auckland Cricket Association in 1894-5, he has held high office practically continuously ever since, and since his appointment as president in 1903-4 has every succeeding year been re-elected unanimously at each annual general meeting of the association. His record of 30 consecutive years as president of a major cricket association in New Zealand has probably never been equalled. "Mr. Earl has always kept in touch with international cricket by making many visits to Australia during the tours of English and other overseas teams, as well as by seeing all possible of the best matches in New Zealand. It is doubtful if Auckland would have seen Lord Hawke's very fine team of 1902-3 had not Mr. Earl and his friend Mr. John Marshall stepped into the breach made by an unfulfilled promise at the eleventh'hour and guaranteed the £250 required from Auckland by the New Zealand Cricket Council. Continuous Effort.

"But Mr. Earl's connection with Auckland (and New Zealand) cricket has been one continuous effort for its advancement stretching over a period of 54 years, during which he has begrudged neither his time nor his money. It is 43 years since he first contracted the habit of presenting trophies for the encouragement of greater efforts on the part of bowlers, fieldsmen, and batsmen, and that habit has become chronic and expansive, and has covered the association, the Auckland and Parnell Cricket Clubs, and lias also embraced individuals. President of all three bodies named, and of the New Zealand Cricket Council in 1915-16 and 1920-27, guide, philosopher, and friend, guarantor and donor, Mr. Earl has rendered such valuable services to Auckland and New Zealand cricket that words cannot adequately express the thanks and gratitude to which he is entitled."