SNOBBERY IN CRICKET.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19802, 18 May 1934, Page 8

SNOBBERY IN CRICKET.

Special cheers, the cable messages informed, us, were reserved for the M.C.O. batsman, Hendren, who as the solitary professional in the team, emefged from the gate reserved for players who are not amateurs. It is not surprising that such a manifestation of the bad old custom should have produced an outburst of indignation. The Yorkshire Observer, the cable messages report this morning, says that the Marylebone match

exposed a remnant of snobbery, whereby great cricketers like ilobbs and Hendren are made to sneak round a corner gate. The North of England abolished such distinctions years 'ago, and it is to be hoped that Lord’s . will change for the Test. It is interesting to mention, however, that this remnant of snobbery does not end at the gates connecting the dressing rooms with the playing areas. The English press, despite the more democratic spirit pervading cricket, has persisted in perpetuating an odious distinction between amateurs and professionals even in the reports of all classes of cricket. Here we have a clipping from The A ews Chronicle , of the progress scores of the match played between Sussex and Surrey: SUSSEX. Bowley, c and b Gamble 3 Langridge (Jn) c Brooks, b Allom 58 Parks (J.) st Brooks, b Fender .. 163 Cook, b 'Allom 39 Langridge (Jas) lbw, b Fender .. 28 Parks (H.) b Fender 37 R. S. G. Scott, b Fender 2 Wensley, not out H Hammond, not out 9 Extras 29 Total (7 wickets) 379 Tate and Cornford (W.) to bat. Surrey.—M. J. C. Allom, P. G. H. Fender, S. A. Block, F. R. Brown, R. de W. K. Winlaw, Hobbs, Barling, Brooks, Gregory, McMurray and Gamble. Amateur cricketers like Allom and Fender are considered worthy of initials up to three in number, but such a wonderful cricketer as J. B. Hobbs is denied the courtesy of a single initial denoting his Christian name. He is merely “Hobbs.” Even when two professional players of the same surname are included in a team the courtesy of distinguishing initials, as will "be seen in the clipping above, is denied' them, and they are distinguished by initials in parentheses placed after their names. Obviously more than a remnant of snobbery still exists in the Old Land where such distinctions are considered necessary by the press to seperate amateurs and professionals.