Empire Cricket Club
Empire Cricket Club is a cricket club in Barbados. The club plays in Barbados Cricket Association Division 1 championship. The club was formed on 24 May 1914—Empire Day—from which it took its name. The club was formed by a defection of disaffected members of Spartan Cricket Club, when Spartan had refused membership to the "socially inferior" Barbadian cricketer Herman Griffith in 1913.
| One Day name | Blues |
|---|---|
| Team information | |
| Founded | 1914 |
| Home ground | Bank Hall |
| History | |
| BCA Division 1 wins | 1970, 1971, 1989, 1991*, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
Racial and social prejudice in Barbados cricket precluded the club from play in the Barbados first division cricket competition by two turn downs, until 1916 when a casting vote secured entry into the competition after a 2-2 vote. Wanderers and Harrison College supporting their inclusion while Pickwick and Spartan opposed it.[1] Griffith's ties to Combermere School created a link between Empire and the school, with many Combermere old boys playing for the club.[2]
The club is one of the most famous in Barbados and has been described as "the greatest club ever".[3][4] David Harris stated that Empire is "... not just a club, it is part of the social revolution which took place in the last century, a part of the fight for equal rights of the masses of Barbados."[2]
Former players include three cricketing knights:
- Sir Conrad Hunte
- Sir Everton Weekes
- Sir Frank Worrell, whose boyhood home overlooks the club ground.[3]
Notes
- Cozier, Tony (25 May 2014). "A century of Empire". Barbados Nation News. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
- Harris, David (26 April 2013). "More than a club". Barbados Today. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
- Vaidyanathan, Siddhartha (19 June 2006). "Simply the greatest". Tour Diary. ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
- Holder, Keith (17 June 2011). "Empire singing the blues". Barbados Today. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2011.
References
- Sandiford, Keith A. P. (1998). Cricket Nurseries of colonial Barbados: The elite schools 1865-1966. Kingston: The Press University of the West Indies. ISBN 976-640-046-6.