#wages

3 incidents tagged

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

⭐Mild

Player Payment Structure of the All-England Eleven — £4-£6 a Match Plus Expenses, 1846-1849

All-England Eleven

1846-09-01

William Clarke paid his All-England Eleven professionals between £4 and £6 per match plus travelling expenses through the late 1840s — at a time when a skilled labourer earned around £1 a week. The pay was generous by the standards of the day, but Clarke kept the gate as promoter and the disparity between his earnings and his players' would, by the early 1850s, drive a series of breakaways and the eventual foundation of the United All-England Eleven.

#all-england-eleven#professional-cricket#player-payment

⭐Mild

First Recorded Professional-Cricketer Wage Scale — MCC, 1836

n/a

1836-04-20

On 20 April 1836 the MCC committee passed the first formal wage scale for professional cricketers playing at Lord's: £5 for a winning match, £4 for a losing match, with travel expenses paid. The scale standardised what had previously been ad-hoc patron payments and is the foundation entry of organised professional cricket pay.

#roundarm-era#early-victorian#mcc