Gentlemen v Players

Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of cricket matches that began in July 1806 and was abolished in January 1963. It was a match between a team consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and a team consisting of professionals (the Players) that reflected the English class structure of the 19th century. Typically, the professionals were working class people who earned their living by playing cricket, while the amateurs were middle- and upper-class products of the public school system, who were supposedly unpaid for playing. The professionals were paid wages by their county clubs and/or fees by match organisers, while the amateurs claimed expenses. However, while rules to distinguish amateurs from professionals were established by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the system of allowable expenses was both controversial and complex, enabling some leading amateurs to be paid more than any professional for playing cricket.

In the introduction to his 1950 history of the Gentlemen v Players fixture, Pelham Warner calls it "the most time-honoured of all representative matches" and the "standard" match in English domestic cricket. Warner, who held a nostalgic view of the match, played for the Gentlemen 24 times between 1897 and 1919. Fred Trueman, who represented the Players eleven times from 1955 to 1962, and was their last-ever captain, took a completely different view; even though he was no socialist, Trueman was "all for the abolition of amateurs" and their "afforded privileges". Trueman ultimately had his way, because the fixture was discontinued on 31 January 1963 after the MCC abolished amateur status, with all first-class cricketers becoming nominally professional (in effect, as Players): with this, the official distinction between the teams, and the raison d'etre for the fixture, ceased to exist. No direct substitute was implemented; instead, England's first domestic one-day cricket competition began that summer.

Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not arranged again until 1819. It then became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, except in 1826, 1828, 1915–1918 and 1940–1945. It was born in the underarm era and was prominent throughout roundarm. Although amateur teams were generally weak and some form of handicapping was often necessary, it was always regarded as a top-class fixture. In 1864, after overarm was legalised, it became a first-class fixture, especially so following the emergence of W. G. Grace, and it thrived as the epitome of cricket's "Golden Age" until 1914. In the inter-war period, the differences in social class began to be challenged and became less pronounced. The differences in playing class became extremely pronounced as county cricket was dominated by the professionals of the four northern clubs. After the Second World War, social change swept the country and the concepts of amateurism and selection of teams based on social class were seen as increasingly anachronistic. MCC tried to avoid the inevitable for as long as it could, but the end came and the last Gentlemen v Players match was played at the North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough on 8–11 September 1962.

The fixture was a three-day match on all but a handful of occasions throughout its history. The most frequently used venue was Lord's, but there were several others, notably The Oval and Scarborough. The same format of amateurs playing professionals was used in other fixtures, some of which were given first-class status – for example, Gentlemen of the North v Players of the North in 1877 and 1880 – but these matches became less common towards the end of the 19th century and the last such game was Gentlemen of the South v Players of the South in 1920. Afterwards, Gentlemen v Players itself was the only first-class fixture in which amateurs opposed professionals.