KIBWORTH CRICKET CLUB - THE BEGINNINGS
The oldest record of a
Kibworth side playing cricket is found in THE LEICESTERSHIRE MERCURY
from 12th September 1846.
It details a game played on 7th September between the married and
single but also dates the formation of the club to that spring claiming
that 'This cricket club was established by the Rev E. S.
Bathurst, for the recreation of the working classes, and to create
a spirit of
unity between them and the middle and higher classes, many of which
have joined
the club. All distinction seems to be banished while in the field'.
Fittingly
the worthy gentleman who little realised that he was founding over 150
years worth of cricket in the village would also score the first
recorded half century for the club two years later.
The first record of a game against another club is found in
PAYNE'S LEICESTER AND MIDLAND COUNTIES ADVERTISER from 17th July 1847.
It details a game played on 7th July at Arnesby which ended in an
innings victory for the home side.
The Kibworth side contains such well known village names as Underwood,
Iliffe, Buzzard and Peberdy many of which appear time and again in the
records of the club. This is the only Kibworth game recorded for that
season but several other games are also covered during the course of
the year including club's such as Measham, Desford, Rearsby, Barkby,
Loughborough, Leicester Collegiate, Coalville, Melton, Borough Hill,
Leicester Town, Billesdon and Sutton Bonnington. The choice of matches
could be a little eclectic hence the full scorecard on 13th of
September of Nailstone vs 9 Navvies working on the Leicester to
Swannington line or on 23rd August Coach makers vs Wagon builders at Mr
Hamer's railway works.
The first report for the following season (7th May) gives us an insight
into the makeup of the club "consists of many of the farmers, as well
as the tradesmen and the working classes." A report from later that
year also tells us something of post game entertainment. After eleven
of KCC had played "twenty-two who were not of the club, ten of whom
were boys belonging to the parochial school" on 28th June they
"assembled at the house of Mr C (Charley) Watts, the Old Swan, where a
scrumptious supper was repaired for them."
In 1849 and 1850 games against Market Harborough are recorded for the
first time both won by Kibworth and for the first time the name of
Teear
also appears in a Kibworth team. This family represented the club
with great distinction over several seasons as reported in the
Leicester Chronicle in 1873 "it was this club that
the Teears [of the R & C] were so unashamedly associated, and to
whose indomitable assertion and skilled play it owed no small measure
of its success. Even those formidable opponents, the Harborian - with
the ugly "slow" and noted tactics of their doughty captain - were not
infrequently vanquished by the Kibworth team." The final report for
1850 records a return game against Harborough that was ruined by rain
and then not for the last time in its history the club seems to
disappear. A notice published in the Leicestershire Mercury in May 1852
declared that the club 'was dead' but gives no more details leaving us
to speculate whether the departure of the Rev Bathurst after his
conversion to catholicism may have been involved in the decision.
No further record exists until The Leicester Advertiser reports on 30th
May 1857 that "during the last week a cricket club has been established
at Kibworth and promises to be a very good one by the numbers who have
already joined it". The report also suggests a change of venue "They
meet for practice in a field belonging to the Rev. M. Osborn, adjoining
the vestry (Rectory Field),
and which is much more
convenient than the one the old club used to meet in". The first
practice game is recorded on 18th June and seems to have involved a
change in post game venue as "in the evening a number of members
partook of supper and a social glass at the house of Mr (William)
Austin, The Rose & Crown Inn". On the 26th June the club played
Billesdon in a game which the club chose to commemorate as its 150th
anniversary in June 2007. The report of the 1857 game suggests that
"the Billesdon gentlemen expected to find a company of novices. Their
mistake was soon apparent from the manner which the wickets fell, for
although a new club it was obvious that the majority were what might be
called fair players". This is maybe not so surprising when you view the
scorecard below and realise that several players were survivors
of the Arnesby game ten years before.
For a couple of years the club seems to go from strength to strength
and
it is
clear that players later in the 19th century looked back on this period
as a golden age. For example in the Leicester Chronicle &
Leicestershire Mercury for 26th April 1873 " The village has been
unashamedly famous for its cricket and a club formed several years ago,
has gone through a whole season and scarcely lost a single game". It is
not totally clear to which season this comment refers but a prime
candidate seems to be 1859 as a report on a game played on 28th July
against Welford states "it's a singular fact that the Kibworth club
have won every match they have played this year, and we believe that
previous to this year the Welford club have not been beaten at home for
upwards of 12 years". Trouble was not far away however, in 1860 the
club did not play its first match until late August (against
Thurcaston) and was described in an early 1861 report as having been
"in abeyance through a misunderstanding the previous year". Games are
recorded in following seasons but an early 1866 season report records
that "the cricket club of the village has for several years past been
below par" and details "another attempt.....to revive it". For the
first time a President (Mr Hunt) a vice president (T. Macaulay) and
joint Secretaries and treasurer (A. B. Fry and Rev. R. Russell) are
recorded.
1872 is another season with no games recorded and the following year
the Leicester Chronicle &
Leicestershire Mercury records that "a want of proper organisation and
consequent discipline, has of late proved fatal to the Kibworth
players, and crushing defeats have of late been the rule rather than
the exception. An attempt is now being made to resuscitate the club,
and there appears a desire to regain lost prestige." The
Leicester Journal one week later picks up the theme "for the last year
or two the numbers have been very small, if there has been a club at
all" and clearly even at this stage there were issues "the old
favourable to cricket have been called together by a circular, and
after two attempts they were not able to form a club". However a
resolution was at hand "tradesmen and others are now members.......and
on Monday evening last 26 names were entered, Mr John Wright been
appointed manager." Under the name of Kibworth United Tradesmen CC this
clubs first game reported in the media ended in an eight wicket defeat
to Arnseby in early June. Two months later a game against Gumley
resulted in "Disgraceful proceedings" as "a quarrel arose through some
objections taken as to the fairness of certain individuals engaged in
playing quoits". The Leicester Chronicle report on the incident goes
into melodramatic depths on the incident in which "the greater
proportion of the rioters were apparently maddened by drink".
In 1874 the Leicester Daily Mercury reported that Kibworth had taken on
"a Leicester club" and although they were defeated the paper stated
that "there is apparently a considerable deal of latent talent in the
Kibworth club, and practice and perseverance will doubtless......bring
again to Kibworth its justly earned, though now long lost prestige for
the cricket". They celebrated their season "by dining at the
Coach & Horses" in late October. In 1875 the club ran two
sides and although only two match reports are recorded they obviously
had an outstanding year "having engaged in many contests.......have not
at present sustained a single defeat" according to an 11th September
Leicester Chronicle report. The same article also gives us an insight
into the make up of the club describing it as "in many respects much
less pretentious than the one long since defunct".
In June 1876 the club played a game against "Gardiner's celebrated
troupe of clown cricketers" and according to the Leicester Chronicle
report a crowd of 200 turned up to watch. The club now settled into a
pattern for the next few seasons using the Coach & Horses as their
prefered hostilary for a "Soiree" in February and an Annual Dinner in
October whilst the games seem likely to have been played on the Harborough Road field.
In 1877 accounts are recorded in the local papers with "a balance in
hand of £4 15s 8d" recorded. The ambitions of the club now
extended to a new ground but as the Leicester Chronicle reports in
early 1881 "searching...........has become an almost insuperable
difficulty" due to "the good fields near to the village having been
rendered unfit.....by the quality of draining done in the
Winter". The need for a new ground seems to have been driven by
difficulties in obtaining use of the Harborough Road field each year,
for example in April 1882 the Leicester Chronicle records that "the
cricket prospect in the village is at present gloomy.....no playground
is available on terms which the committee deem it advisable to accept"
although three weeks later "the old cricket ground has at length been
secured". The issue was clearly financial "the ground being taken on
higher terms than formerly". This required an increase in subscriptions
for the members a matter of some discussion at the AGM but a solution
was close at hand, on Saturday 28th July 1883 the club played its first
game on the new ground at Fleckney Road, its home for the next 122
years.
