Goodwood Cricket Club
Coordinates: 50°52′16″N 0°44′28″W / 50.871°N 0.741°W
| Goodwood Cricket Club | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Captain: | James Mayne |
| Coach: | None |
| Colors: |
Red and Yellow |
| Owner: | His Grace The Duke of Richmond and Gordon |
| Founded: | 1702 |
| Home ground: | Goodwood Park |
| Chief executive: | Tim Odell |
| Official website: | http://www.goodwood.play-cricket.com Goodwood Website |
Goodwood Cricket Club is a Sunday village cricket team that play during the summer in the grounds of Goodwood Park, near Chichester. The ground overlooks Goodwood House and is owned by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon.
It is thought to be one of the oldest cricket clubs in the world. It had strong links with Lord's, as the 4th Duke was one of the original backers of Thomas Lord.
Today, the club and ground is owned by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon but run by a group of volunteers that make up the Goodwood Cricket Club Team.
History
A receipt for brandy, given to the players, records Goodwood's earliest known game in 1702.
In 1727 in Goodwood Park, a game was played between the 2nd Duke of Richmond and Mr Brodrick of Peper Harow Park, near Godalming (cricket is still played there today). As was common in those days there was a wager on the match and a set of rules was drawn up. These rules are the oldest set of cricket rules in the world. The originals are kept in Goodwood House, with a copy in the club pavilion and at Lord’s.
The club has a strong link with Lord’s. The 4th Duke was one of the original backers of Thomas Lord when he brought ‘the rough piece of land’ in St John’s Wood, and the 5th Duke was President of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The present Duke is Patron of Sussex County Cricket Club.
Another link with Lord’s are the club colours. These colours are the racing colours of the Dukes of Richmond, circa 1801. Sometime after their use by the Dukes and the cricket club they also became the colours of the MCC circa 1888.
Related people
The club has played host to a variety of players, including:
- James Lillywhite, Captain of England (employee of the Duke)
- Sir Colin Cowdrey
- Ted Dexter
- Jim Parks
- John Snow
- Roy Castle
- Allan Wells
- Ian Salisbury
- Graham Gooch
- Nasser Hussain
- Adam Zampa
Club developments
An enormous Lebanon Cedar tree overlooks the club; it was planted in 1752 as a seed and planted out on the ground in 1756.
Grounds
Recent developments have seen the arrival of electric and a bar in 1989, showers in 1991, sightscreens and an enlarged social area in 1996, a new artificial net in 1997, a new scoreboard in 1998, a 3-ton roller in 1999 and new roll-on roll-off covers in 2000. The square and pavilion are all maintained by voluntary help.
Technologies
Goodwood Cricket Club, since 2008, now has a website administrator that manages the club's website. Since then, a number of different technical solutions have been developed with the overall aim of trying to get information out to club members and prospective members and teams. Developments include:
- Major updates to the existing website.[1]
- A photo gallery of previous matches, using a photo-sharing website, Photo Bucket.[2]
- A Twitter page, providing members with quick news updates/club news.[3]
- A Facebook page, was set up in 2010 to try to keep members and fans updated with news via a new social media platform.[4]
Recent activity
The 'Goodwood Play-Cricket' website is now being updated with a member of the club volunteering to update the site every week.
The team recently got voted 'Team of the Week' by a local paper on arrival to one of their away fixtures.
Special games & events
This season, a series of Twenty-Twenty Cricket games will be played on selected Friday nights, which will end with a final with the winners being presented by with the ‘Goodwood Cup’.
Every year, an all-day game is played in which the London-New Zealand Cricket Team visit. It is a tradition which has been ongoing for many years with a special lunch, tea and pizza buffet in between and after games.
During the winter, some members of the club form a football team to play against local organisations, using one of the local schools in the nearby town of Chichester. The team, named Goodwood Cricket Club Football Club, is usually abbreviated to GCCFC and appears on players' shirts.
Annual Bournemouth tour
Every year, members of the club visit the city of Bournemouth for the annual Goodwood Cricket Tour. The tour usually comprises four days over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The team often play two away games and spend the rest of the time socialising in various bars and restaurants.
-
The Club Pavilion
-
Goodwood Cricket Team Member batting
-
Goodwood Cricket Team fielding
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Goodwood Cricket Club. |