Gentlemen v Players

rdf:langString Gentlemen v Players

rdf:langString Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819, and thereafter, it was played until 1962, typically twice each summer (though sometimes thrice or four times) except for in 1826, 1828, 1915-1918 (due to World War I) and 1940-1945 (due to World War II). In essence, it was a match between teams consisting of amateur (Gentlemen) and professional cricketers (Players) that emerged from the English class structure of the 19th century: the Players were working class cricketers who earned their living through the game, whilst the Gentlemen were middle- and upper-class cricketers, usually products of the public school system, who played for leisure. For the matches, the Players were paid wages by their county clubs and/or fees by the match organisers, while the Gentlemen nominally only claimed expenses. However, while rules to distinguish amateurs from professionals were established by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), the system of allowable expenses was both controversial and complex, leading to some leading amateurs being paid more for playing cricket than any professional. The fixture struggled to gain public interest during the mid-19th century, as most matches ended with the Players defeating the Gentlemen by large margins: various efforts to improve competitiveness, including different-sized wickets for each team, odds matches, and a system of 'given men' (in which the Players would loan one or more of their best players to the Gentlemen) were generally unsuccessful, with the Players continuing to win most matches until later in the century. The fixtures would become far more competitive and gain prestige with the rise and subsequent career of W. G. Grace, who played for the Gentlemen with great success. During the period from 1865 to 1914, the fixture was seen as one of the highlights of the cricket season, but the increasing popularity of international Test cricket (which began in 1877) saw its interest begin to decline, and after the Second World War, the concepts of amateurism and selecting teams based on social class were seen as increasingly anachronistic. The fixture was discontinued on 31 January 1963 after the MCC abolished amateur status, with all first-class cricketers becoming nominally professionals (or "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.