Some cricketing activity took place during the Great War involving Glamorgan teams, albeit against club and scratch elevens rather than against other counties. All of these games had the stamp of approval from the Club’s temporary committee, which had been formed in the Autumn of 1914 to oversee the Club’s interests and especially protect their finances and assets during the course of the War.
Opposite – Norman Riches. Photo Credit – Glamorgan Cricket Archives.
Norman Riches, the Club’s leading batsman in the pre-War era had been appointed Chairman and during August 1915 he was approached by officials from Barry Athletic CC – one of the few cricket clubs in South Wales who continued playing fixtures throughout the War – about a fund-raising match at Barry Island. The outcome was a match on the afternoon of Saturday, August 28th with a decent-sized crowd watching the game which was won by Barry by 16 runs. The Glamorgan side was led by George Cording, who subsequently kept wicket in Glamorgan’s inaugural County Championship match against Sussex at the Arms Park in 1921, and also included other county players including Tom Morgan, Trevor Preece and John Chandless.
As life slowly got back to normal, 1919 saw club and school cricket resume whilst there were some games involving a Glamorgan XI, including one at Ebbw Vale in early June against the local club, whilst during mid-September Dr. Gwyn Thomas raised his own side containing a number of Glamorgan players which played Briton Ferry Steel CC in a match, largely to raise funds for clubs in the Neath area who were looking to resume their activities after four long years without any cricket.
The Glamorgan officials did consider arranging some friendlies but, with the military authorities having taken over St. Helen’s as a parade ground and training camp, there were concerns about the state of the surface at Swansea. In Cardiff, the Arms Park and its spacious pavilion had also been used as a military hospital. Given these factors, Glamorgan’s hierarchy agreed to hold fire during 1919 and to resume fixtures in 1920.