Short History of Open Competitions [1]

For the average [one might even say normal] club cricketer turning up to play a league match of a Saturday afternoon the history of the competition holds little if any interest. He [or she] may have a vague idea that they are taking part in a competition that stretches back in some cases for nearly a hundred years, but it does not impinge on the day’s enjoyment. Perhaps at the end of the season, if they are fortunate enough to be at the awards night, there may be some acknowledge of this history and when the club last won the trophy.

For club historians it is another matter. The performance of their club in different eras, what leagues and cups won, how often and when last a victory was recorded, are matters of great concern. For older cricketers, mention of campaigns fought and won can bring back memories of matches and teammates. And for administrators, the ebb and flow in the number of teams and competitions can provide the basis for assessing the strength of the sport in different eras. It is for these latter groups that the following somewhat obscure piece is written.

When the Leinster Cricket Union formed in 1919 it set up three league competitions [both the Intermediate and Junior Cups predated the setting up of a league structure] – Senior, Intermediate and Junior. Over time other leagues were added – Senior II, Middle and Minor and different sections – but unfortunately the names no longer corresponded to the same grades / levels as before. So a team winning say the Intermediate League in the 1930s is not competing at the same level as one in the 1990s.

It is for this reason that Cricket Leinster a few years back did away with league names and simply referred to the Division number. We have tried to work this back through the years in the list of Competition Winners that you can check out by going to Archives > Competitions.

To try to make some sense of all this the graph below provides an overview of the number of competitions during different periods. It should be pointed out that we don’t actually know when the number of Divisions increased from three to five between 1919 and 1942 [where we have the records from the earliest extant Handbook of Leinster Cricket]. If anyone has any information on this period please let us know. 

In the period up to 1967 a number of the junior divisions were divided into sections based on an open draw and with semi-finals and finals, which perhaps gives a false impression of the overall size of the league. The table below provides the further details.

The positive message from the figures is that there has been a steady rise in the number of clubs and teams in recent years. But it is also clear that as new clubs have started up and prospered so have others declined and in many cases ceased to exist.

Further articles to follow on which clubs have been the most successful in winning the different leagues over the years.