Empire Cricket Club
Cricket team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Empire Cricket Club is a cricket club in Barbados. The club plays in Barbados Cricket Association Division 1 championship. The club was formed on 24 May 1914—Empire Day—from which it took its name. The club was formed by a defection of disaffected members of Spartan Cricket Club, when Spartan had refused membership to the "socially inferior" Barbadian cricketer Herman Griffith in 1913.
1996, 2000, 2004
| One Day name | Blues |
|---|---|
| Team information | |
| Founded | 1914 |
| Home ground | Bank Hall |
| History | |
| BCA Division 1 wins | 1970, 1971, 1989, 1991*, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2004 |
Racial and social prejudice in Barbados cricket precluded the club from play in the Barbados first division cricket competition by two turn downs, until 1916 when a casting vote secured entry into the competition after a 2–2 vote. Wanderers and Harrison College supporting their inclusion while Pickwick and Spartan opposed it.[1] Griffith's ties to Combermere School created a link between Empire and the school, with many Combermere old boys playing for the club.[2]
The club is one of the most famous in Barbados and has been described as "the greatest club ever".[3][4] David Harris stated that Empire is "... not just a club, it is part of the social revolution which took place in the last century, a part of the fight for equal rights of the masses of Barbados."[2]
Former players include three cricketing knights:
- Sir Conrad Hunte
- Sir Everton Weekes
- Sir Frank Worrell, whose boyhood home overlooks the club ground.[3]
