The Goblin-Ha' Cricket club
The club is now in its 50th season
In 1972 Max Muir was challenged by Denis Stewart, the proprietor of the Wether Abbey Hotel, North Berwick, to a cricket match. The Nether Abbey side played occasional evening games on the High School grounds. There was no tradition of cricket in Gifford but Max himself was a keen cricketer and had for some time been looking to start up a cricket team in the village. So, by asking around, he raised a side which inflicted a resounding defeat on Wether Abbey. Unfortunately, no written records survive of those early days; the first score-book was presented to the club by Peter Addell in 1980. However, it is not the object of this brief history to produce long lists of names and scores. Suffice it to say that membership of that first team was not confined to those with claims to call themselves cricketers. Max asked them to play and that has continued to be the only necessary qualification.
The first game was played under Nether Abbey rules which have since been adopted, with slight modifications Over the years, by the Goblin side. That is to say each team has a maximum of 20 overs in which to score as many runs as possible, with any batsman having to retire after the stroke which takes them to 20 or beyond, while the other side, excluding the wicket-keeper, bowl two overs each. When to this is added the condition that the bowling order must be the reverse of the batting order, you have four constraints which ensure that everyone has a turn and which prevent play from being dominated by the great and the good.
It would be nice to be able to record the names of all those who played in that first game but, so far, this has not proved possible.
Max Muir was, of course, captain and his team included Henry Wallace and Ian Henderson who with bat and ball more or less won the game between them. Jimmy Renton, Jimmy Martin, Peter Blake and Paul Lyons also played and, perhaps, John Overall and Ken Inglis. Of these, only Max and Henry are still regular members.
Following the game, the club acquired its first trophy, the Muir Mug a pewter-pint tankard presented by Paul Lyons for Cricketing Endeavour. The challenge was renewed the next year (1973) and a pitch was cut on the Bleachfield so that the fixture could be played at home and away, but still the opposition provided the kit. The chance arrival of an Irishman employed as a gardener at Yester enabled the fixture list to be extended. Somehow or other, this chancer had and was willing to donate a cricket bag with all the necessary gear. Thereafter it was possible to look for other opponents without being dependent on borrowing equipment. Since then, occasional levies and donations have provided additional kit.
The availability of the Pleach field as a ground was a prime attraction, despite the unpredictability of its playing surface. Various friends mustered teams of colleagues who wanted a game but in most cases had nowhere to play. The first of these (also in 1975) was Alan Henderson. Next, James Bowman, art master at Edinburgh Academy, arranged home and away games against the Academy Masters; the away game at Newfield came to be valued as more or less the only one played on a decent wicket. John Beaman and Jim Irvine also brought sides.
A friendly and light-hearted spirit has always been characteristic of the games. People try their best and like to win but not at the expense of enjoying themselves. This atmosphere, coupled with the conviviality in the Goblin after the game, attracted more requests for fixtures and the list soon included teams under Laurence Air (Edinburgh builder), Michael Laird (architect), the Golf Taverners under Graham Robertson (wine merchant), The Woodcutters, the National Westminster Bank and, in 1975, the first game against the Jesters, a team composed largely of rugby-playing farmers.
Work In Progress.