page_title: Gentlemen v Players
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Gentlemen v Players / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Gentlemen XI for the fixture vs Players at Lord's Cricket Ground, London, 1899. Back row: (L-R): Sherwin; Umpire, W.M.Bradley, A.C.MacLaren, C.L.Townsend, West, Umpire. Middle row:(L-R): G.MacGregor, K.S.Ranjitsinhji, W.G.Grace, R.M.Poore. Front: (L-R): F.S.Jackson, C.B.Fry, D.L.A.Jepson.
context_page_description: Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches, between teams consisting of amateur and professional cricketers. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not repeated until 1819. Thereafter it was played most years between 1819 and 1962, typically twice each summer.
  The distinction between the two teams arose from the English class structure of the 19th century: originally the Players were working class cricketers who earned their living through the game, whilst the Gentlemen were middle- and upper-class, usually products of the public school system, who played cricket for leisure. Whereas the Players were paid wages by their county clubs or fees by match organisers, the Gentlemen nominally only claimed expenses. Rules to distinguish amateurs from professionals were established by the Marylebone Cricket Club. The system of allowable expenses was controversial; some leading amateurs were paid more for playing cricket than any professional.
  The fixture struggled to gain public interest during the mid-19th century, as the Players often easily defeated the Gentlemen.
context_section_description: At its height from the 1860s until 1914, the fixture was a prestigious one, though in terms of quality it fell far short of Test matches and even of the rival North v. South fixture. Until the 1860s, the Gentlemen teams were often very weak compared with the professionals, and on occasion the fixture had to be arranged on an odds basis, so that the Players eleven took on a greater number of Gentlemen. The Gentlemen famously became competitive during the career of W. G. Grace, whose performances were so outstanding that the Gentlemen could enjoy some long-awaited success. The fixture often confirmed the commonly held view of an imbalance between amateur and professional in that amateurs tended to be batsmen first and foremost, hence there were few good amateur bowlers. The Players could nearly always field a strong bowling side.
  The game was played over three days on all but a handful of occasions throughout its history. The most frequent venue for the match was Lord's, but a number of other grounds were used, notably The Oval and Scarborough, and it was at Scarborough that the last Gentlemen v Players game was played, in September 1962.
  The same format of amateurs playing professionals was used in a number of other fixtures, some of which were given first-class status (for example, "Gentlemen of Nottinghamshire v Players of Nottinghamshire"), but these matches became less common after the beginning of the 20th century, and the last such game was "Gentlemen of the South v Players of the South" in 1920, after which all first-class Gentlemen v Players matches were between teams known simply by those names.
  The Gentlemen v Players series ended after the 1962 season, when the distinction between amateur and professional players was abolished. Charles Williams has described several reports on the subject which were submitted to MCC by its Amateur Status Standing Committee (ASSC) and, on 31 January 1963, the MCC committee unanimously agreed to abolish amateurism. Williams says a substitute fixture was sought but it was decided not to pursue this as the new Gillette Cup limited overs competition was beginning in 1963.
  There were contrasting views about the end of amateurism and the passing of Gentlemen v Players. Some traditionalists like E. W. Swanton and the editor of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack "lamented the passing of an era" but social change had rendered the whole concept an anachronism and Fred Trueman spoke for many when he summarised amateurism as a "ludicrous business" that was "thankfully abolished" after the 1962 season.
caption: Gentlemen, captained by W. G. Grace, versus Players at Lord's, 1899
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