I Zingari (from dialectalized Italian , meaning "the Gypsies"; corresponding to standard Italian ') are English and Australian amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

clubs, founded in 1845 and 1888 respectively. It is the oldest and perhaps the most famous of the 'wandering' cricket clubs (without a home ground), and is well known for its historically aristocratic membership and its colours of black, red and gold, symbolising the motto "Out of darkness, through fire, into light".

History

John Loraine Baldwin Vanity Fair 5 September 1895

The English club was formed on 4 July 1845 by a group of Old Harrovians at a dinner party and thus is one of the oldest cricket clubs still in existence. The English team still plays around 20 matches each year. Also known as IZ, I Zingari is a wandering (or

nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

ic) club, having no home ground. Uniquely for an amateur club, '' Wisden'' reported all of its matches since 1867, but ceased to do so in 2005. I Zingari was founded by John Loraine Baldwin, the Hon. Frederick Ponsonby (later 6th

Earl of Bessborough Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. In 1749, he was given t ...

), the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby (later Sir Spencer Ponsonby-Fane), Richard Penruddocke Long and

Edward Dewing Edward May Dewing (25 April 1823 – 29 October 1899) was an English first-class cricketer and antiquarian. The son of the Reverend Edward Dewing, he was born in April 1823 at Carbrooke, Norfolk. He was educated at Harrow School, before going ...

, who were dining at the Blenheim Hotel in London's

Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the ...

after a match against

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

. They decided to form a club to foster the spirit of amateur cricket, and the club rules are famously idiosyncratic. William Boland, a barrister, was appointed the Perpetual President, and remains in post after his death. As a result, the leader of the club is termed its "Governor". Recent Governors of I Zingari have included

Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham Charles John Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, (8 August 1909 – 20 March 1977) was the ninth Governor-General of New Zealand and an English cricketer from the Lyttelton family. Background and education Lyttelton was born in Kensington, London ...

(1956 to 1977),

Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel (; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), styled as Lord Dunglass between 1918 and 1951 and being The 14th Earl of Home from 1951 till 1963, was a British Conservative politician who s ...

(1977 to 1989), George Mann (1989 to ?),

Dennis Silk Dennis Raoul Whitehall Silk (8 October 193119 June 2019) was an English first-class cricketer and a public school headmaster. He was a close friend of the poet Siegfried Sassoon, of whom he spoke and wrote extensively. In the 1990s he chaired ...

(? to 2015) and Mike Griffith (from 2015). The club was at its strongest in the nineteenth century. It played seventeen first-class matches between 1849 and 1904, including matches against the Australians in 1882 and 1884.

Colours

Its club colours are black, red and gold, symbolizing the motto "out of darkness, through fire, into light". The colours inspired the egg-and-bacon colours adopted by the MCC in 1860, except on the tie the stripes go in the opposite direction.

I Zingari Australia

The Australian club, I Zingari Australia, was formed in 1888, and claims to be the oldest social cricket club in Australia, although there are older school, university and district teams. It first played on 29 September 1888, defeating Newington College Past and Present by 37 runs. The Australian club was recognised by the English club in 1891 and given permission to wear the club colours. The Australian team still plays approximately 70 fixtures each year against other club, school and representative sides. Also in Australia, an I Zingari Rowing Club was established in Adelaide in 1882; it was renamed

Adelaide Rowing Club The Adelaide Rowing Club (ARC) is a rowing club located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Patron of the ARC is the Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Mr Martin Haese. The club is affiliated to the South Australian Rowing Association (SAR ...

shortly afterwards, but retains the same colours and motto as the English cricket club and the club's eight oared boats have all been named "I Zingari".

Cultural references

The fictional "gentleman thief" A. J. Raffles, created by E. W. Hornung, plays for the I Zingari.

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the Modernism, modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important ...

's 1922 novel '' Ulysses'' features real-life I Zingari players, and fictional protagonist

Leopold Bloom Leopold Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's 1922 novel '' Ulysses''. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/ Odysseus in Homer's ep ...

at one time wears the I Zingari colours. Ambrose Abercrombie, the protagonist of Evelyn Waugh's 1948 novel ''

The Loved One ''The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy'' (1948) is a short satirical novel by British novelist Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles, the British expatriate community in Hollywood, and the film industry. Conception ''The ...

'', belongs to the I Zingari. Waugh based the character on I Zingari member and Hollywood actor C. Aubrey Smith. In the 1924 novel by Michael Arlen ''‘The Green Hat’'' the protagonist has a friend (Napier Harpenden) who wears ‘…his faded I Zingari tie…’

References

External links

The vagrant gypsy life, 150 years of I Zingari
'' Wisden'', 1995
I ZingariI Zingari AustraliaHon. Sir Edward Chandos Leigh
{{I Zingari Former senior cricket clubs English club cricket teams Australian club cricket teams 1845 establishments in England Cricket clubs established in 1845 Clubs and societies in England