Marjorie Anne Pollard (3 August 1899 – 21 March 1982) was an English

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

and cricket player, film maker and writer. She was the first woman to commentate on sport for the BBC.

Early life

Marjorie Pollard was born in

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

. She was educated at

Peterborough County Grammar School for Girls The Peterborough County Grammar School for Girls was an all-female grammar school in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. History Peterborough County School for Girls The school which was to become Peterborough County Grammar School for Girl ...

, and

St Peter's College, Saltley St Peter's College, Saltley was a school and teacher training establishment located in Saltley, Birmingham, England. Today the former college building has now been refurbished and sub-divided into a multi-use facility, combining homes, offices an ...

Sports career

Pollard played for Northamptonshire county hockey association. She played hockey nearly every year for England from 1921 to 1937, playing 37 times and winning 41 caps. In October 1926, Pollard joined with several other women – all leading hockey players – help found the

Women's Cricket Association The Women's Cricket Association (WCA) was responsible for the running of women's cricket in England between 1926 and 1998. It was formed by a group of enthusiasts following a cricket holiday in Malvern. Forty-nine games were arranged in that firs ...

. In July 1929, the WCA organised their first public match: London and District v Rest of England. The game was held in Beckenham, with Pollard playing for the latter team. She edited and wrote the weekly ''Hockey Field'' for 24 years, and founded and then edited for 19 years from 1930, ''Women's Cricket''. She also wrote for the newspapers Observer, Morning Post and Evening News. Pollard was the first woman to commentate on sport for the BBC, her first BBC commentary was on a men's cricket match in 1935. Pollard narrowly missed the selection for the first England Women tour of Australia in 1934-35. She was considered past her best when Australia returned the trip three years later.

David Frith David Edward John Frith (born 16 March 1937) is a cricket writer and historian. Cricinfo describes him as "an author, historian, and founding editor of ''Wisden Cricket Monthly''". Life and career David Frith was born in Gloucester Place in Lo ...

, Silence of the Heart In 1965, she was awarded an OBE. She was a keen film maker and although she did not play in the 1938 match between England and Wales, she filmed it. She filmed it at the same time as the BBC, but her film was in colour. Her films have recently been digitised.

Death and tribute

In March 1982, suffering ill-health and the death of her long-term household companion May Morton, Pollard committed suicide with a shotgun. In 2020, a blue plaque was unveiled in her memory on the site of her former school, the County Grammar School in Peterborough, by the local Civic Society.

References

External links

All England Women's Hockey Association Collection at the University of Bath Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Marjorie 1899 births 1982 suicides 1982 deaths English female field hockey players English women cricketers English sports journalists Officers of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Rugby, Warwickshire Suicides by firearm in England