Spartan Cricket Club is a cricket club in
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
.
Spartan was formed in 1893 as a club for
middle-class black and creole cricketers who were denied entry into all-white cricket clubs such as
Wanderers and
Pickwick. The inaugural president of the club was Sir
William Conrad Reeves, Chief Justice of Barbados and other members consisted mostly of "lawyers, medical practitioners, elite schoolmasters, higher level civil servants and the few non-whites to have penetrated the managerial levels of the business, commercial and plantation worlds." The club played its matches at the Belleville ground in
Saint Michael
Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...
and the first captain of the club was
George Learmond.
[Sandiford, p. 12.]
Cricket in Barbados at the time was strictly divided by colour and class. Spartan was seen as a middle-class club and in its early years efforts to admit working-class cricketers met with some resistance. In 1899, the club was divided about the admission of
Fitz Hinds
Delmont Cameron St Clair Hinds (born 1 June 1880 at Westbury Road, St Michael, Barbados, details of death unknown) was a coloured West Indian cricketer who toured with the first West Indian touring side to England in 1900. He was known as Fitz H ...
—a talented cricketer who had previously worked as a groundsman at Pickwick Cricket Club. After his admission, many of his team-mates refused to play with him.
The club was split again in 1913 when
Herman Griffith attempted to join the club. Considered "too poor to enter", he was denied admission. This attitude distressed a significant minority of the club who split and established a club for working-class blacks,
Empire Cricket Club
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 ...
in 1914. Spartan and Empire developed a strong rivalry.
[Sandiford, p. 12.]
Before and after Barbadian independence, members of Spartan Cricket Club were influential members of Barbadian society, including
Grantley Adams, the first Premier of Barbados. It is claimed that Spartan has "produced more
/nowiki>West_Indies.html" ;"title="West_Indies.html" ;"title="/nowiki>West Indies">/nowiki>West Indies">West_Indies.html" ;"title="/nowiki>West Indies">/nowiki>West Indies/nowiki> Test cricketers than any other [club] in the Caribbean".Clyde Walcott
Sir Clyde Leopold Walcott KA, GCM, OBE (17 January 1926 – 26 August 2006) was a West Indian cricketer. Walcott was a member of the "three W's", the other two being Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell: all were very successful batsmen from Barb ...
.Wes Hall
Sir Wesley Winfield Hall (born 12 September 1937) is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bow ...
.
Notes
References
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Cricket teams in Barbados
Cricket clubs established in 1893
1893 establishments in Barbados
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