Empire 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 ...

. The club plays in

Barbados Cricket Association The Barbados Cricket Association is the ruling body for cricket in Barbados. The BCA was established in 1933 by an Act of Parliament to replace the Barbados Cricket Challenge Cup Committee, which had administered Barbadian cricket since its format ...

Division 1 championship. The club was formed on 24 May 1914—

Empire Day Commonwealth Day (formerly Empire Day) is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations, since 1977 often held on the second Monday in March. It is marked by an Anglican service in Westminster Abbey, normally attended by the monarch a ...

—from which it took its name. The club was formed by a defection of disaffected members of

Spartan Cricket Club Spartan Cricket Club is a cricket club in Barbados. 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 ...

, when Spartan had refused membership to the "socially inferior" Barbadian cricketer

Herman Griffith Herman Clarence Griffith (1 December 1893 – 18 March 1980) was a West Indian cricketer who played in West Indies' first Test match in their inaugural Test tour of England and was one of the leading bowlers on that tour. Griffith was born i ...

in 1913. Racial and social prejudice in Barbados cricket precluded the club from play in the Barbados first division cricket competition by two turn downs, until 1916 when a casting vote secured entry into the competition after a 2-2 vote. Wanderers and Harrison College supporting their inclusion while Pickwick and Spartan opposed it. Griffith's ties to

Combermere School Combermere School is a school in Barbados, notable as one of the oldest schools in the Caribbean, established in 1695. Its alumni include several leading cricketers, David Thompson, sixth prime minister of Barbados and other politicians, several ...

created a link between Empire and the school, with many Combermere old boys playing for the club. The club is one of the most famous in Barbados and has been described as "the greatest club ever". David Harris stated that Empire is "... not just a club, it is part of the social revolution which took place in the last century, a part of the fight for equal rights of the masses of Barbados." Former players include three cricketing knights: *Sir

Conrad Hunte Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA (9 May 1932 – 3 December 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies. Early life and career Hunte was born in rural St Andrew Parish in the n ...

*Sir

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, KCMG, GCM, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the hardest hitters in world cricket. Weekes holds the record for consecutive Test hundred ...

*Sir

Frank Worrell Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 August 1924 – 13 March 1967), sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, he became f ...

, whose boyhood home overlooks the club ground.

Notes

References

* Cricket teams in Barbados 1914 establishments in Barbados Cricket clubs established in 1914 {{Barbados-sport-stub