thumb|300px|An 1887 cricket match in progress at Sydney's Association Ground, the site of the riot
The Sydney Riot of 1879 was an instance of civil disorder that occurred at an early international cricket match. It took place on 8 February 1879 at what is now the Sydney Cricket Ground (at the time known as the Association Ground), during a match between New South Wales, captained by Dave Gregory, and a touring English team, captained by Lord Harris.
The riot was sparked by a controversial umpiring decision, when star Australian batsman Billy Murdoch was given out by George Coulthard, a Victorian employed by the Englishmen. The dismissal caused an uproar among the spectators, many of whom surged onto the pitch and assaulted Coulthard and some English players. It was alleged that illegal gamblers in the New South Wales pavilion, who had bet heavily on the home side, encouraged the riot because the tourists were in a dominant position and looked set to win. Another theory given to explain the anger was that of intercolonial rivalry, that the New South Wales crowd objected to what they perceived to be a slight from a Victorian umpire.
The pitch invasion occurred while Gregory halted the match by not sending out a replacement for Murdoch. The New South Wales skipper called on Lord Harris to remove umpire Coulthard, whom he considered to be inept or biased, but his English counterpart declined. The other umpire, future prime minister Edmund Barton, defended Coulthard and Lord Harris, saying that the decision against Murdoch was correct and that the English had conducted themselves appropriately. Eventually, Gregory agreed to resume the match without the removal of Coulthard. However, the crowd continued to disrupt proceedings, and play was abandoned for the day. Upon resumption after the Sunday rest day, Lord Harris's men won convincingly by an innings.
In the immediate aftermath of the riot, England cancelled the remaining games they were scheduled to play in Sydney. The incident also caused much press comment in England and Australia. In Australia, the newspapers were united in condemning the unrest, viewing the chaos as a national humiliation and a public relations disaster. An open letter by Lord Harris about the incident was later published in English newspapers, and caused fresh outrage in New South Wales when it was reprinted by the Australian newspapers. A defensive letter written in response by the New South Wales Cricket Association further damaged relations. The affair led to a breakdown of goodwill that threatened the future of Anglo-Australian cricket relations. However, friction between the cricketing authorities finally eased when Lord Harris agreed to lead England at The Oval against the touring Australians in 1880; this match became the fourth-ever Test and cemented the tradition of Anglo-Australian Test matches.
Background
thumb|upright|alt=Black and white photograph of the head and shoulders of a bearded man wearing a striped top|[[Dave Gregory (cricketer)|Dave Gregory, the captain of New South Wales]]
England cricket tours to Australia started in 1861, and, while successful, were still in their infancy in 1879 despite the first Test match having been played in 1877. The teams were of variable quality; while promoters sought the best cricketers, they still had to agree to terms. In addition, many could not afford the time for the long boat trip, the tour itself, and the return voyage—the journey itself often took up to two months. Aside from a tour by an Australian Aboriginal team in 1868, the Dave Gregory–led campaign in 1878 was the first major Australian tour to England. The tour was generally regarded as a success; a highlight was the Australians' famous victory over a very strong Marylebone Cricket Club outfit, which included W. G. Grace, the dominant cricketer of the 19th century, in less than four hours.
Keen to make the most of this success, the Melbourne Cricket Club—the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket was not created until 1905—invited Lord Harris, an eminent amateur cricketer of the time, to lead a team to Australia. The team was originally meant to be entirely amateur, but two professional Yorkshire bowlers, George Ulyett and Tom Emmett, joined the tour team after two Middlesex players had to withdraw due to a bereavement. The main distinction between amateurs and professionals was social status, and although amateurs were not paid for playing, they did receive generous "expenses" which usually exceeded anything they would have been paid as professionals. Despite the presence of two professionals in the team, the Englishmen were described as "Gentlemen", a euphemism for amateurs. Now that Ulyett and Emmett were in the team, they did a large part of the bowling, and commentators felt that Harris had overworked them.
At the time, English cricket was dominated by amateurs. Generally educated in public schools such as Harrow and Eton, and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, to them, sport was, in a large part, a social leisure pursuit. In contrast, the Australians were regarded by the social standards of the 19th century as coarse, rowdy and uncultured. The likes of bushranger Ned Kelly heightened perceptions that Australia had a bandit culture. Violence, heckling and abusive chanting among drunken spectators and gamblers at sporting grounds were commonplace in 19th-century Australia, and the prevalence of betting was seen as a major cause of crowd unrest. There were many instances of concerning player behaviour during the 1878 tour of England, and Gregory's men were considered to be unrefined and raucous.
Cheating was a regular occurrence in 19th-century Australian cricket, and the intercolonial rivalry was strong—the modern states of Australia were separate colonies until their federation in 1901. As in real life, the sporting rivalry was at its most bitter between the two most populous and politically powerful colonies, New South Wales and Victoria. The endless dispute between the colonies over whether Sydney or Melbourne would be the capital of Australia eventually forced the compromise that saw the construction of Canberra midway between the two cities. With regards to sport, cricket administrators from both colonies sought to undermine their cross-border counterparts. On the field, matches were dominated by tit-for-tat throwing wars. Both colonies sought to stack their teams with players who either had borderline—and sometimes flagrantly—illegal bowling actions to use physical intimidation as a means of negating opposition batsmen. Gregory, whose action was regarded as highly dubious, was prominent in his New South Wales team pursuing a policy of condoning illegal bowling. It was amidst a background of inter-colonial rancour and a belligerent Australian sports culture that the riot broke out.
Soon after Gregory's 1878 Australian team returned home, Lord Harris's Englishmen arrived. Australia won the first match, played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, by 10 wickets. The match was later recognised as the third Test match in history. New South Wales paceman Fred Spofforth—nicknamed "The Demon" because of his ferocious pace—took 13 wickets in the match, including the first ever Test hat-trick. The next tour match was against New South Wales and started on 24 January at the Association Ground in Sydney. New South Wales won by five wickets, despite the absence of Spofforth—who withdrew from the home side after spraining his wrist the night before the start of the match— and Gregory, who had been dropped for missing a training session and failing to provide an explanation for his absence.
Match
thumb|upright|alt=Sepia photograph of moustached man's head, wearing a black brimless hat|[[George Coulthard, whose decision to give out Billy Murdoch led to the riot.]]
thumb|upright|alt=Black and white head and shoulders photograph of well-dressed man|[[Edmund Barton, who later became the first Australian Prime Minister, umpired the game and helped to defuse the riot.]]
The third tour match and the second game between the English XI (led by Lord Harris) and New South Wales—captained by Gregory—commenced on Friday 7 February at the Association Ground. Coulthard was a ground-bowler employed by Melbourne, but was yet to make his first-class cricketing debut. Coulthard accompanied Harris's men from Melbourne following the Test. New South Wales selected Edmund Barton, who later became the first Prime Minister of Australia.
As both Gregory and Spofforth were playing for the hosts, bookmakers were offering attractive odds against an English win, and New South Wales were heavily backed, having won the previous match with an even weaker side. The Sydney Morning Herald condemned the "impunity with which open betting was transacted in the pavilion", in defiance of the prominent notices indicating that gambling was banned.
Lord Harris won the toss and chose to bat. At about 12:10 pm in front of approximately 4,000 spectators, A. N. Hornby and A. P. Lucas opened the England innings. Tom Emmett took the last seven wickets to end with 8/47. Murdoch batted through the innings for 82 not out, making him the hero in the eyes of the locals. A young Banjo Paterson, who later went on to write the iconic Australian bush ballad "Waltzing Matilda", was among the pitch invaders. Of the 10,000 spectators, up to 2,000 "participated in the disorder". On 10 February, the Sydney Morning Herald described the number of riot participants as "not more than 2,000, at the outside, who took an active art in the disorder". On 31 May, following the publication of Harris's letter, The Argus described a significantly lesser figure, editorialising that "only a few hundred sided with the objectors. Those that were actively violent were fewer still, and they were kept in check by the better-disposed of the crowd." Coulthard was jostled, and Lord Harris, who had returned to the field to support Coulthard, was struck by a whip or stick but was not hurt. Hornby, a keen amateur boxer who had been offered the English captaincy before stepping aside for Harris, grabbed his captain's assailant and "conveyed his prisoner to the pavilion in triumph"; it was later said that he had caught the wrong man. Hornby was also attacked and almost lost the shirt off his back. Emmett and Ulyett each took a stump for protection and escorted Lord Harris off, assisted by some members. In the meantime, the crowd anger grew, and there was mounting fear that the riot would intensify due to speculation that the crowd would try to free Hornby's captive. However, there was only jostling as the players were evacuated into the pavilion, and the injuries were limited to minor cuts and bruises. An English naval captain who was at the ground had his top hat pulled over his eyes and was verbally abused by some spectators. After 30 minutes, the field was cleared.
When the ground was finally cleared, Gregory insisted, according to Harris, that Coulthard be replaced. When Harris would not agree, Gregory said, "Then the game is at an end". Harris asked Barton whether he could claim the match on a forfeit. Barton replied, "I will give it to you in two minutes if the batsmen don't return". Harris then asked Barton to speak with Gregory to ascertain his intentions. When Barton came out, he announced that Alick Bannerman and Nat Thomson would resume the New South Wales innings. They walked onto the arena and reached the stumps, but before they could receive a ball, the crowd again invaded the pitch, and remained there until the scheduled end of play. According to The Sydney Mail, approximately 90 minutes' play had been lost. Lord Harris maintained his position on the ground, standing "erect" with "moustache bristling" among the spectators, fearful that his leaving the arena would lead to a forfeit.
Sunday was a rest day, so the match resumed on Monday, 10 February.
Lord Harris referred to the crowd as a "howling mob" and said "I have seen no reason as yet to change my opinion of Coulthard's qualities, or to regret his engagement, in which opinion I am joined by the whole team". At the farewell banquet hosted by the Melbourne Cricket Club, Harris spoke publicly for the first time about the riot. He was critical of the way his team had been treated by a portion of the New South Wales press, which had "unintentionally", he trusted, "but with questionable courtesy", described them "as if they were strolling actors, rather than as a party of gentlemen." they attracted large crowds, leading the counties to regret their decision to snub them. Eventually the secretary of Surrey, C. W. Alcock asked Lord Harris to put together a representative side to play the Australians, while Grace acted as a mediator. Luckily for the Australians, Lord Harris had a personal rapport with their captain Murdoch and leading player Spofforth, especially as they shared his antipathy towards throwing. An agreement was reached, and although Lord Harris was generous in agreeing to lead the side, three cricketers who played in the infamous Sydney game—Hornby, Emmett and Ulyett—refused to play. Harris assembled a strong team, which included the three Grace brothers and Australia, who had not faced strong opposition and were without star bowler Fred Spofforth, went down by five wickets in front of 45,000 spectators. This game, later recognised as the fourth Test in history and the first to be played in England, is more important than its result, as the custom of cricket tours between England and Australia was cemented. Overall, the tour was a financial success and an effective exercise in mending relations; the team were received by the Lord Mayor of London at the end of the tour and were given gifts. Profits were healthy and public awareness of the bilateral cricketing relationship increased.
See also
- History of Test cricket from 1877 to 1883
- Violence in sports