The Eton – Harrow cricket match at Lords in July 1873 ended in a vulgar brawl and police had to be called to restore order. The game, watched by 20,000 people, had comprised two days of the finest all round school cricket that had been seen for some time at Lord’s and was closely contested. On the last day however, Harrow overcame the favoured Etonians by five wickets and happy Harrovians rushed on to the pitch to hoist their heroes upon their shoulders. The celebrations soon turned into noisy and riotous proceedings and the Illustrated London News was shocked that such offensive behaviour occurred in front of some of the finest ladies in the realm, particularly as the schools should be “training grounds for gentlemen”. The MCC said that any repetition must inevitable end in the discontinuance of the match and luckily the 1874 match went off without incident.
(with thanks to victoriancalendar.blogspot.co.uk)
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