A brief history of Newport

09-Jan-2006In 1935 Glamorgan C.C.C. affiliated with Monmouthshire after the
latter had encountered financial difficulties and had to drop out
of the Minor County Championship. Part of the affiliation
involved Glamorgan staging county cricket within the boundaries
of Monmouthshire, and this resulted in Rodney Parade, Newport
entering the club’s fixture calendar. Up until the ground staged
ana annual first-class and one day game, but in the early 1990’s,
the Rodney Parade area was redeveloped, and a new school built on
the cricket ground, as Newport C.C. moved to a new ground to the
north of the town at Spytty Park.The earliest record of cricket in Newport dates from 1820, and in
1834 a formal club, catering chiefly for gentlemen came into
being. As the Monmouthshire town grew, so did the number of
cricket teams, and by the 1870’s there were around two dozen
teams in existence in the town.In 1875 the Newport Athletic Club was created, and two years
later they secured the use of land at Rodney parade from Lord
Tredegar for their cricket, tennis, rugby and athletics. In 1881
their ground hosted a game between a Newport and District XXII
and W.G.Grace’s All England XI, and in 1892, Fred Phillips, a
member of the well-known brewing family, created the
Monmouthshire County Cricket Association, and it wasn’t long
before Phillips persuaded several of the Athletic Club’s leading
players to turn out for the county.In these early days, all of the Club’s athletic pursuits took
place on one small sports field, but in the mid 1890’s Lord
Tredegar leased a further five acres of land to the Athletic Club
so that a self-contained cricket ground could be laid out.
Designs were commissioned for a purpose-built pavilion, terrace
seating, and a scoreboard, and work began on preparing a new
wicket. On June 1st 1901 Lord Tredegar formally opened the new
Rodney Parade ground, and a special game was staged against
Cardiff C.C.By this time, Monmouthshire were playing in the Minor County
Championship, and the Rodney Parade ground became their home
base. Edward Stone Phillips, another member of the Phillips
family, together with the Newport professionals Arthur Silverlock
and Dick Steeples, formerly of Derbyshire, shone with bat and
ball, and their fine performances for the county reinforced
Newport Athletic Club’s position as the premier club in the
county. The Newport Athleic Club were able to hire up to three
cricket professionals as a result primarily of the success of the
rugby side that played on the adjoining pitch, and in 1893 over
2,000 GBP was taken in gate receipts at the rugby matches. This
meant that former county professionals could be hired, as well as
eight groundstaff, and the net result was that the Rodney Parade
wicket continued to improve.In 1922 the freehold of the entire Rodney Parade complex was
purchased by the Athletic Club, and during the inter-war they
undertook a number of further improvements to both the cricket
ground and the adjoining rugby pitch. Memorial gates were also
erected in memory of the Athletic Club’s members who had died in
the Great War. But just as the Newport ground was becoming one
of the best equipped in the area, Monmouthshire C.C.C. started
to fall on hard times. They ran up a sizeable debt, and being
unable to afford decent professionals, their playing record
deteriorated.In the winter of 1934/35 the Monmouthshire committee decided to
merge with Glamorgan. Various conditions were built into the
agreement, and in return for clearing Monmouthshire’sr debts, it
was agreed that Glamorgan could select any of the Monmouthshire
players and play at their potentially lucrative venues. In July
1935 Glamorgan played their first game at their new ‘home’ in
Newport as Leicestershire travelled to Rodney Parade, and to
celebrate the arrival of county cricket, a civic reception was
held at Newport Town Hall. Part of the merger also invloved
Glamorgan 2nd XI replacing Monmouthshire in the Minor County
competition, and in mid-August the match with Oxfordshire was
staged at the Rodney Parade ground.The success of these games both on and off the field led to a
sequence of either one or two matches each year at Newport.
Perhaps the most famous game ever staged at Rodney Parade was the
1939 match against Gloucestershire. After Glamorgan had been
dismissed for 196, Glocestershire rattled up 505-5 declared with
Wally Hammond making 302. This stood for over 50 years as the
highest ever score against Glamorgan, yet the home batsmen also
created a few records themselves, as they replied with 557-4 with
Emrys Davies remaining undefeated on 287, which is still the
highest individual score for Glamorgan.By the 1960’s falling attendances at Newport led to a few
questions being asked about the viability of the ground as a
county venue. The club experimented by staging the 1964 Gillette
Cup match with Worcestershire at the ground, but the following
year, the Championship match with Warwickshire was the final
first-class game at the ground.Second team games continued to be staged at Rodney Parade, and in
the late 1980’s, generous sponship from local businesses saw
Glamorgan return to play Sunday League games against Derbyshire
in 1988, Gloucestershire in 1989, and Yorkshire in 1990.
However, the latter game was abandoned without a ball being
bowled and with the ground being redeveloped the following year,
this was the final visit by Glamorgan to Rodney Parade.