Victorian Cricket and Corruption
Bribery scandals in cricket are nothing new. England’s 1882 tour of Australia soon brought the most respectable of sports into disrepute.
Cricket is not free from the taint of bribery. Listen to one of the cricketers at the heart of the scandal:
As far as I know, neither I nor any of the team know anything about it. It is not true that any offer of money, as far as I am aware, was made to me or to anyone else.
This statement had nothing to do with recent bribery accusations concerning the former captain of South Africa and others, but was made by George ‘Happy Jack’ Ulyett to the MCC Committee, in May 1882. And just in case anyone felt inclined to doubt him, the inaugural issue of the weekly magazine Cricket, dated May 10th, drew the necessary distinction between Englishmen and foreigners:
No doubt the influence of the betting class does not have a favourable effect on cricket and cricketers in the Colonies, but it is altogether unfair to accept the imputation cast on English professionals until it has been proved beyond a doubt.
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