A brief history of Newport

09-Jan-2006In 1935 Glamorgan C.C.C. affiliated with Monmouthshire after thelatter had encountered financial difficulties and had to drop outof the Minor County Championship. Part of the affiliationinvolved Glamorgan staging county cricket within the boundariesof Monmouthshire, and this resulted in Rodney Parade, Newportentering the club’s fixture calendar. Up until the ground stagedana annual first-class and one day game, but in the early 1990’s,the Rodney Parade area was redeveloped, and a new school built onthe cricket ground, as Newport C.C. moved to a new ground to thenorth of the town at Spytty Park.The earliest record of cricket in Newport dates from 1820, and in1834 a formal club, catering chiefly for gentlemen came intobeing. As the Monmouthshire town grew, so did the number ofcricket teams, and by the 1870’s there were around two dozenteams in existence in the town.In 1875 the Newport Athletic Club was created, and two yearslater they secured the use of land at Rodney parade from LordTredegar for their cricket, tennis, rugby and athletics. In 1881their ground hosted a game between a Newport and District XXIIand W.G.Grace’s All England XI, and in 1892, Fred Phillips, amember of the well-known brewing family, created theMonmouthshire County Cricket Association, and it wasn’t longbefore Phillips persuaded several of the Athletic Club’s leadingplayers to turn out for the county.In these early days, all of the Club’s athletic pursuits tookplace on one small sports field, but in the mid 1890’s LordTredegar leased a further five acres of land to the Athletic Clubso that a self-contained cricket ground could be laid out.Designs were commissioned for a purpose-built pavilion, terraceseating, and a scoreboard, and work began on preparing a newwicket. On June 1st 1901 Lord Tredegar formally opened the newRodney Parade ground, and a special game was staged againstCardiff C.C.By this time, Monmouthshire were playing in the Minor CountyChampionship, and the Rodney Parade ground became their homebase. Edward Stone Phillips, another member of the Phillipsfamily, together with the Newport professionals Arthur Silverlockand Dick Steeples, formerly of Derbyshire, shone with bat andball, and their fine performances for the county reinforcedNewport Athletic Club’s position as the premier club in thecounty. The Newport Athleic Club were able to hire up to threecricket professionals as a result primarily of the success of therugby side that played on the adjoining pitch, and in 1893 over2,000 GBP was taken in gate receipts at the rugby matches. Thismeant that former county professionals could be hired, as well aseight groundstaff, and the net result was that the Rodney Paradewicket continued to improve.In 1922 the freehold of the entire Rodney Parade complex waspurchased by the Athletic Club, and during the inter-war theyundertook a number of further improvements to both the cricketground and the adjoining rugby pitch. Memorial gates were alsoerected in memory of the Athletic Club’s members who had died inthe Great War. But just as the Newport ground was becoming oneof the best equipped in the area, Monmouthshire C.C.C. startedto fall on hard times. They ran up a sizeable debt, and beingunable to afford decent professionals, their playing recorddeteriorated.In the winter of 1934/35 the Monmouthshire committee decided tomerge with Glamorgan. Various conditions were built into theagreement, and in return for clearing Monmouthshire’sr debts, itwas agreed that Glamorgan could select any of the Monmouthshireplayers and play at their potentially lucrative venues. In July1935 Glamorgan played their first game at their new ‘home’ inNewport as Leicestershire travelled to Rodney Parade, and tocelebrate the arrival of county cricket, a civic reception washeld at Newport Town Hall. Part of the merger also invlovedGlamorgan 2nd XI replacing Monmouthshire in the Minor Countycompetition, and in mid-August the match with Oxfordshire wasstaged at the Rodney Parade ground.The success of these games both on and off the field led to asequence of either one or two matches each year at Newport.Perhaps the most famous game ever staged at Rodney Parade was the1939 match against Gloucestershire. After Glamorgan had beendismissed for 196, Glocestershire rattled up 505-5 declared withWally Hammond making 302. This stood for over 50 years as thehighest ever score against Glamorgan, yet the home batsmen alsocreated a few records themselves, as they replied with 557-4 withEmrys Davies remaining undefeated on 287, which is still thehighest individual score for Glamorgan.By the 1960’s falling attendances at Newport led to a fewquestions being asked about the viability of the ground as acounty venue. The club experimented by staging the 1964 GilletteCup match with Worcestershire at the ground, but the followingyear, the Championship match with Warwickshire was the finalfirst-class game at the ground.Second team games continued to be staged at Rodney Parade, and inthe late 1980’s, generous sponship from local businesses sawGlamorgan return to play Sunday League games against Derbyshirein 1988, Gloucestershire in 1989, and Yorkshire in 1990.However, the latter game was abandoned without a ball beingbowled and with the ground being redeveloped the following year,this was the final visit by Glamorgan to Rodney Parade.