When I grew up the one sport you were always fed very well was cricket. At school mothers made sure you were fed supplying lunch and tea and used to lay on a massive spread as the game lasted all day. The standard of lunches varied to wherever you played and some were better than others, but they were all good and appreciated.
I then continued playing cricket after school when I was in the Army and unfortunately our ground wasn't attached to a base.This meant we had to fend for ourselves and that normally involved something cheap like a pie depending on the time of the month. We weren't paid much in those days ($10 per month) and the bulk of our pay was spent on some type of alcohol and lasted only one or two days if we were very careful.Towards the end of the month matches were like a hunger strike as we had no money left. The Army team was poorer than poor and it was no wonder we were all so skinny.
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My old club with the club house bar and changing rooms in the distance.
When I moved to England I joined the local cricket club in Horsham, West Sussex and I was blown away at the tea time goodies that were laid out by the ladies who worked there. We used to pay 10 pounds to cover the ball cost and the rest went towards the tea for the visiting team and ourselves.
What was great was that nothing was store bought, but all made by the ladies at the club and they took pride in what they made. Once you have played one season you knew who had the best teas and you made sure you never missed those games. Matches used to start at 1 pm and could sometimes go on until 7 pm and tea time was taken during the break in the innings.
The best was to field first because being a bowler you didn't want to eat too much as there is nothing worse than doing loads of running when you are full of sandwiches and cake. I used to curse when we would bat first as I used to look as though I was on diet when tea time started. The first game I played I nearly vomited and felt very ill after pigging out at the tea break and bowling 15 minutes later, it was an oversight on my part and was never repeated again.
I never normally ate on match days whether it was cricket or rugby and that was normally down to nerves. I had added pressure playing club cricket as I was their overseas "pro" even though I wasn't being paid. The first year I played I had replaced an International cricketer from South Africa but registered too late to play as a local even though I am British and the only way was to be there "pro" closing the door that year for them signing someone.
