Today Bermuda cricket is largely a male-dominated sport, but in days gone by it was a popular recreation for young women who didn’t have many other sporting opportunities open to them.In the 1930s and 1940s it was difficult for black women to get into sports such as tennis, because of racial barriers. Many tennis courts were open to black Bermudians one day a year if at all.So some girls played cricket. In the 1940s, fierce rivalries existed between women’s teams such as Gaiety Girls, Rosebud Social Club and St George’s Social Club.“There was no television,” was how former Gaiety Girls teammate Myrtle Seaman, now in her 90s, explained it. “We bunch of girls were trying to figure out something to do. It was the late 1930s, early 1940s. We played near our homes in the City of Hamilton. There was an area on Princess Street, down to Brunswick Street that wasn’t paved. It was just rough road. We used to set up a box and someone had a bat. We used to play right there on Princess Street.”They formed a club, the name possibly a reference to the 1938 movie with that title.“We just made the name up at that time,” she said. “It was just for fun. Now girls have more activities, but at that time there was no bowling and tennis was limited because of colour.”At first the women just played casually, but then some kind soul offered a cup. It was the only community support the groups received. The following advertisement appeared in The Recorder in September 1943: “The annual Cup Match between the Gaiety Girls and the Rosebud Social Club will be played at Montpelier Field, Prospect. The match which lends not only beauty but also thrills and laughter to the situation, promises to be good. A large number of persons have said they would attend as this is one of the great games after Cup Match.”Miss Seaman said in her day she was a good bowler and she was good on the field.“Sometimes I was pretty good at the bat,” she said.She eventually lost interest in playing cricket when other sporting avenues opened up in tennis and bowling. She has many bowling trophies, but she still enjoys watching cricket. She used to get up at 7am every year to find a good spot at Cup Match, but now that she is getting older and can see the game on television, she stays at home to watch.Some other names involved in women’s cricket at that time included Carrie Young, Barbara Lodge (who seems to have been a formidable player based on write-ups of the day), Alice Bennett, Hannah Williams and Muriel Montague.“Muriel could bowl,” Miss Seaman remembered with a laugh. “Funny thing about that was when she went to bowl she closed her eyes and rolled that ball down the crease. We won and we lost. We didn’t even think about playing professionally. It was something fun, an a way to pass the time.”Another name that popped up in The Recorder articles was Josephine Simmons. She was on the Rosebud Social Club team and later played on the Mixup and Setup women’s cricket teams. She still played in her 80s, in the 1970s. At that time, women’s cricket seemed to go through a resurgence and teams were organised mostly by local hotels. Hotels provided equipment, uniforms, refreshments and transportation to the games, which were mainly played by their employees. It was good advertising for the hotels.Connie Edness, who worked at the Southampton Princess as a maid and later a floor manager, recalled with great enthusiasm playing with the Southampton Princess All Star Girls. The team was coached by Josephine Simmons’ son Clifford Simmons, and later MacDonald Simmons. Mrs Simmons played with the All Star Girls despite her advanced age, along with another veteran, Claire Lambert.“Mrs Simmons was really good,” said Mrs Edness.Men would sometimes hang around the field watching them play, and teasing them, but no-one minded.“They said we were a bunch of sissies,” said Mrs Edness. “We took it as good sports. We never got offended. We said, let’s prove it to them. We won every single game we played in five years.”They often played against teams from other hotels, or a team from the Warwick Workmen’s Club.“I was a wicket keeper,” said Mrs Edness. “When we played Castle Harbour they used to call me ‘slugger’, because I never went down the crease I always hit a lot of fours. Especially when we played at Seabreeze Oval, my ball was always going in the water and I was always fishing it out.”Coach MacDonald Simmons must have worried about rivalry between the women. He advised the All Stars to remember that the only enemy on the field was “that little red ball”. He told them that the game was about team work.“He was a big time cricket player, and played for Somerset,” said Mrs Edness. “He said let me explain cricket. When you get on the field, no matter what the game is, softball, cricket or whatever, no two teams get off the field as winners. One will lose and one will win. You go on the field saying ‘we are winners and we are going to win’ but don’t have any animosity about the opposition team. When you get out there you play as a team.”Mrs Simmons’ son Clifford said his mother inspired both he and MacDonald and his brother Brian to go into cricket and several of the Simmons boys played in Cup Match.“I used to go watch her play,” he said. “She was a good player. I guess we took after her. She was a real cricket advocate and also an avid football fan. After every game of cricket, whether we won or lost, there was always a party at her house afterward.”His wife, Ann, was captain of the All Stars and then Mrs Edness took over.“The All Stars never lost a game in five years,” said Mrs Simmons. “We used to go down to Somerset and Seabreeze Ovals and all different fields. We played all the hotels. I love sports. It was a lot of fun.”Do you know who these ladies in the photos are? E-mail jmoniz@royalgazette.bm if you do!