Why Cup Match is always a Classic
The big event is just around the corner. We want to make it known from the outset that we thoroughly enjoy just about everything relating to the Cup Match Classic, most especially the way Somerset Cricket Club brilliantly won last year leaving some St George’s fans utterly confused.
We enjoy the colourful sights, the music, the high spirits and overall friendliness of the cheering crowds as their hopes and expectations are raised one hour and dashed the next. We remember seeing many players clean bowled and absolutely spectacular catches taken. It all adds up to two exciting and enjoyable days. Those memories will never be forgotten.
This brings to mind an particularly intriguing historical event I call the Blakeney-Moreno confrontation before the 103rd Cup Match. It stemmed from what Glen Blakeney termed the sour grapes reaction and propaganda campaign ZBM-TV generated after being scooped, can you imagine, by a fledgling radio station for exclusive rights to televise for the first time in Cup Match history, total coverage, from start to finish of the two-day classic.
The general public should take their hats off to Blakeney and his HOTT 107.5 crew. They deserve to be praised for shocking ZBM and its owners Bermuda Broadcasting Company (BBC) out of their take-what-we-give-you-and-lump-it attitude, after umpteen years as the big boys on the block. The most they could manage was televising two hours of live cricket coverage at the end of each day. Of course, it was free. It ought to have been.
On the other hand Blakeney and his HOTT 107.5 crew in just two days televised more live coverage than had been done in the 100 years beforehand.
That was incredible? Praise them! Of course, that was a pay-per-view effort, at least the first time around, except for the seniors’ rest homes and other institutions that got it free. And by all reports, the coverage was superb, first class, and replete with instant replay.
So, what’s the problem? It goes way back, and stems from a thing called negotiate, something that the Big Boys on the Block felt itself too big and powerful to be bothered with.
I was a neophyte member of the Management Committee of Somerset Cricket Club, going back 50 or more years ago. ZBM decided they were going to cover the Cup Match live for the first time. Their ace commentators at that time were the likes of Stanley Gascoigne and Stanley and Harold Evans, who like their present-day successors, did a fantastic job. ZBM without consultation had the temerity to bring their equipment and set it up on the top balcony of the Somerset Cricket Club. Did they condescend to “negotiate”? It would appear that proper negotiation would have averted the Blakeney-Moreno showdown and all the fallout from it. In my estimation cricket, without question, is a gentleman’s game on and off the pitch.
A new Cup Match-flavoured event leading up to this year’s big game in St George’s includes new mayor Quinell Francis inviting locals and visitors alike to participate in multiple pre-Cup Match activities.
There are many reasons why we believe that Cup Match is here to stay. In this year’s annual Somerset-St George’s Classic another significant one will take place tomorrow thanks to a dynamic group known as Heritage Productions, the director of which is Dr Radell Tankard.
They organised the first Emancipation Celebration Awards Dinner at the start of the 103rd Cup Match week.
The gala event resulted in seven undisputed Cup Match icons being honoured for their roles as players as well as awards presented to administrators and others for their contributions both to Cup Match and the broader Bermudian community.
The initial honourees were Woodgate Simmons, Leroy “Tubby” Richardson, Winton “Timmy” Edwards, Kenneth Paul, John Stovell, Calvin “Bummy” Symonds, Neville Darrell, all players and administrators, Reginald Pearman, chairman of the Cricket Board of Control, and Randall Butler, who headed the Bermuda Umpires Association. Each had the pleasure of hearing scholarly biographical highlights of their respective careers, and they in turn gave lighthearted responses, extending over a four-and-half-hour period.
We were honoured to have been asked to give a history of Cup Match, which seemed to have gone over quite well.
When all other presentations had been made, this writer was taken completely by surprise when Dr Tankard called me forward to receive a beautifully inscribed plaque for outstanding research and involvement in the annual classic.
Dr Tankard explained at the time that the Heritage Productions group was designed to recognise Bermudians who have made outstanding contributions in the community, and who have also sacrificed their lives in the struggle for political, economic, social, cultural and religious freedom in the island.
The 11th Annual Emancipation Cup Match Awardees include Kevin Saunders, Randy Raynor, Winslow Reid and Elvin James for Somerset and Willie Weldon, Richie Foggo, Rickey Hodsoll and Roger Leverock for St George’s. A special award will be presented to Yvette Brangman, the official Cup Match scorekeeper for the Somerset Cricket Club.
