Hooked

“TO begin with [said the German], I was much astounded at the enormous seating area of the ground, and at the huge crowd that was assembled to watch eleven men from Nottingham play at bat and ball against eleven men of Surrey.

“But what seemed to me hardly credible was the extreme orderliness of the many thousands as they came and went through the turnstiles or stood in their places round the ring. And yet there were only four or five policemen on the ground. These, too, had nothing much to do. They seemed chiefly occupied in finding some spot to stand where they could see the match well without obscuring any one’s view.

“I remarked on this to my friend, and told him that abroad it would require at least three hundred policemen to keep such a huge crowd in order. ‘Ah!’ he replied, ‘but all these people come to see cricket, and when they get here pay no attention to anything but the game. So they sit still and don’t interfere with one another.’ Then I saw how deeply the English are interested in games.”