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A Confession?

neville cardus

International Debutant
"We too are glad to be doctors, one up and coming, the other here and going. We have had our doubts: one of us seriously considered a career on the stage, the other as a historian [...]. These remain our hobbies, unlike the famous cricketer, WG Grace, who took 10 years to qualify as a doctor, saying: 'Medicine is my hobby, cricket is my profession.'" -- Richards, Peter; Stockill, Simon: Learning Medicine, p. 132
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
I think he is referring to the fact that Grace was officially an amateur, and yet profited handsomely from the game.
 
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a massive zebra

International Captain
The extent of Dr Grace's shamateurism knew no bounds. I wonder how many people are aware of his terms for the 1891-92 Ashes tour? The tour was sponsored by Lord Sheffield, one of the world's richest men, who was determined to bring Grace over to ensure the box office success of his team.

Lord Sheffield wrote to Arthur Shrewsbury, inviting him to join the team and seeking his advice on the outlook of the tour. Shrewsbury believed that as Grace had not been to Australia for 18 years a new generation of cricketers would be eager to see him, so his presence alone would likely improve the takings of the tour by between £1500 and £2000.

Lord Sheffield immediately wrote to Grace, who, after a meeting at Sheffield Park in March 1891, agreed to make his second tour of Australia for a fee of £3000, plus all expenses for himself, his wife and two children, and the cost of employing a locum to run his medical practice while he was away. The total cost to Lord Sheffield for Grace alone was around £5000.

By means of comparison, the leading professionals on the tour, such as George Lohmann and Bobby Abel, all accepted £300. Even this was pretty good going when one considers that in 1901 only 400,000 in an English population of 33 million declared an annual income of over £400.
 
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silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Yeah, if ever there was a sport full of paupers, it's basketball...
Well, I think he was just much better at cricket. I did hear the same thing from Curtly in an interview - he said his first loves are music and basketball, and he played cricket mainly to pay the bills, and retired as soon as his body started giving out. He said he rarely watches cricket these days.
 

Richard

Cricket Web Staff Member
The point, though, is that the correlation between playing basketball and practicing medicine is roughly zero.
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
I had a fairly humoruous reply all set in my head but kept reading the rest of the thread and now I've forgotten it. :(
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
The extent of Dr Grace's shamateurism knew no bounds. I wonder how many people are aware of his terms for the 1891-92 Ashes tour? The tour was sponsored by Lord Sheffield, one of the world's richest men, who was determined to bring Grace over to ensure the box office success of his team.

Lord Sheffield wrote to Arthur Shrewsbury, inviting him to join the team and seeking his advice on the outlook of the tour. Shrewsbury believed that as Grace had not been to Australia for 18 years a new generation of cricketers would be eager to see him, so his presence alone would likely improve the takings of the tour by between £1500 and £2000.

Lord Sheffield immediately wrote to Grace, who, after a meeting at Sheffield Park in March 1891, agreed to make his second tour of Australia for a fee of £3000, plus all expenses for himself, his wife and two children, and the cost of employing a locum to run his medical practice while he was away. The total cost to Lord Sheffield for Grace alone was around £5000.

By means of comparison, the leading professionals on the tour, such as George Lohmann and Bobby Abel, all accepted £300. Even this was pretty good going when one considers that in 1901 only 400,000 in an English population of 33 million declared an annual income of over £400.
And if that wasn't enough, following Grace's one hundredth century in 1895, three seperate national collections were raised for his benefit, collected by the MCC, Gloucestershire CCC, and two national newspapers, in total amounting to about £10,000!
 

bond21

Banned
Yea, Ambrose beat Jordan in the draft for the Bulls but decided there wasnt enough money in the NBA.
 

neville cardus

International Debutant
And if that wasn't enough, following Grace's one hundredth century in 1895, three seperate national collections were raised for his benefit, collected by the MCC, Gloucestershire CCC, and two national newspapers, in total amounting to about £10,000!
Few coevals -- actually only Spofforth -- spring to mind who died richer than WG.
 
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fredfertang

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
And if that wasn't enough, following Grace's one hundredth century in 1895, three seperate national collections were raised for his benefit, collected by the MCC, Gloucestershire CCC, and two national newspapers, in total amounting to about £10,000!
WG's estate had a gross value for probate purposes of just £7,278 - he rented his home - wonder what the old bugger spent it all on?
 

a massive zebra

International Captain
London County were a team established in 1899 by the Crystal Palace Company. W.G. Grace, then 51 and well past his best as a player, was persuaded to take on the post of secretary/manager. His terms included a salary of £600 per annum, 1 shilling of every guinea collected in gate money (4.76%) and membership fees and free education for his son at the Crystal Palace School of Engineering.

By means of comparison, Surrey, one of the wealthiest county clubs at this time, paid approximately the following to their players on an annual basis:

Second team/ground staff £80-£100
Semi regular first eleven £160-£190
Leading first eleven £260-£290
'Star' contracts £300-£450

In addition to these payments, top players could earn £20 per home Test match (usually five matches once every three years), £10 per Gentlemen vs Players match (three per year) and £300-320 per Ashes tour (approximately once every three years). After around ten years of loyal service, regular players could also expect to receive a benefit. This could fetch anything from £300-£500 for low profile professionals to £2,000-£3,000 for popular Test players.

Figures sourced from The Players: A Social History of the Professional Cricketer by Ric Sissons and George Lohmann: Pioneer Professional by Keith Booth.
 
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