The Sydney Riot of 1879 was an instance of civil disorder that occurred at an early international cricket match. It took place on 8 February 1879 at what is now the Sydney Cricket Ground (at the time known as the Association Ground), during a match between New South Wales, captained by Dave Gregory, and a touring English team, captained by Lord Harris.
The riot was sparked by a controversial umpiring decision, when star Australian batsman Billy Murdoch was given out by George Coulthard, a Victorian employed by the Englishmen. The dismissal caused an uproar among the spectators, many of whom surged onto the pitch and assaulted Coulthard and some English players. It was alleged that illegal gamblers in the New South Wales pavilion, who had bet heavily on the home side, encouraged the riot because the tourists were in a dominant position and looked set to win. Another theory given to explain the anger was that of intercolonial rivalry, that the New South Wales crowd objected to what they perceived to be a slight from a Victorian umpire.
The pitch invasion occurred while Gregory halted the match by not sending out a replacement for Murdoch. The New South Wales skipper called on Lord Harris to remove umpire Coulthard, whom he considered to be inept or biased, but his English counterpart declined. The other umpire, future prime minister Edmund Barton, defended Coulthard and Lord Harris, saying that the decision against Murdoch was correct and that the English had conducted themselves appropriately. Eventually, Gregory agreed to resume the match without the removal of Coulthard. However, the crowd continued to disrupt proceedings, and play was abandoned for the day. Upon resumption after the Sunday rest day, Lord Harris's men won convincingly by an innings.
In the immediate aftermath of the riot, England cancelled the remaining games they were scheduled to play in Sydney. The incident also caused much press comment in England and Australia. In Australia, the newspapers were united in condemning the unrest, viewing the chaos as a national humiliation and a public relations disaster. An open letter by Lord Harris about the incident was later published in English newspapers, and caused fresh outrage in New South Wales when it was reprinted by the Australian newspapers. A defensive letter written in response by the New South Wales Cricket Association further damaged relations. The affair led to a breakdown of goodwill that threatened the future of Anglo-Australian cricket relations. However, friction between the cricketing authorities finally eased when Lord Harris agreed to lead England at The Oval against the touring Australians in 1880; this match became the fourth-ever Test and cemented the tradition of Anglo-Australian Test matches.
Background
England cricket tours to Australia started in 1861, and, while successful, were still in their infancy in 1879 despite the first Test match having been played in 1877. The teams were of variable quality; while promoters sought the best cricketers, they still had to agree to terms. In addition, many could not afford the time for the long boat trip, the tour itself, and the return voyage—the journey itself often took up to two months. Aside from a tour by an Australian Aboriginal team in 1868, the Dave Gregory–led campaign in 1878 was the first major Australian tour to England. The tour was generally regarded as a success; a highlight was the Australians' famous victory over a very strong Marylebone Cricket Club outfit, which included W. G. Grace, the dominant cricketer of the 19th century, in less than four hours.
Keen to make the most of this success, the Melbourne Cricket Club—the Australian Board of Control for International Cricket was not created until 1905—invited Lord Harris, an eminent amateur cricketer of the time, to lead a team to Australia. The team was originally meant to be entirely amateur, but two professional Yorkshire bowlers, George Ulyett and Tom Emmett, joined the tour team after two Middlesex players had to withdraw due to a bereavement. The main distinction between amateurs and professionals was social status, and although amateurs were not paid for playing, they did receive generous "expenses" which usually exceeded anything they would have been paid as professionals. Despite the presence of two professionals in the team, the Englishmen were described as "Gentlemen", a euphemism for amateurs. Now that Ulyett and Emmett were in the team, they did a large part of the bowling, and commentators felt that Harris had overworked them.
At the time, English cricket was dominated by amateurs. Generally educated in public schools such as Harrow and Eton, and universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, to them, sport was, in a large part, a social leisure pursuit. In contrast, the Australians were regarded by the social standards of the 19th century as coarse, rowdy and uncultured. The likes of bushranger Ned Kelly heightened perceptions that Australia had a bandit culture. Violence, heckling and abusive chanting among drunken spectators and gamblers at sporting grounds were commonplace in 19th-century Australia, and the prevalence of betting was seen as a major cause of crowd unrest. There were many instances of concerning player behaviour during the 1878 tour of England, and Gregory's men were considered to be unrefined and raucous.
Cheating was a regular occurrence in 19th-century Australian cricket, and the intercolonial rivalry was strong—the modern states of Australia were separate colonies until their federation in 1901. As in real life, the sporting rivalry was at its most bitter between the two most populous and politically powerful colonies, New South Wales and Victoria. The endless dispute between the colonies over whether Sydney or Melbourne would be the capital of Australia eventually forced the compromise that saw the construction of Canberra midway between the two cities. With regards to sport, cricket administrators from both colonies sought to undermine their cross-border counterparts. On the field, matches were dominated by tit-for-tat throwing wars. Both colonies sought to stack their teams with players who either had borderline—and sometimes flagrantly—illegal bowling actions to use physical intimidation as a means of negating opposition batsmen. Gregory, whose action was regarded as highly dubious, was prominent in his New South Wales team pursuing a policy of condoning illegal bowling. It was amidst a background of inter-colonial rancour and a belligerent Australian sports culture that the riot broke out.
Soon after Gregory's 1878 Australian team returned home, Lord Harris's Englishmen arrived. Australia won the first match, played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, by 10 wickets. The match was later recognised as the third Test match in history. New South Wales paceman Fred Spofforth—nicknamed "The Demon" because of his ferocious pace—took 13 wickets in the match, including the first ever Test hat-trick. The next tour match was against New South Wales and started on 24 January at the Association Ground in Sydney. New South Wales won by five wickets, despite the absence of Spofforth—who withdrew from the home side after spraining his wrist the night before the start of the match— and Gregory, who had been dropped for missing a training session and failing to provide an explanation for his absence.
Match
The third tour match and the second game between the English XI (led by Lord Harris) and New South Wales—captained by Gregory—commenced on Friday 7 February at the Association Ground. It was usual for each side to select one of the two umpires for a match. The English selected 22-year-old Victorian George Coulthard, upon a recommendation from the Melbourne Cricket Club. As well as being a star footballer for Carlton, Coulthard was a ground-bowler employed by Melbourne, but was yet to make his first-class cricketing debut. Coulthard accompanied Harris's men from Melbourne following the Test. New South Wales selected Edmund Barton, who later became the first Prime Minister of Australia.
As both Gregory and Spofforth were playing for the hosts, bookmakers were offering attractive odds against an English win, and New South Wales were heavily backed, having won the previous match with an even weaker side. The Sydney Morning Herald condemned the "impunity with which open betting was transacted in the pavilion", in defiance of the prominent notices indicating that gambling was banned.
Lord Harris won the toss and chose to bat. At about 12:10 pm in front of approximately 4,000 spectators, A. N. Hornby and A. P. Lucas opened the England innings. They put on 125 for the first wicket before Spofforth bowled Lucas for 51 and Hornby soon after for 67. Hornby had given a chance during his innings, but Lucas did not. Ulyett and Harris steadied the innings after the two quick wickets and added 85; Ulyett made 55 before falling victim to a running, diving catch, and Harris made 41. During his innings, Harris edged a ball to wicket-keeper Murdoch, but Coulthard ruled him not out; this was noticed by the journalists present and reported the following day. Spofforth cut up the wicket with his feet so badly that it became very difficult to play, and Edwin Evans, bowling from the other end, pitched nearly every ball into the marks. The loss of Ulyett and Harris in quick succession triggered a sudden collapse as England lost 7/34 to be all out for 267. Evans took 5/62 and Spofforth 5/93. The English batsmen were productive against the bowling of Edwin Tindall, taking 79 runs from his 27 overs without losing a wicket. At stumps on the first day, New South Wales were 2/53, with wicket-keeper and opening batsman Billy Murdoch on 28 and Hugh Massie on three.
The match recommenced at noon the next day, Saturday 8 February. Ten thousand were in attendance, and New South Wales started well. Murdoch and Massie took the score to 107 before the latter fell, and the hosts reached 3/130 at lunch, without losing another wicket. However, wickets tumbled through the afternoon, none of the incoming batsmen passed single figures, and New South Wales were all out for 177, a deficit of 90 runs. Tom Emmett took the last seven wickets to end with 8/47. Murdoch batted through the innings for 82 not out, making him the hero in the eyes of the locals. He hit 11 fours, and Wisden called his effort a "grand innings". The prevailing rule of the time required New South Wales to follow-on (i.e. to bat again), as they were more than 80 runs in arrears. New South Wales started their second innings around 4 o'clock. Then, when the New South Wales second innings score was 19, the opening partnership between Murdoch and Alick Bannerman ended when the former was adjudged run out by Coulthard for 10.
Riot Many in the crowd disagreed with the decision and took exception to it being made by an umpire employed by the Englishmen. That Coulthard was a Victorian added to the emotions of the crowd, who thought along intercolonial lines. The Sydney Evening News propagated rumours that Coulthard had placed a large bet on an English victory, something that the umpire and Lord Harris later denied. Loud hooting came from the pavilion, especially the section where the gamblers, who had overwhelmingly backed a New South Wales victory, were situated. It was reported that well-known gamblers were prominent in inciting the other members of the crowd, amid loud chants of "not out" and "Go back [to the playing field], Murdoch". Gregory was later accused of trying to fan the dispute and encourage the crowd to gain an advantage for his team. The crowd was already suspicious of Coulthard's competence and impartiality; the Sydney Morning Herald commented in that morning's edition, "The decision [to give Lord Harris not out on the first day] was admittedly a mistake".