The Anglo-Saxon Social Model - The Expanded Universe

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A minor retcon of a previous cricket update. The plot of Attack of the Clones will come tomorrow.

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) is a global professional cricket organisation that administers the World Test Championship (WTC), the second oldest major international sporting competition in the world (after the British Home Championship). A total of 20 international teams play in the WTC: 5 teams in each of the Bradman, Grace, Trumper and Warner Divisions. The competition has been through numerous different formats as the number of teams competing rose and fell over the years before settling on the current structure in 1991.

As well as the WTC, the ICC also oversees the List-A World Series Cricket, which comprises 50 more international teams around the world. The ICC and the domestic cricket associations jointly manage the domestic first class competitions. The only exception to this rule is the Ranji Trophy, which has been solely administered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India since 2009.

The first officially recognised Test match took place on 15-19 March 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, between England and Australia. Australia won by 45 runs. Reciprocal tours thereafter became the established pattern of international cricket. A surprise victory for Australia against England in England in 1882 led to the establishment of the Ashes, inspired by a mock obituary of English cricket published in the Sporting Times the following day. The English tour of Australia in 1884-85 established the five-match tour as the standard length of competition. South Africa became the third team to play Tests in 1888, followed by the United States in 1891 and Ireland in 1892.

The first WTC took place in 1910-11, with Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa and the United States playing one another in a round robin format, with the United States finishing on top. The second edition was cancelled due to the outbreak of the Great War but the competition resumed in 1919-20. The introduction of Canada, India, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the West Indies saw the competition divided into two divisions for the first time, with the introduction of a Championship Series and the elongation of the season to three years.

After the World War, the WTC underwent an expansion first to 12 teams in 1949 and then 15 (and 3 divisions) in 1952. The expulsion of South Africa from the Commonwealth in 1961 saw them ejected from the WTC at the end of the 1961-63 season. This led to the contraction of the competition to 14 teams and 2 divisions until an expansion to 16 teams and 4 divisions in 1982. In 1991, the competition expanded again, to 20 teams, a format it has maintained ever since.

Each edition of the WTC takes place over three calendar years, with the regular season occupying two years and the finals tournaments the third. Over a regular season, each team plays each other team in its division in one five match series, with home advantage alternating from one season to the next. Teams are awarded 0 points for a lost Test, 1 for a drawn Test, 2 for a won Test, 3 for a drawn series, 4 for a series victory and 5 for a whitewash. The winner of each division then advances to the finals tournaments, which consist of the semi-finals and then a Championship Series, all of which are played at pre-agreed neutral venues. The semi-finals are five-match series but the Championship Series only goes beyond three Tests if the result is in doubt.

Since the creation of the WTC, Australia holds the overall record with 9 victories and 7 further appearances in the Championship Series. The West Indies and Great Britain have each won 7 titles, the United States 5, Pakistan 3 and Puerto Rico 1. India are the current champions, winning the 2018-20 edition of the competition, their second title.

Cricket is the most popular sport in India and either the first or second most popular in most Commonwealth countries (usually behind soccer and rugby but also hockey in the case of Canada) but is the national sport in a number of member states such as Australia, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Ceylon, Rhodesia and the West Indies. It is also a minority sport with a significant following in countries like the United States and the Benelux. The WTC itself is the third richest professional sport league in the world, by revenue.

 

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The North American Premier League is a domestic first class cricket competition in Canada, Puerto Rico, the United States and the West Indies. A total of 42 teams play across the competition’s seven leagues, with six teams in each of the Shell Shield, Puerto Rican League, Dominican League, Canadian League, Halifax Cup, Eastern League and Western League. Of these, 24 teams are from the United States (spread over the Dominican, Eastern and Western Leagues and the Halifax Cup) and 6 teams from each of Canada, Puerto Rico and the West Indies. Beginning in 1965, the league is the result of cooperation between the West Indies Cricket Board, the Puerto Rican Cricket Board, the Canadian Cricket Association and the United States of America Cricket Association.

Cricket has been played in North America since the 19th century. The first international match was contested between representative teams from Canada and the United States in 1844 and collegiate matches between Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania date back to at least 1864. At the same time, the game was also taking root in the British Caribbean colonies (which would later become the West Indies and Puerto Rico in the 20th century) and would be introduced to Dominica when it became an American state in 1874. Inter-island competition began to be organized in the West Indies from 1865.

By the late 19th century, the game in the United States was dominated by teams from Philadelphia and it was they who formed the backbone of the US national team that competed in the inaugural International Cricket League in 1910-11. Dominica, however, soon became a major alternate power-centre and first class competitions began in Puerto Rico in the 1930s. Intra-nation competition began in 1965, when the champions of the Shell Shield and the Halifax Cup competed in a grand final held in Philadelphia.

In 1977, the competition would be expanded, with teams from Dominica and Puerto Rico being admitted in their own regional leagues. The final major change came in 1993 with the introduction of teams of the Canadian, Eastern and Western leagues. In all these cases, this involved a mixture of creating new franchises or raising existing American cricket clubs (notably St. George’s in New York and Hollywood CC in Los Angeles) to first class status.

The popularity of the league, and of cricket in general, varies greatly over the different regions. In Puerto Rico and the West Indies it is considered the national sport and both domestic and international matches attract large audiences. In Canada, the sport lags behind both rugby and ice hockey and in the United States it is a minority sport nationwide, behind baseball, rugby and soccer (both men’s and women’s). However, in certain states, notably Pennsylvania and Dominica, cricket is arguably the most popular sport. The US national team is largely based in those two states and domestic cricket there attracts large crowds.

In each league, teams play 10 games each regular season and the winner of each league plus the best second-placed team advance to a knock-out tournament culminating in a grand final. Traditionally, the venue for this playoff tournament has alternated between Philadelphia and the West Indies, although more recent tournaments have seen games take place in Dominica, Puerto Rico and Florida.

 

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With credit to @sarahz , who has always, correctly, held my feet to the fire whenever I've neglected the women's game in my sport updates.

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Women’s cricket is the form of cricket that is played by women. The first recorded match was in England in July 1745. Historically a strictly amateur sport, restrictions on payments to players in most countries were removed in 1980.

The first women’s cricket club was formed in Yorkshire in 1887 and in 1890 a team known as the Original English Lady Cricketers became the first professional women’s team. A women’s cricket league was set up in Australia in 1894 and in the same decade women’s clubs were also formed in South Africa and Canada. The Women’s Cricket Association was established as a governing body in 1926, with representatives from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, Denmark and the Netherlands. The first international game was contested between England and Australia in 1934 and these matches became a common part of Ashes tours alongside the men's teams for the next few decades. From 1958, the teams competed for the Poulett-Harris Cup, named after the Australian pioneer of the game.

However, although the women’s matches attracted large crowds and profits for the organisers, the players were required to remain amateur. In 1976, the England captain Rachael Hayhoe was banned by the WCA for accepting payments during England’s tour of Australia. Shortly following her ban, Hayhoe entered secret discussions with Lord Astor, who had recently taken over his family’s media empire and was keen to add cricket to its television offering in both the United Kingdom and Australia. By the end of the 1976-77 Australian domestic season, Hayhoe and Astor had signed up over two dozen English and Australian players.

Following a lengthy court case with both the ICC and the WCA, the first World Series Cricket season began in 1978, featuring teams from England, Australia and the Rest of the World. Because the rights to cricket’s rules were owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club, World Series Cricket was played according to subtly different rules, the most obvious of which was that each team was restricted to one innings of a maximum of 60 overs each. Despite not being able to be played at first class cricket grounds, the competition proved a success, with a second season taking place in Australia in 1978-79 and a third back in England in 1979. At the same time, several WCA-run amateur tournaments had to be cancelled due to a lack of interest and players.

The reunification of women’s cricket occurred in 1980, with the WCA accepting professionalism and reorganising the game along Astor’s and Heyhoe’s proposed lines. Most notably, the limited-overs format was adopted for all top-level women’s games going forward. In 1995, the domestic game was reorganised, with clubs adopting a franchise format and regularising the international calendar.

In contrast to its male counterpart, the women’s game is dominated by domestic cricket, although the sport has competed at the Olympics since 1996 and the Poulett-Harris Cup continues to be contested in odd years. The most popular domestic leagues are the Big Bash League (featuring teams from Australia and New Zealand), the Euro Cricket Slam (featuring teams from the United Kingdom, the Benelux and the Nordic Union) and the National Women’s Cricket League (featuring teams from the United States). Other notable leagues include the Caribbean Super League in Puerto Rico and the West Indies, the Pakistan Super League in Pakistan and the Super Four Provincial Cup in Ceylon. Controversially, professional women’s cricket remains banned in India.

 

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Rugby football is a contact team sport that originated in the United Kingdom in the 19th century. In contrast with association football, rugby football is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a match is played between two teams of 13 players. In most of the world, the sport is known simply as “rugby,” although in North America it is commonly called “football” (by contrast, association football is commonly called “football” in the rest of the world and “soccer” in North America).

In 1845, the first football laws were written by pupils at Rugby School. Rugby and association football developed largely in tandem until the Football Association outlawed handling the ball at their first meeting in 1863, creating a permanent cleavage between the two sports. A further split within the rugby community, over the question of amateurism, was averted in 1895, when a meeting of the Rugby Football Union voted to allow professionalism. (The question of professionalism would remain a live one in other countries, however, with New Zealand not having a unified league until 1905 and the United States not until 1933.) The last major rules change occurred in 1920, when the northern and southern hemisphere codes were equalized, with northern hemisphere teams adopting certain southern hemisphere rules such as 13-a-side play and a maximum of six tackles before possession is turned over.

Rugby spread around the Home Nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland and was embraced by many other countries, particularly those which were members of the British Empire. Notable early exponents of the sport included Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and France. The sport also gained popularity in the United States after the banning, in 1909, of gridiron football as a result of a spate of deaths on the field. Other countries where the sport is popular include the Commonwealth of Independent States, Madagascar, Argentina, Japan, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.

International matches have been held since 1871. The Rugby World Cup, first held in 1947, is contested every four years. The tournament was originally contested in a round robin format over the course of the English domestic season, with matches being played at a variety of grounds around the United Kingdom. Ahead of the 1967 tournament, agreement was reached with the American rugby authorities for them to send a team and the competition format was changed to one featuring a pools stage and a simple-knockout stage which would be held in a single country over the course of about a month.

Aside from the World Cup, the other major international tournaments are the British Lions tour, the European Championships, the Six Nations and the Big Game. The European Championships are a knockout tournament contested between England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Italy, France, the CIS and the Soviet Union. The Six Nations is a round-robin tournament contested between New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Zulu-Natal and Argentina. The Big Game is an annual match contested between the American and Canadian teams. The British Lions are a team made up of players from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland who tour a country in either North America or the southern hemisphere every four years. The major domestic competitions include the Super League in England, the Celtic League in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the Latin League in France and Italy, the National Rugby League in the CIS and Soviet Union, the National Football League in Canada and the United States and Super Rugby in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea. More minor domestic professional leagues include the Currie Cup in Zulu-Natal, the Championship in Argentina and the Top League in Japan.

 

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Inspired by something that happened the other day...

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The National Football League (NFL) is a professional North American rugby league consisting of 32 teams based in Canada and the United States. The NFL is one of the five major professional sports leagues in North America and has the second-highest average viewership behind Major League Baseball and ahead of the American Soccer League, the North American Cricket League and the National Hockey League. The NFL’s regular season runs from early September to late December, with each time playing 14 games against the seven other teams in their league. The top two teams from each league advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Grand Final, which is usually held on the first Sunday in February.

Rugby in America (where it is still commonly known as ‘football’) was traditionally dominated by the college game, although professional teams became increasingly prominent in the beginning of the 20th century. The Rugby Football Challenge Cup, organised by the American Football Association a forerunner of the NFL, began in 1920, featuring a mixture of college and professional teams. However, the competition remained bedeviled by format changes and persistent conflicts between professional and college organisations for several years, with one estimate suggesting that as many as 15 different professional and amateur leagues and cups came and went between 1920 and 1960.

The NFL was formed in its present guise in 1933, when agreement was reached between certain college and professional teams to combine. In 1943 the college teams agreed to go professional and after the World War several franchises were founded without any prior relationship with educational institutions. In subsequent years, the NFL grew further to beat out the other rugby leagues in North America, taking particular advantage of the growing medium of television in the 1950s. By 1960, formal links had been cut between colleges and franchises, although informal links remain between teams like the Clemson Tigers and Clemson University. The exception are the teams who compete in the Ivy League, where players have the same level of library access and ability to sign up for courses as undergraduate students at the relevant college.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are the most successful team in the competition, winning 13 titles between 1936 and 2010. The Chicago Bears, Pittsburgh Steelers and Harvard Crimson are all in joint second place in the all-time leaderboard, with each team having won six titles.

 

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Major League Baseball (MLB) is an American professional baseball organization containing the oldest of the major professional sports leagues in North America. A total of 32 teams play in MLB: 8 teams in each of the National League (NL), American League (AL), Southern League (SL) and the Western League (WL). The four leagues were formed as separate legal entities in 1876, 1901, 1920 and 1960, respectively. The NL and AL have cooperated since 1903, with the SL joining that agreement in 1932. The WL has cooperated with the other three leagues since its foundation in 1960. From 1932 to 1968, the SL was known as the Negro League. All four leagues operated as legally separate entities until they merged into a single organization led by the commissioner of baseball in 2002.

Baseball’s first openly all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, were founded in 1869, although teams had secretly paid players for many years before that. The period before 1920 is known as the dead-ball era, during which players would rarely hit home runs. The sport survived an enforced break during the Great War and then a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series. It rose to popularity in the 1920s and survived potential downturns during the World War.

During the 1920s and 1930s, MLB was made up mostly of teams in the northeast of the country, where the sport originated. In the South, meanwhile, teams in the Negro Leagues predominated, attracting large crowds of mixed black and white spectators. Competition between the Negro Leagues and the NL and AL for players led to the teams from the Negro National League joining MLB as the third league in 1932, which provided for an organized system of player trades between the three leagues.

In the 1950s, as commercial air travel became more common it became possible to include locations in the far west. Officials from Los Angeles attended the 1956 World Series with the intention of moving a team (rumoured to be Brooklyn Dodgers) to the West Coast. However, in response, MLB and various state governments instead collaborated on the creation of the WL, with seven new major league teams, who began playing in the 1960 season. The only East Coast franchise to relocate were the Philadelphia Athletics, who moved to become the San Francisco Athletics.

Today, MLB is composed of 32 teams: 30 in the United States, 1 in Canada and 1 in Cuba. Teams play 90 games each season, six against league rivals and two against every other team in MLB. The winner of each league advances to the postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series that dates to 1903.

Today, MLB is the most popular sports league in the United States, with 33% of Americans describing it as their favorite sport. It is particularly known for its popularity amongst African Americans and Latino Americans. The games of the World Series are amongst the biggest club sporting events in the world, with the individual games often accounting for many of the most watched television programs each year. As well as its popularity in the United States, baseball, and by extension MLB, is also the national sport of a number of other countries including Cuba, Mexico, Japan and Korea. MLB is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue.

A total of 28 teams have won the World Series since it began in 1903. The New York Yankees are the most successful team in the competition, with 12 titles. The most successful teams in the NL, AL, SL and WL are the Brooklyn Dodgers (31 pennants), New York Yankees (39 pennants), Kansas City Monarchs (24 pennants) and San Francisco Athletics (14 pennants, with a further 9 AL pennants while the Philadelphia Athletics), respectively.

 

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Pre-emptive apologies for the slightly unimaginative list of winners: basically it's me just typing what I'd have liked this year's winners to be. As I spend more time thinking about the OTL film industry I'm sure I might have to retcon that list. The inbox about TTL's version of the Oscars still stands, though.

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