Belgium and Cricket!? “New” Inventors
- March 3rd, 2009
- Posted by Daniel Challis
An Australian academic has uncovered evidence revealing that cricket was not invented by the Brits but instead comes from Belgium; usually more famous for its chocolate than most other things…
ALL ENGLAND GAME?
Paul Campbell from the Australian National University’s (ANU) English and Theatre department, claims he found a poem by John Skelton written in 1533 which mentions immigrants from Flanders (Belgium) playing cricket.
Campbell reportedly found the poem during a search of historical archives in an attempt to discover variations on the way cricket has been spelt.
The Image of Ipocrisie contains the earliest known reference to cricket; supporting the theories that Flemish weavers introduced the game when they moved to England in the 14th century.
A German academic from the University of Bonn who helped Campbell, Dr Heiner Gillmeister, said the term ‘cricket’ is based on a Flemish phase meaning: “to chase with a curved stickâ€.
He said the poem could be one of the first known references to cricket.
“Of course there is something quite ironic about a German and an Australian making discoveries about what is considered to be such an English game, and in reality that game being a foreign import,” Mr Gillmeister said.
Reference:
The Economic Times, ‘Cricket was not English, research reveals’ (1.3.09), http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET-Cetera/Cricket-was-not-English-research-reveals/articleshow/4209389.cms, (3.2.09).
Picture:
www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au