Is nothing sacred? New academic research is suggesting that the game of cricket, always thought to have originated in England, actually started in Belgium! From here it was introduced into England.
The research has been carried out byPaul Campbell of the Australian National University and the new theory hinges on a newly discovered poem, dated 1533 and attributed to John Skelton.
The first references to cricket in England date back to the 1600’s and the first cricket club, Hambledon, was founded in the 1760’s. The MCC was founded in 1787. However, according to Paul Campbell, Flemish weavers were playng the game long before this time, using curved sticks or shepherd’s crooks as bats.
Up until now, the generally held belief is that the game of cricket as we know it today evolved from a children’s game.
Campbell’s research follows earlier studies by a linguist from Bonn University, Dr Heiner Gillmeister. And it doesn’t stop with cricket, oh no! There are suggestions that the although Scotland may be the ‘spiritual’ home of golf, the game may have been played a lot earlier in…..Belgium.