Magpie Miscellany Parts 18 & 19
The Desborough Sports Ground
The formal name of Maidenhead United’s home is The Desborough Sports Ground with York Road simply being the address. This name reflects both the individual who sold the ground to the club as well as its heritage as the former home of many sports.
The main club when football arrived in 1871 was Maidenhead Cricket Club. Its origins are shrouded in the midst of time. In 1792 the MCC played a two day match against Berkshire at Bray. The following year a team variously called Oldfield or Maidenhead played the MCC at Lords. This fixture was reversed in 1794 when two England Elevens also played at Bray for a prize of 1,000 guineas. The Maidenhead Cricket Club was recorded as being founded in 1798 at the 1923 AGM. Its York Road base illustrated by the way the Maidenhead Heritage Centre was formerly a pub called The Cricketers
An all England eleven played at Kidwells Park in 1853. Maidenhead FC’s founding member William Nicholson played for the home team with Johns Lillywhite and Wisden selected for the opposition.
Initially MFC were very much tenants of the cricket club which had the patronage of Lord Desborough (then known as WM Grenfell), and engaged the services of a professional cricketer to augment the gentlemen amateurs. The club was the leading one in the area hosting Womens cricket, a House of Commons XI and I Zingari but the reluctance of the Maidenhead public to pay to watch the summer sport meant it was in semi-permanent crisis.
This was resolved in 1892 when MFC took over the assets of the tennis and cricket clubs. Maidenhead Cricket Club reformed with MFC as landlord. A pavilion was built where the tea bar stands now. This was later destroyed by fire but rebuilt in the style of the original building. Looking out onto the pitch today from the main stand it's possible to envisage the cricketers walking down the steps of the pavilion onto the cricket field. It is not known where the playing square would have been but the fact that football was initially played east to west at the Bell Street end of the ground suggests it would have been where the centre circle is today.
The Edwardian period is known as the golden age of cricket and this certainly proved to be the case at York Road. In 1894 the MCC played Maidenhead at the Orkney cottage cricket ground in Taplow to mark the centenary of the 1793 match. This had been delayed by a year whilst the MCC found a gap in their schedule. The MCC then went on to be annual visitors to York Road, fielding a smattering of county professionals. Maidenhead’s professional was Jinny Janes who also starred for the football team.
In 1922 the Maidenhead Advertiser described an afternoon at the cricket with a “splendid stretch of shade by the trees by the railway side”, and a “roped in enclosure fronting the pavilion where afternoon teas are on tap”. However the opening of the football club’s 500 seater grandstand in September 1922 made it unfeasible for a cricket club of Maidenhead’s stature to continue playing at York Road so they moved to Spencers Farm later in the decade. In 1940 they temporarily amalgamated with Bray CC, a move that was made permanent post war.
Cricket did continue at York Road. The Julian Cup evening cricket competition was founded in 1924 in memory of Lord Desborough’s son who had been killed in World War One. In 1931 a crowd of between six and seven hundred gathered at the club to watch the final. “The most striking feature was the palpable cheerfulness which prevailed. There was none of the dour and serious intensity of partisan feeling seen and heard at football matches”. Maidenhead United’s team, captained by Duke Care, and featuring Percy Care, Fred Wooster, George Copas and Gerry Richens, beat Taplow to win the Cup for the first time.
The final returned to York Road for the next three seasons. It was played in front of growing crowds but in 1935 the ground was deemed “unsafe”.
In 1933 MUFC won the cup again led by Care, this time against Holyport in front of the “biggest crowd ever seen for a cricket match in Maidenhead”.
The return of war in the 1940s saw St Marys CC play at York Road before moving to Spencers Farm, and having amalgamated with Nomads CC changed their name to North Maidenhead.
Former star footballer Cliff Welford led the MUFC cricket team to more Julian Cup success in the 1950s. They were beaten by Old Maidonians in the 1952 final, winning the cup for the final time in 1954 against BTR (Taplow).
In a footnote to the history of cricket at the club, in 1981 Maidenhead supporters beat Slough supporters by 23 runs at Braywick, local journalist Clive Baskerville taking 4-8 for the Magpies.
The Desborough Bowling Club opened in 1907 on land formerly used by Maidenhead Cricket Club. The club’s patron Lord Desborough, started the first match by bowling a silver jack. The match against High Wycombe ended in a dead heat, and was followed by a supper in the Rose.
In 1941 Sunday bowling was allowed, and the following year, one of the members, a Maidenhead dentist called T. Campbell-Sykes, was elected President of the English Bowling Association.
In 1951 women were permitted to use the green on Sundays, but only if it was not required by men. This permission was revoked a year later and it wasn’t until 1962 that a women’s section was allowed to be formed. However they were not allowed to wear trousers and it wasn’t until 2001 that they received full membership rights.
The club built one of the country’s first indoor rinks in 1965. This was financed in part by members buying debentures, and a large loan from Farmer Burfitt.
The new facility meant matches could be played all year round, and the best local bowlers were attracted to join the club which would go on to achieve notable performances in national and international competitions.
Floodlights were installed in 2001 to allow evening play on the outdoor green and in 2006 the club enjoyed their most successful season winning the Kennet League.
As part of the larger York Road site, the club was often mentioned alongside the football club in discussions about relocation, and was part of the abortive Tesco project to move to Stafferton Way twenty years ago.
Six years ago, they took the plunge and sold their site, moving to a brand new purpose-built multi million pound Club situated in Green Lane with indoor and outdoor rinks in 2019. It is now described as Berkshire’s leading indoor bowling complex.
Tennis was played at York Road prior to the arrival of football, but as mentioned above, became tenants of MFC in 1892. Following the sale of York Road by Lord Desborough to the football and bowls club, the tennis club was reformed and became tenants of the latter.
In 1954 the club played a celebrity match against a team of footballers led by Arsenal’s Bernard Joy who was accompanied by Fulham’s Jimmy Hill, Johnny Haynes and Bedford Jezzard.
Despite being a prominent member of Berkshire LTA, the York Road Lawn Tennis Club lost its home in 1963, when their Bowls Club landlords decided not to renew their lease. This provided the land for the construction of the Indoor rinks.
The photo below from the mid 20th century, shows a football match in progress with the bowling green behind the old stand and the tennis club to its right.
Sources:
A History of the Julian Cup, David Evans, 2004
One for Sorrow, Two for Joy, Mark Smith, 2011
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