Club News Chichester and District Philatelic Society
President Bob Tebbitt presented a slant take on cricket at the last meeting of the Chichester & District Philatelic Society, as a spokesperson said. "This time places cricket has been played but, crucially, do not depict cricket being played."
"Bob split the display up according to the ICC (International Cricket Conference) membership of nations but told us many amusing stories, such as: The first football cup final was held at The Oval, slated to start 'after the boatrace'.
"Richmond Park, with stamps showing the Pagoda at Kew visible 'on the other side of the hedge'. Sheffield United ground where no cricket is played at all.
"We took a tour of The Other Place, which for those of you not subject to Ashes Fever means Australia finding mythical venues such as the MCG and the SCG (Melbourne and Sydney) host Aussie Rules Football and Rugby – including the 2023 World Cup final, the scene of a certain drop goal by Jonny Wilkinson.
"From South Africa we went to the Caribbean where we saw two versions of the 70c Bridgetown Port stamp, one in impossible reverse and the other correctly shown – both stamps issued in the end.
"In New Zealand Rugby is the main thing of course but grounds are shared, including the Wellington Regional Stadium known as 'The Cake Tin'. Fewer stamps could be found from India and Pakistan, but this is collecting-in-progress.
"This reporter particularly enjoyed a stamp from Sri Lanka showing the Red Fort at Galle, which is a bucket-list destination. These countries are all Test playing nations, those who do not have 'test status' are known as Associate Members, including Netherlands, Fiji, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Malaysia.
"We then moved to places with nothing to do with the ICC and then some very strange places cricket has been played such as a swamp, the Antarctic, a speedway track, under Derwent Water and Goodwin Sands with the tide out. Finally,
and most amusingly a match played at Bletchley Park with a scorecard of secret names such as 'blue sweater caught red sweater, bowled striped trousers 14'."