CaribbeanCricket.com

The Independent Voice of West Indies Cricket

Forums > The Rum Shop > The Captaincy George Headley Never Got

The Captaincy George Headley Never Got

Thu, Aug 13, '26 at 9:59 PM
Despite the Caribbean Islands being overwhelmingly populated by people of African descent, white supremacy was still rampant, a remnant of slavery and colonialism, which plagued West Indian society for years. Ivo Tennant was a cricket writer for The Sunday Telegraph, The Times, and The Cricketer. In Frank Worrell, his biography of the Barbadian legend, he relates a story from Australian allrounder Keith Miller, who, while on tour of the West Indies, “attended a party at Goddard’s house and asked him why none of the three Ws was present. ‘We do not mix socially,’ was the reply, whereupon Miller left and did not return.”
What’s interesting about this story is the ease with which Goddard seemed to accept that those of his race and class did not consort with those from the lower rungs. It was just the way things were. 
Equality came slowly and had to be wrung from the hands of the ruling class. But change was inevitable, and had to include the captaincy of the regional cricket team.

https://garfieldrobinson1.substack.com/p/the-captaincy-george-headley-never

Thu, Aug 13, '26 at 11:05 PM

@spider

Thanks for article..

I started my interest in cricket as a preteen with WI tour of England under Goddard in 1950

 Clyde Walcott said the following about Hutton’s absurd remark: “When the 1950 West Indian side went to England eight of the sixteen players were white...."