Test Match Crowds

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 17, 21 January 1937, Page 11

Test Match Crowds

MANY WOMEN AMONG SPEC- | TATORS As early as IU a people were | wedged in their seals us tightly as sar- s dines, looking as if they had been 3 ‘ settled in” all night, states 1. Mel- | bourne Argus writer in a description of | a Test match crowd. 5 But nobody seemed to mind. It was | a particularly good-natured crowd, aud ] many women gavo up scats at intervals so that those who were standing might have a short rest. A number of .j women came with littlo camp stools, jj which they also shared with others 3 less far-sighted than themselves. When the luncheon interval camo | people did move about, but it was ai- 3 w. ys only one of a party who went 3 down to purchase cool drinks or ice- i creams, and their seats were always 3 zealously guarded until they returned. | it was to all intents and purposes a | feminine crowd in the Grey Bnnth stanii | in the ihenxbers’ reserve, and if anyone | patronised the luncheon-rooms, it must 5 have been only men, for picnic lunch- 3 eons were definitely the order of the | day. All manner of receptacles had | been requistioned to carry the food— 5 from elaborate picnic basnets to card- 3 board boxes —and there were thermos | flasks by the thousands. 3 Women always settle themselves in 3 comfortably for a long day like this. It 3 was a case of “hats off” almost as soon | as they arrived, and it was very inter- 3 esting to look down on the vast sea of 3 heads and notice the different styles of 3 hairdressing among the younger women. | Dark glasses with coloured goggle | rims were worn by practically every | second person, both young and old, aud, | although they created a very quaint 3 effect, they certainly proved very rest- = ful in counteracting the strain of graz- 3 ing continuously ito the glare of the ■ sunlight. Celluloid eyeshades were also very popular. Even in the seats in front of the stand, without any shelter, most of the women sat hatless throughout the day, and iu many cases were showing signs of sunburn and windbum as the day wore on. There is a happy and sensible informality about a Test match crowd. Even when a woman took off her shoes and stood on her rubber cushion to ease her j tired feet it seemed only a sensible i thing to do, aud perfect strangers on- ; tered into conversation freely both dur- ? iug the long wait before the match bo- | gun and later in commenting on the play. No one who listened to these conversations could doubt the knowledgeable enthusiasm of the women who go to these matches, or believe for one moment that they go just because they think it is “the thing” to do so. And 1 the number of older women is really rel markable. There were women considerf ably more than 60 years of age, who . stood cheerfully for hours without com--1 plaint, or without any thought of leav--1 ing early because they were weary, and / most of them remained optimistic in 3 spite of small scores and the threat to . the wicket from rainclouds 011 the horizon.