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Cricket Demonstration Sport (1896)

There is good evidence of football being played in 1896, and there may also have been a cricket match played on the same day. Below are the details of the evidence of such a match, as given to me by Nitzan Zilburg.

Zilburg believes that a cricket match occurred. The 1896 official report states that many and various sports were contested on that day, April 12th 1896, however the official Olympic report only lists two events, shooting and cycling.

To complete the list of many and various sports, in addition to the shooting and cycling, he is sure that it was football and possibly cricket, and the writer of the 1896 Official Report mistakenly did not mention those sports or decided not to report the demonstration sports.

A program published on April 1st 1896 did not include football and cricket, but it is possible that a few days later the organizers of the games added these sports. There are several newspaper reports which list cricket on the planned program for 1896.

clipping from the Australian newspaper "The Evening News" from 8th April 1896 with cricket listed as a sport on the program

In this newspaper clipping from 1896, cricket and football are listed as sports on the program. Another official publication of the IOC dated April 11th, written in French, also says that football and cricket were on the program.

However, other newspaper clippings from that time suggest that cricket was not played, with one suggesting that "the cricket portion would undoubtedly have bored the public".

clipping from the Australian newspaper " The Inquirer and Commercial News" (Perth, WA) from 8th May 1896

While the appearance of cricket in 1896 is in dispute, cricket made an official appearance four years later at the Olympic Games in Paris 1900, and the sport will make a return in another format for LA 2028.

Related Pages

• About Cricket at the Olympics
• Cricket at the 1900 Olympics
• More Olympic Demonstration Sports
• More about The Sport of Cricket

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