In this scenario, the Confederate States manage to do the impossible, and win their independence from the United States. Don't ask me how, because that's not what this scenario is about, let's just say they perform better than expected, drag out the war and Union public support for an expensive and damaging civil war collapses - it's about what happens after. With the Confederacy having achieved their independence, one of the first orders of business was the "De-Yankeefication" of Northern influences in their new republic, and what's more Yankee than the sport of Baseball? The playing of baseball became quickly banned across the South, and in it's stead, the Southern authorities promoted a new sport - the gentlemanly English bat and ball game, cricket, popular in England and the Australian colonies.
Confederate authorities promoted cricket as a more "patriotic" game to play as opposed to the Yankee sport of baseball, whilst the Southern planter class and aristocrats loved the gentlemanly nature of the sport. From the 1860's onwards, Cricket became the Confederacy's national pastime, spreading out from the aristocratic class, down to amateur street cricket played by the poor working class, and enslaved people playing rudimentary cricket using what they could find, despite facing discrimination at all levels of the sport. Through the 1860s, 70's, and 80's, the Confederate national cricket team, as well as state cricket teams, become a force to be reckoned within the cricketing world, all against the backdrop of an increasingly domestically troubled, diplomatically ostracized, racist pariah state. So that's what this scenario is about - an independent Confederacy, but through the lens of Cricket becoming the major sport.
First up, we have an 1888 advertisement of the African American National Cricket Team's tour of England. This team was comprised of free black men who took up cricket prior to the abolition of slavery, but who were barred from any professional cricket organisations. England agreed to host the team in order to raise funds and awareness for the abolitionist cause, so we can see that slavery was still in place in the confederacy to some degree in the 1880s.
Next up, a bit of a look at the way that the Confederacy's Jim Crow laws were increasingly causing diplomatic tensions with the international community, with the Australian cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman, as Chair of Australia's Cricket Board, cancelling the Confederate national team's planned tour of Australia due to the Confederate team's policy of segregation.
Finally, we have a graphic highlighting the teams for the upcoming 2024 season of the Confederate T20 Cricket League, the premiere short format league which took the Confederacy by storm in the 2000's.
Confederate authorities promoted cricket as a more "patriotic" game to play as opposed to the Yankee sport of baseball, whilst the Southern planter class and aristocrats loved the gentlemanly nature of the sport. From the 1860's onwards, Cricket became the Confederacy's national pastime, spreading out from the aristocratic class, down to amateur street cricket played by the poor working class, and enslaved people playing rudimentary cricket using what they could find, despite facing discrimination at all levels of the sport. Through the 1860s, 70's, and 80's, the Confederate national cricket team, as well as state cricket teams, become a force to be reckoned within the cricketing world, all against the backdrop of an increasingly domestically troubled, diplomatically ostracized, racist pariah state. So that's what this scenario is about - an independent Confederacy, but through the lens of Cricket becoming the major sport.
First up, we have an 1888 advertisement of the African American National Cricket Team's tour of England. This team was comprised of free black men who took up cricket prior to the abolition of slavery, but who were barred from any professional cricket organisations. England agreed to host the team in order to raise funds and awareness for the abolitionist cause, so we can see that slavery was still in place in the confederacy to some degree in the 1880s.
Next up, a bit of a look at the way that the Confederacy's Jim Crow laws were increasingly causing diplomatic tensions with the international community, with the Australian cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman, as Chair of Australia's Cricket Board, cancelling the Confederate national team's planned tour of Australia due to the Confederate team's policy of segregation.
Finally, we have a graphic highlighting the teams for the upcoming 2024 season of the Confederate T20 Cricket League, the premiere short format league which took the Confederacy by storm in the 2000's.