Despite a bomb falling on the outfield of the 1st XI square it would appear that the team had a very successful season, playing beneath the shadows and wires of the barrage balloons. Then later in September 1940 came the Blitz. For 91 consecutive days London was attacked with often five or six raids a day. The playing fields were covered in shell fragments and rugby matches were cancelled. Despite the obvious hardships and many of their usual opponents being evacuated out of London, the College was determined to maintain its fixture lists, and alternative opponents included teams from the army, hospitals and the police. The 1st XV played the Scots Guards on at least one occasion. The Alleynian defiantly announced that ‘War will not stop Cricket. It is in our bones!’ House roll calls were taken to ensure a good spectator turn out at matches and a marquee was erected as a new temporary pavilion. Indeed, it was during the war that Trevor Bailey, one of this country’s finest cricketers, began his journey to the top of the sport. It seems that the only concession cricket made was to allow the boys not playing in the 1st XI to wear grey flannels.
also continued to flourish. Boxing found a home in the Great Hall while fencing took place in the Old Library and, despite the difficulty in getting equipment, won the Graham Bartlett Cup at the Public Schools Fencing Championships in 1944. Squash, boosted by the school’s sojourn to Tonbridge, continued to grow, hiring space at the Dulwich Sports Club and using courts at Alleyn’s school. The Royal Engineers even built a temporary shooting range, although its use was significantly reduced by the restrictions placed by the war on the supply of ammunition. Tennis still had to find courts off-site, and were joined by students from SOAS language course for fixtures. Table tennis was introduced, although not afforded minor sport status. The steeplechase course was contested as usual but was a few hundred yards shorter owing to gun emplacements encroaching on the route.
was waterlogged. It was therefore not until 1944 that the College’s first inter-school athletics match took place against Epsom, who won 10 points to 6. The Assault at Arms made a welcome return after a decade and once again proved the popular spectacle it had always been; one item had to be omitted, however, when the Head Porter proved reluctant to have an apple sliced in two upon his neck by the Regimental Sergeant Major’s sword. Football also made an appearance as groups of students got together to form a team. One player, it was proudly announced, went on to play for the Royal Marines. On the night of 10 July 1944 a flying bomb fell on the gravel between the Science Building and the Armoury, destroying the Armoury, several fives courts and all four squash courts, and causing the roof of the Gymnasium and the Baths to collapse. Miraculously no-one was hurt.
Despite the constraints imposed by the ongoing war, minor sports
Given that the athletics ‘season’ took place in the Lent term, it is perhaps unsurprising that the first planned inter-school athletics match against Whitgift in 1940 was rained off as the track, marked out on the grass between the Clump and Alleyn Park,
Do you have any memories of the College during the Second World War? If you do, please do write to us at: alleynclub @ dulwich.org.uk
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