Whatever happened to…
Fred Rumsey
Fred Rumsey was a left-arm fast bowler who gained five Test caps for England in the mid-1960s. While he had a distinguished career representing Worcestershire, Somerset and Derbyshire, he is best known for being the founder of the Professional Cricketers’ Association – and, in October, he was presented with the NatWest PCA Lifetime Achievement award by Andrew Flintoff.
What led you to start the PCA? In the early part of 1966 it was apparent that cricket was going to move towards a oneday game. We were playing the Gillette Cup, and there was a move to introduce a Sunday one-day game. I felt that things were happening too quickly and players weren’t getting the chance to comment. Our only day off a week was a Sunday. So I decided to put together a proposition for forming an organisation that I suppose effectively was a union, albeit it was called an association. During 1966 and 1967, I contacted all the clubs playing first-class cricket at that time and put the idea to them. The indications were that it was something that was required. So in September 1967, with the help of the Daily Express, we held a meeting at the Press Club in London and formed the Cricketers’ Association, as it was then called.