Chapter 4: 1914-1921

A certain amount of cricket continued to be played in 1915 and 1916, but the club decided to sub-let the Tinsley ground to Vickers Sports for 1917 and 1918. Surprisingly there appears to be some confusion about what happened in 1919. No record can be found of a match having been played at Tinsley, though probably one or two internal club matches were tried, when it was found that the ground had sadly deteriorated and was not worth playing on. It seems also probable that the Lease of the ground was about to come to an end. Certainly in 1920 it became the ground of the Simplex Company, best known for producing the Sheffield Simplex car, which for a short time was a rival to Rolls Royce and considered by many to be its superior. The club looked around hard to find another ground, but meanwhile in 1919 and 1920 several of the best players got games with United.

In 1911 The Sheffield Amateur Sports Club Limited was formed as a non-profit making organisation and incorporated as a private company with a nominal capital of £1,000. In 1913 the company was converted into a public company and four acres of land were purchased at Handsworth, which the Sports Club thought would accommodate Sheffield Football Club, Collegiate, Sheffield Hockey Club and Sheffield R.U.F.C. Collegiate were never at all keen about the idea and shed no tears when the land became useless during the First War and was sold in 1919.

Their own search for a ground led them at last to Abbeydale Hall and Park and apparently they were all set to bid for it at the auction. As far as can be discovered there was considerable confusion at the sale, because R. Hargreaves, who was the main force in the Sports Club and also a member of Collegiate, was at the sale and was thought by the members of Collegiate present to be bidding on behalf of Collegiate, when in fact he was there to try and buy Abbeydale for the Sports Club. The misunderstanding generated much heat at the time, but the trouble was sorted out at a meeting held at the home of L. C. Barber, the then Collegiate Secretary. Collegiate invited to advise them T. G. Jameson, an energetic playing member, accountant and businessman, who subsequently became Chairman and Managing Director of Hardypick Ltd. Hargreaves outlined his ideas, Jameson asked a few questions, disliked the answers and, on getting no further response, said, according to L. C. Barber, "If that's your attitude, Mr. Hargreaves, I'm wasting my time here" and walked out. Be that as it may, the meeting succeeded in sorting things out, whereby Abbeydale remained the property of the Sports Club and Collegiate had the use of the cricket ground that was to be built. Probably the majority of Collegiate members were happy with this arrangement.

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