Relief: Sport relief sculpture
Erection date: 1934
Lord’s Cricket Ground
{Behind the heads:}
Play up, play up and play the game.
{At left, below the figures:}
Presented to St Marylebone by Alderman David Isaacs 1934.
{Just above the right-most foot:}
Gilbert Bayes, 1934.
Portland stone. Charmingly modern relief sculpture showing 13 sport participants (including 3 women) all of whom carry their racquets and footballs the way saints carry their attributes of wheels and keys. The sports represented are: tennis, golf, cricket, rugby, football, rowing, swimming. One of the cricketers is gingerly proffering 'the Ashes'. The central figure is a man towelling himself down, presumably in the changing rooms, and taking the opportunity to show off his physique. A cricketer kneeling down to do something with his bat may really be sneaking a look under the towel. The “Play up” quote comes from the 1897 poem ‘Vitai Lampada’ by Sir Henry Newbolt.
Site: Sport relief sculpture (1 memorial)
NW8, St John's Wood Road, Lords Cricket Ground
This doen't really commemorate anything but it is such fun we had to have it.
The sculpture was placed on this corner following a widening of the roadway in 1934. Then in 1995-6 the corner was remodelled and a new setting was formed for the sculpture. Masterfile have a picture of the sculpture in its previous position, with a plaque below. We'd love to know what that plaque said.
