COMMONWEALTH OF THE PLOUGH ISLANDS
GOLDEN AGE - REVEALED TODAY
Hello! This thread will contain background information about the domestic sports of the Plough Islands (more information on the islands themselves can be found here) and, from time to time, results from competitions held within the country. The majority of posts will concern cricket, but future updates may contain other sports such as rugby football, curling, gymnastics, sailing, athletics, and potentially others. Please feel free to contact the author if you have any feedback or questions!
CRICKET (more information)
PLOUGH ISLANDS CRICKET ASSOCIATION
Cricket is by far the most popular sport in the country, approaching the point of being a national obsession. While it may seem odd that a game conventionally associated with class-based elitism and bourgeois recreation would be the national pastime in an egalitarian, socialist state, the sport has a rich history on the islands that is interwoven with the country's past. Cricket would have been known to the first British settlers of the Plough Islands in 1750, and it certainly seems to have been played on the islands for almost as long as people have lived there. Most settlers made a living crofting or fishing, with their leisure time strictly controlled by often exploitative relationships with the early colonial elite; under the circumstances, and aided by the long, cool, gently breezy, and rainless days of the Celestial Ocean spring and summer, cricket quickly became the sport of choice, and has been documented as early as the 1840s.
By the start of the 20th century, as in the motherland, cricket was firmly established at the centre of Plough Islander life, and the demographics and culture of the colony had caused the sport to develop in its own way, aided by the local environment being very different from much of Britain. The slow-growing grasses and lichen-heavy, spongy soil characteristic of the local flora gave rise to pitches that, compared to the parched strips at Ko-oren's Southbight Ground or the meticulously rolled track at Liventia's Park Central Oval, provide little pace but plenty of grip and turn on even a fresh ball. The typical Plough Islander bowling attack therefore often consisted, and often still consists, entirely of spin bowlers, which led to games being low scoring and dominated by long, tactically played innings.
With the formation of the Plough Islands Cricket Association in 1920 and the first formal, all-colony tournament in 1928, cricket became a national obsession and spectator sport on the islands, with thousands of people watching matches in the new Harrison Cup and the visit of a MCC team to play an exhibition match against a PICA Select XI drew 20 000 spectators to Sutton's Hanover Park ground; at the time, this represented the largest gathering of people in any place in the history of the colony. This record was only broken after World War II, when increasing left-wing agitation led by Gabriel Sutcliffe's Party of Socialists of the Plough Islands culminated in mass rallies in Sutton on the eve of the 1957 elections, which ultimately led to the islands attaining independence as a Marxist-Leninist socialist state in 1960.
The upheaval that immediately followed independence led to the departure of around a third of the newly independent country's population, predominantly the elite and landowning classes, and the expropriation of private property by the Socialist government. However, despite some initial fears, the Socialists prioritised the interests of cricket - many of the new cabinet being keen players, and Sutcliffe in particular recognising the potential of sport as a unifying force when having to essentially weave an independent Plough Islander identity from whole cloth. The newly state-owned PICA even maintained a relative independence rather than coming under the direct control of the Ministry for Culture and Society, as all other sports and leisure activities did. Indeed, Sutcliffe's social reforms almost enhanced the role of sport in the lives of ordinary Plough Islanders, with the new state's hostility to religion and control of the alcohol supply making the local sports club, rather than the demolished church or shuttered public house, the centre of social life in many small communities.
While at local level the game continued to thrive, the national team became somewhat moribund as the severing of the colonial and geopolitical relationship with the United Kingdom also meant the severing of all sporting links, and for the next few decades the Plough Islands Cricket Association existed for little else other than the maintenance and perpetuation of the domestic competitions. Though external developments did make their way into the country from time to time - a formal limited-overs competition and four-day first-class games arrived in 1970, and coloured uniforms for the latter were adopted in 1990, partially to coincide with the beginning of domestic colour television - regular international competition did not fully restart until Global Cricket Federation affiliation in 2018, which saw the revived national team make their full Test debut against Lisander that July.
That match, which ended in a draw, was watched by a capacity crowd at a specially enlarged December Park (as Hanover Park became known following independence) in the capital, and subsequent Plough Islander participation in international competition has been followed with great interest by their comrades and countrymen. With a small, isolated, and highly motivated community, the Plough Islands' connection to cricket often goes beyond mere interest; in a population of just a hundred and forty thousand virtually every household has or knows someone who plays competitively. This contributes to an often convivial atmosphere at games from Test match down to board league level, with little distinction made off the pitch between those playing and spectating.
There are two main domestic competitions run by the Plough Islands Cricket Association. The Harrison Cup is a first-class competition, made up of six teams, who represent regional cricket boards that are associated with one of the main islands in the chain, or - in the case of Sutton & Avalon and Swift - multiple islands or parts thereof. Players for the cricket board sides are drawn from clubs based within the area covered by each board, with a selection committee generally picking the team with input from coaching staff. These teams also contest the Sutcliffe Shield, the PICA's limited overs competition, which features four additional teams which represent the three branches of the Plough Islander armed forces and the University of the Plough Islands. These are restricted to recruiting from members of the institution in question; it is, therefore, possible for a player who happens to be a service member or student to represent one team at first-class level and a different team in List A games.
More information can be found below:
UNDER CONSTRUCTION 
