What you should and shouldn’t do at Cup Match

Writers and Bermuda historians Dale Butler and Meredith Ebbin have notched up around 80 Cup Matches between them.

And they shared with the Bermuda Sun their list of dos and don'ts for one of the island’s biggest celebrations.

Mr Butler, who has missed only two Cup Matches since he was five years old, said the most important thing was to fly your colours – the dark and light blue of St George’s or the blue and red of Somerset.

He added: “You have to tease your opponents and you have to have conch stew, mussel pie, Bermuda fish or shark stew, if you can find it. And you also need to have at least one snowball.”

Mr Butler said his list of don'ts included turning up without a wad of cash – with some set aside for the traditional game of Crown and Anchor.

Celebrate

He added: “You don’t get drunk, you don’t start a fight and you don’t smoke drugs. Also, don’t run on the field at inappropriate moments. Do celebrate with the players when they make 50 or 100, but don’t bring the game into disrepute.”

The former PLP MP and Minister, a Somerset fan, said a personal radio tuned to coverage of the game was a must – even if 100 people around you also had one – and that residents should go out of their way to be nice to tourists and explain the game.

Ms Ebbin, a former deputy editor of the Bermuda Sun, admitted she had seen the match more than 30 times – but that she still did not understand cricket.

But she added: “It’s Cup Match – it’s more than cricket, it’s the whole atmosphere. You see people you don’t normally see and Bermudians coming home from overseas. They come home for Cup Match.”

And she said she also “travelled light” with the only ‘must have’ a $5 bill set aside for a bet at the Crown and Anchor tables.

Ms Ebbin said: “I don’t really take that much – I travel light and I get everything there.”

She added: “It’s also the food – the mussel pie, the fish and the drinks of course, and Crown and Anchor.”