Cup Match
Event Info
August 1, 2024
Welcome to CUPMATCH
The biggest event in Bermuda's calendar. Centred around a heated cricket match between two rivals, St. George's and Somerset, Cup Match is a great opportunity to fall in love with the game. It takes place over two days in summer - a Thursday and a Friday - and this year it falls on August 1st & 2nd.
The match is important, but the holiday is about more than just cricket. Emancipation Day coincides with the first day of Cup Match, giving locals and visitors a chance to recognise one of the most significant moments in Bermuda's history: the abolition of slavery on the island in 1834.
It is followed by a second public holiday on Friday, Mary Prince Day, which celebrates the Bermudian born Abolitionist and National Hero. This was the first public holiday that has been named after a Black woman.
Bermudians take cricket seriously, and they’re not alone. cricket is the second-most popular sport in the world, with 120 million people playing all over the globe. By the late 1880s it was common to hold a cricket match somewhere on the island during Emancipation Day celebrations, but Cricket playing soon became the main focus of the day. It began as a friendly game played between two lodges, one from the east and one from the west, competing for a silver cup. By 1902 it had become an annual game and the St. George’s and Somerset cricket clubs were born. The highly anticipated game is played over two days as teams from Somerset, the West End of the island, and St. George’s, the East End, face off. It was so popular that residents would often miss work to watch the game, therefore, in 1947 it was made a public holiday.
East vs West
For weeks leading up to the match residents show their support by proudly wearing their team colours: red and dark blue for Somerset, light blue and dark blue for St. George’s. Residents fly their team flag at their homes, on their cars and on silk ribbons pinned to their clothes. At the game, fashions are coordinated around these colours from head to toe – from ties to shirts and shorts, to earrings to manicures, so pick a side.
For Cambridge Beaches...it is Somerset all de way!