Where it all began
The Pioneers of 1933
The dictionary describes the fugitive as “one who flees from duty, danger or punishment” and there would appear to be an inference that such a person would not be a very pleasant character. That being the case the term could not be applied to the group of foot-loose and fancy-free young buffs who got together in early thirties to form a cricket club.
Certainly at the time there was a hit film in Newport entitled “I am a Fugitive” and Les Ingram, who has the dubious honour of suggesting the name, did in his early days possess the rather sinister good looks of the star of the film, Paul Muni. The film's hero had also been wrongly imprisoned and his efforts to escape from the shackles which bound him won the sympathy of packed cinema houses. The Newport Fugitives then were the “good guys”, shaking off the bonds of convention, devil-may-care but lovable; born to be free.
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