Fear not that Cup Match celebrations might have peaked with last year's 100th game commemoration in St. George's - Somerset is promising an even bigger and better party this year.

As the official 100th anniversary event - the game was first played at Somerset Naval Field in June 1902 - the club is expecting over 15,000 people to pass through their gates over the two-day holiday.

Adding fuel to the rivalry - which has driven the sides from the East and West of Island to clash for a century - Somerset Cricket Club president Colin Smith said Cup Match 2002 will be “much better.

“This is Somerset Cricket Club and we will never be outdone,” he challenged.

Over six months of preparation have gone into setting up Bermuda's biggest and most distinctive party and fans will not go home disappointed.

The two clubs battled to a draw last year, but host Somerset will be looking for a win this weekend.

The blue-and-reds lost the inaugural event in 1902 to their blue-on-blue rivals, but a 100th anniversary victory could truly tip the overall balance in the West's favour.

Over the history of the event Somerset boasts 35 wins to St. George's 28.

There were 37 draws.

Drawing crowds in the tens of thousands in recent years, the game has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

When the first Cup Match was played, getting to the field was a bit more challenging than it is the age of scooters, cars and fast ferries.

Bermuda's few roads were made of coral stones and there was little in the way of transportation other than feet and pedal cycles.

According the George Rushe's ‘Your Bermuda', while the first automobile came to the Island in 1901, by 1908 Government had banned all motor vehicles and private vehicles were not allowed for another four decades.

There were also fewer fans to draw to the festivities. In 1900, roughly 17,000 people lived in Bermuda.

More than that number may attend the match and its associated activities this year for arguably the most important economic, social and sporting activity of the Bermudian calendar.

More money circulates over the highly anticipated four-day weekend than at Christmas, it has been said, as Bermudians endeavour to eat and drink everything on the Island.

The evolution of the game was tied to Emancipation. The first match grew out of competitions between the Island's “friendly societies” which were formed by freed slaves following Emancipation in 1834.

“It is important to note that upon Emancipation, the former slaves had no homes, no schools, no shops, no jobs, they were voteless and landless,” wrote historian and former journalist Ira Philip in a review of Cup Match for the event's website (www.cupmatchbermuda.com).

“The former slave owners were paid cash to compensate for the loss of the free labour of their slaves.

“Penny-less, the freed slaves with not much more than their indomitable spirits, formed themselves into friendly societies and lodges to provide their own infrastructure.

“These same societies and lodges spearheaded the annual observances of that historic August 1, 1834 date, which initially took the form of parades and divine services. In due course the emphasis shifted from the religious to the cultural, then to the sports field, with annual matches-cum-picnics involving competing lodges.”

For the bulk of Cup Match's history, segregation still ruled Bermuda - the system's back was not broken until the 1959 Theatre Boycott - but the cricket game became one of few events where black and white Bermudians celebrated in unity.

So many people began taking off work for the party by 1947, that Government eventually recognised it should make the dates national holidays - for which we are all grateful.

The first day of the holiday - Thursday - was officially christened Bermuda's Emancipation Day in 1998 by the new PLP government and the second is known as Somers Day.

When Bermudians, residents and visitors gather to mark Emancipation Day this year they will celebrate all the best traits of the Island - fun, the friendliness of its people and sportsmen undeterred by steamy temperatures.

And in a parade of fashion and laughter, they can reflect on how far the event has come since 1902.