Author: Purple Brolly

Netball has its roots in women’s basketball from the USA, but it developed to suit the inclinations and dress code of young English womanhood of the early 1900s. It is a game of restricted zones of play, standing on the spot when holding the ball and no impeding the opposition other than waving your arms ~ perfect if you are wearing a long skirt, tight bodice and puffy sleeves!

Indeed, it is said that Mary Tait, one of the students at the Physical Training college in London which first devised the rules, came up with the design for the ‘gymslip’ specifically to allow more freedom of movement. Netball is played outdoors or indoors on a small court, 100ft x 50ft, with a 10ft high post at each end, to which is attached a ring with a net. Each of the seven players on a team has her own role and section of court on which she is permitted.

Netball is mainly known as a school sport for girls, but there are women’s teams as well, and an international side. Although males are known to play it in other countries, more physical games such as football have always been preferred in the UK.

(Image: Rae Slater at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

Croquet originated in the British Isles and was showcased at London’s 1851 Great Exhibition by John Jaques (1820-90). The family firm, Jaques of London, still makes croquet sets today, costing up to £6,000. The equipment includes mallets, balls, hoops and pegs that are inserted into the ground. The balls must pass through each hoop in the right sequence and direction.

Jaques wrote the first rule-book in the early 1860s, at which point it became more than a garden party game beloved by Victorian ladies in particular, as well as young couples who, when a ball rolled off the lawn, had an excuse to disappear into the bushes! Needing a manicured lawn, croquet gained a reputation for being part of the posh scene. However, some say that underneath its genteel exterior lies a fiercely competitive, dubious side where the opportunity to cheat can be tempting.

Lewis Carroll was a friend of the Jaques family (his niece married John’s son) and he loved their new creation, hence the inclusion of a croquet game in his book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ published in 1865. Plastic croquet sets are available today as children’s toys and they can be seen at summer fêtes as a fund-raising activity.

(Image: maxpixel.net)

A larger-than-life personality, Lord Ian Botham, OBE, nicknamed ‘Beefy’, is an English cricketing hero who continued to be in the public eye after he stepped down from cricket in 1993. He was an all-rounder; right arm fast-medium bowler and right-hand batsman. One of his achievements was to reach 100 runs and take 10 wickets in one match in 1980.

He was born in 1955 and grew up in Somerset enjoying sports of all kinds and playing in as many local cricket and football matches as possible. Somerset County Cricket Club signed him as a teenager and he made his first professional appearance for them in 1974. He then had a whirlwind seven years in which he also played for England from 1977 and was the saviour for his country in the 1981 Ashes. He continued his international career until 1992.

He went on to be a cricket commentator for twenty years with Sky. He is currently the chairman of Durham County Cricket Club and has launched his own brand of wines. He hosts charity golf events and has completed twelve long-distance charity walks, raising over £25,000,000 in the process. ‘Beefy’s Charity Foundation’ was set up in 2013 to donate to causes dealing with young people suffering chronic illness or other difficulties.

(Image from 1978: Archives New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0)