Category: Sport

The sport of bowls is centuries old, as evidenced by the well-known story of Sir Francis Drake insisting on finishing his game of bowls before attending to the arrival of the Spanish Armada in 1588. In fact, the oldest surviving bowls club actually dates from 1299 and is in Southampton. Bowls is seen as a gentle sport especially suitable for older people.

A ‘jack’ (small white or yellow ball) is rolled to the end of the lawn, which is either flat for ‘lawn bowls’ or uneven for ‘crown green bowls’. The player rolls a ‘wood’ (a large bun-shaped ball) towards the jack. Each player has two woods for crown green bowls or four for lawn bowls. Whichever wood finishes closest to the jack takes the point.

It is said that the woods acquired the weight bias that makes them curl round as they stop, when in 1522 the Duke of Suffolk split his wood and used the finial from a staircase post instead. Everyone was so enchanted with the curling action that it caught on. The sport was very popular but William Wallace Mitchell (1803-84) from Glasgow drew up the current rules in 1848 to eliminate the undesirable practices of kicking and tripping up!

(Image: Adam Gerard at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Napier cars were the first to adopt the colour known as British Racing Green (BRG) for their livery. They were among the first cars in Britain, being produced from 1900 to 1925. Their salesman, Selwyn Edge, had the idea of entering them in international city-to-city races in order to showcase their superior performance.

Dark green was commonly used for trains and other large machinery in British factories, so this was also used for the Napiers. It is thought that this was consolidated in 1903 when one of the races was held in Ireland, where at that time there were only a few hundred cars in the whole country. Special laws had to be passed by Parliament to allow for the race to take place on public roads, including permission to drive faster than the statutory 12mph when between villages. The story goes that it was in grateful thanks that the Irish green was chosen to represent Britain.

There is no standard hue for British Racing Green and it was not until the 1950s that it became quite dark, but it is reminiscent of those early motor-racing days, since from the 1960s onwards it has been been replaced by the sponsors’ brand colours.

(Image of 1903 Napier in BRG: David Merrett at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0)

The Barmy Army is a large group of exuberant supporters who follow the England national cricket team at home and abroad. What differentiates them from other supporters is their outwardly fun-loving approach which becomes more noticeable as the day wears on.

“Barmy Army” began as a football chant but was quickly taken over by English cricket fans. A group of them travelled all the way to Australia for the 1994-95 Ashes tour, which England lost as expected, so the Australian media picked up on the ‘Barmy Army’ tag (‘barmy’ means daft). Two hundred custom-made T-shirts later, the name had stuck.

Far from being a disorganised rabble, Barmy Army Ltd was incorporated in 1995 and sorts out tickets and travel for its members, along with donations to charity. Its rules stipulate that good-natured, clean fun is the order of the day, with no swearing or disrespectful behaviour. Most cricket grounds have a special section for the Barmy Army, both to facilitate their activities and, it must be said, to allow other spectators to sit far away if they wish! Fancy dress, beer-drinking, banter, songs and the trumpet-playing of Billy Cooper are not everyone’s cup of tea.

(Top image: Stephen Parnell at Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)

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)

Darts is thought to have originated in the 1500s as an indoor version of archery, hence the term ‘arrows’ for the pointed, feather-ended barrels (darts) that are thrown at the dartboard. This would have been a slice from a tree trunk, with the growth rings and any cracks being used for scoring purposes. This may explain why different dartboard designs developed in different counties.

Another nice theory is that the numbering sequence was devised by a travelling showman from Lancashire, who had a darts game on his stall and wanted to minimise lucky shots. Mathematicians have suggested alternatives, but it would be a major task to change it now, as it is played all across the world. Mathematical ability is a huge part of the game ~ specifically, subtraction and the doubling and trebling of all the numbers ~ since players must instantly calculate winning targets to finish each game.

In the early 1900s it was banned from pubs as being a game of chance, but was demonstrated to be one of skill when this was challenged in court. Darts is still a popular pub game and it has been televised since the 1970s, using split-screen technology to enhance the viewer experience.

(Image: picryl.com)

Football is the most popular sport in the UK to play and watch. It began in the English public schools along with rugby. After the establishment of the Football Association (FA) in 1863 it became a separate sport with its own distinct rules ~ no holding the ball and no kicking the opponents’ shins, for instance. The alternative name, ‘soccer’ (not generally used in Britain), comes from ‘Association’.

The FA was the world’s first football governing body and the oldest football club is Notts County. Scottish clubs decided to have their own Association in 1873, the Welsh in 1876 and the Irish in 1880, largely due to travel costs. The first professional Football League began in England in 1888 but it had no clubs from southern England until Arsenal joined in 1893.

The game spread to other countries and in 1904 the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris. This was snubbed at first by the country regarded as football’s birthplace and it was not until 1950 that England entered the FIFA World Cup competition for the first time. Money from television rights and advertising has now changed the sport out of all recognition from its roots and professional players are amongst the nation’s highest earners.

(Image: Martin Addison at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Real tennis, or just ‘tennis’ to its aficionados, came long before lawn tennis, but is a rather niche sport today. It is played in Britain, Australia, the USA and France and there are fewer than fifty professional courts, twenty-seven of which are in Britain. The world’s oldest tennis club still in operation is The Leamington Tennis Court Club, which opened in 1846 and offers real tennis amongst its exclusive facilities.

Real tennis is very different to lawn tennis..

Played indoors with handmade solid balls and wonky wooden rackets, the score words are the same as in lawn tennis ~ love, 15, 30, 40, deuce, advantage ~ and there is a net in the middle, but it requires more agility than its younger off-shoot. It also has a handicap system which rates ability so that players at different levels can still play each other.

Tennis was popular in the 16th century and King Henry VIII (1491-1547) was renowned as a skilled player, with courts built at Hampton Court Palace. It declined in the era of the Puritans but there was a revival in the 19th century. This was halted, however, by the invention of lawn tennis in the 1870s. This is when it became ‘real’.

(Image: Dani Lurie at Flickr.com / CC BY 2.0)

The origins of golf lie in fifteenth-century Scotland, particularly the St. Andrews and Edinburgh areas. It is thought that ‘golf’ was an old Scottish word for ‘hit’ or ‘strike’. There were several types of stick-and-ball games with similar names, but golf was unusual for having a hole in the ground as the target.

The oldest golf society is Edinburgh’s Royal Burgess dating from 1735. Sixteen other societies were established in the 1700s, mainly in Scotland but one in London in 1766, thanks to the Scottish King James VI & I of Great Britain, and one in Georgia, USA, in 1794. The Americans have contributed much to the development of the sport, including some of the jargon ~ bogey, birdie and eagle, for instance.

Before the invention of the mechanical lawnmower in the mid-1800s, golf was a winter sport. Once it was available all year round and the railways had been built, golfing holidays became popular and by 1857 St. Andrews had the first 18-hole course in the world. The first golf balls were made of leather filled with hair or feathers. Then gum resin was used, followed by tightly-wound rubber threads with a dimpled cover. This method was used until the late 1960s.

(Image of feather-filled leather golf balls: geni at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Cowes Week takes place every year at the beginning of August and is based at the small port of Cowes on the Isle of Wight. It is a boating regatta and although it has always had aristocratic connections, it is open to anyone who owns a correctly prepared boat, can muster a crew and pay the application fee.

There are forty races on each of the eight days, with four different start lines in the Solent, which is the channel between the Isle of Wight and the coast of mainland England. This is a very busy stretch of water, so there are occasional bumps and crashes! Cowes Week is also a social event, with parties, street entertainment, fireworks and the brilliant Red Arrows making an appearance:-

It is one of the longest-running regattas in the world, having started in 1826. It grew so much in popularity (and complexity) that by 1964 Prince Philip was suggesting that it needed a co-ordinated organising body ~ hence the formation of Cowes Combined Clubs Ltd. This oversees the race programme for a thousand boats in two groups, three or four divisions and up to forty classes.

(Top image: Peter Trimming at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Aside from being Cockney rhyming slang for ‘face’, the Boat Race is a traditional sporting competition between the Oxford University Boat Club (in dark blue jerseys) and the Cambridge University Boat Club (in light blue jerseys). Most of the other UK universities have their own student rowing clubs, but this particular race only involves Oxford and Cambridge and is by far the most famous. Their first race was in 1829 at Henley-on-Thames and Oxford were the winners.

Today it takes place between Putney and Mortlake in London and there are men’s, women’s and reserve team races. Rowers must be currently enrolled on a full-time course, with no scholarship. Training must be fitted in alongside study and during holidays, including Christmas. The race accoutrements, from boots to beer, attract sponsorship and there are partnerships with charities.

The men’s race has been shown live on television since 1938 and the women’s race since 2015. There have been a few mishaps over the years, including collisions, sinkings and attention-seeking individuals. The closest winning margin was 12 inches in 2003:-

(Top image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0)