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...
My interest in the early codes of football played at Winchester, Eton
and Harrow stems from the fact that all three codes of football are
still played extensively today. Some details of the rules have changed
from those of the 1840s, but the characteristics of Harrow Football,
the Eton Field Game, and Winchester Football remain largely the same
as the games played at the beginning of Queen Victorias reign. ...
In describing the football played at Eton, Winchester and Harrow I
make the assumption that the reader has a working knowledge of at
least one modern team field game such as hockey, rugby or soccer. ...
Television documentaries from time to time use glimpses of the Eton
Wall Game, Winchester or Harrow Football to colour the image of these
schools peculiar and traditional nature. ... Andrews Day or 4th June
at Eton, and Founders Day at Harrow, even the sports historian could
come to the conclusion that these displays are quaint attempts to
pay tribute to one of the aspects of nineteenth century life that
sets them apart from other schools. Today Winchester, Eton and Harrow
still employ their own, very different codes of football as the `major
game for all or part of the Lent Term. I would strongly refute Percy
Youngs suggestion that the games at Eton, Harrow and Winchester are
only: `. ... There are approximately
125 games of Harrow Football played between the second week in January
and mid-February, when their main season ends. ... Winchesters season is the same as that of Eton,
but Winchester Football is played at 15-a-side, 10-a-side, 9-a-side
(juniors only), and 6-a-side (seniors only). ...
I subscribe to the view that some aspects of the games played at Eton,
Harrow and Winchester will have been transferred from the home environments
of the pupils, and these might have found their origins in what can
be called `folk football. ... Huizinga is right to say that elements of the spontaneity
of childrens play have been lost through history as games have become
more systematized and regimented. ... The Winchester
Statutes clearly endorse recreational activities, provided they take
place so as not to damage the fabric of the College, so as not to
disturb others; and so as not to bring the College into disrepute.
The Eton Statutes are exactly copied from those of Winchester on this
point, and retain the same protective attitude to their buildings.
The Orders, Statutes and Rules of John Lyon, dated January 18 1591,
are also clear in their support for physical activities at Lyons
`Free Grammar School in Harrow. ... 17
William Horman, a scholar of Winchester College who became Headmaster
there and then Provost of Eton, writing in 1519, warns of the balance
needed by the authorities:
There muste be a measure in gyuynge of remedies or sportynge to chyldren,
leste they be wery of goynge to theyr boke if they haue none, or waxe
slacke if they haue to many. ... Another
Headmaster of Winchester, Christopher Johnson, has left valuable information
about his period in office in the 1560s. ... The Winchester
Statutes of 1400, give the details of the system of supervision of
the scholars in their free time by senior boys appointed by the Warden.23
First Football at Winchester, Eton and Harrow
Winchester
The earliest documentary evidence of games that could have been football
at Winchester and Eton appear in the 1519 Vulgaria of William Horman
to which I have already referred. ... 24 Some of Hormans phrases reflect the Etonian customs,
while others can only have referred to the Winchester way of life.
Christopher Johnson, the Headmaster of the 1560s, mentions the activities
which he enjoyed when a scholar at Winchester himself, between 1549
and 1553. ... 25
Sir Henry Wotton was a Commoner at Winchester in the 1560s under Christopher
Johnson. ... 26
The first specific mention of football at Winchester is to be found
in the delightful Latin poem of Robert Matthew, a scholar from 1643
to 1647. ... 28
Football at Winchester was certainly one of the regular activities
played on St Catharines Hill from a very early time. ... 30
So, at Winchester we approach the 19th century with a football game
that stretches back well into the earliest times of the College, but
without a clear image of the sort of game played. ... 35
Harrow
The rules laid down by the Founder of Harrow did not mention football
among the approved physical activities for the scholars. ... 37
In 1750 Harrow took back leased land and made it over to the use of
the boys as `the lower playfields. ... Remnants of informal football games can be identified
in the form of `fug football in the School Yard at Harrow. ...
The Winchester Game
It is not known when the first set of rules was written for Winchester
Football. ... 39 Manuscript books from 1842 onwards record Winchesters peculiar
language, Notions, and consistently refer to the rules of football
as played at Winchester. ... I am
sure that a printed edition of Winchester Football rules was only
thought necessary when the debate was raging in the press about the
adoption of a set of football rules as the `universal code. ...
The pitch was marked out in different ways at different times in history;
doubtless just clothing strewn on the ground at first, but hurdles,
then ropes were used to mark the sidelines. ... 46 In the way that Public School
language tends cling to the obsolete, the playing area for Winchester
Football is still called a `canvas although the material has long
since disappeared. ... It is possible that Winchester players dabbled
with the use of goal-posts at some time in the 1850s, as there is
an oblique reference to them in a letter from an Old Wykehamist to
The Field in November 1861. ... 53
The style of Winchester football depends on the conditions and the
number of players on each side. ... 54
To quote from some of the busy correspondence of the mid nineteenth
century:
The general rule of the (Winchester) game was that it was a game of
football, and not handball; and manly, straightforward play was more
applauded than scientific dodging and sneaking.55
Another sort of game besides the junior version was also in existence
at Winchester in the early 19th century; less formal, with fewer players
and no hots.56 This `long game would have corresponded to the `kickabout
game at Rugby, and `fug football at Harrow. ... 58
The start of the game is not detailed in these early rules, but it
was by means of a `bully - the equivalent of a Winchester hot or
Rugby scrum. ...
Just as Winchester Football was played between some imaginatively
devised teams, Etons Football included some interesting games in
the 19th century: Boats v no Boats, Dissyllables v the Rest, Tall
v Short, and even the `Step-and-fetch-its v the `Puff-wheeze-and-gasps. ... 64
Harrow Football
No early manuscript or printed version of the Harrow Football rules
exists in their archives, and we must rely on accounts of the game
as it was described in the press of the mid-nineteenth century. ... The Harrow game is played on a pitch 150 yards by 100
yards. ... The ball used in Harrow
Football is a quite curious implement: much larger than a full-sized
soccer ball, and flat on the two side panels - a bit like a squat
barrel or tub. ...
An extract from a Harrow song by Edmund Howson is less than complimentary
about the ball:
Bother the ball, it goes so dead! ...
At least Howson advises later in his song:
Nothing can drive the dumps away
Like Harrow footer on Harrow clay.67
It appears that there were efforts to develop the definitive and best
Harrow game in the 1850s and 1860s, during which time several existed
together. ... Other experiments
included 1-a-side house matches, and in a way similar to Winchester,
games were played between a few of the best players and a larger number
of lesser players. ... Another unusual characteristic
of the Harrow game is the doubling of the distance between the bases
for a replayed match in the event of a draw. ... According
to one history of the school, the award of yards used to mean a free
throw at the base rather than a free kick -the author gives no support
for his statement. ... An offside rule is also
contained in the Harrow Game, the emphasis being that a player catching
the ball must be behind the kicker at the time of the kick. ...
John Cartwright praises Harrow Football as a faithful representative
of the kicking game, but modern play does encourage a player to chip
the ball sideways or backwards into the hands of a member of his own
side. ... by whatever name
it is called, the system in use at Harrow is true foot ball. ...
From at least the middle of the 19th century football was compulsory
at Harrow. ...
Summary and Comparison of the Three Games
The settings are different for the football played at Harrow and Winchester,
and the Field Game at Eton; Harrows pitch is 150 yards by 100 yards,
Etons measures 130 yards by 90 yards, and Winchesters canvas is
80 yards by 27 yards. The Harrow goal is called a base, and employs
posts 12 feet high and 18 feet apart. ... `Worms, as the Winchester goal is called, extends
the full width of the pitch, so the goal is effectively 27 yards wide. ...
The Eton and Winchester games begin and restart with their respective
scrums: the Winchester hot and the Eton bully. Harrow have no such
feature, and start the game with a kick off. If the ball goes out
of play beyond the sideline it is thrown back into play at Harrow,
and `hotted or `bullied in the other two systems.
Approximate Word count = 8128
Approximate Pages = 32.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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