EFA Annual Dinner
The end of season dinner took place last evening at Bekynton Eton. A welcoming glass of bubbly from Michael Constantinidi, the organiser, ensured that the proceedings got off to a good start. Forty members and guests enjoyed an excellent meal in convivial company. It was particularly pleasing to see so many youngsters in attendance. The Chairman Richard Barber welomed special guest John East President of the Rugby Fives Association and his wife Tizzie before providing a brief update on the current healthy state of Eton Fives. The presentation of cups and trophies to the 2006-2007 winners was made by Mark Williams who had once again arranged for the dinner to be held at Eton.
Squash/Fives Ball & A Badminton Court by Ben Price
I purchased a couple of Mr Wiseman's fives balls for playing the game in a squash court and whilst in Devon for a couple of days I took with me the balls and gloves.
In the garden of the hotel there were a couple of squash courts. I booked one to play fives and found that singles was a lot better than the doubles variety. There were four of us and we elected to play singles. During the waiting period between games I noticed an old badminton court next door. Using the fives gloves and the squash/fives ball we made up and played a great game of handball over the net. As the walls were quite close to the back of the court we incorporated them into the game so you could play off the walls. This enabled longer rallies. Both players served until both were down. When on match point the serving team were reduced to one player. This was a great twist.
Great fun and to be highly recommended.
'Edwardian' at Westminster
Giles Coren filmed a documentary for BBC4 called 'Edwardian Supersize Giles Coren' - in which he lived on an Edwardian diet for a week and a generally Edwardian lifestyle. The documentary included a spot of Fives, partially because it was the only way Giles could be available for a Fives match for the Old Westminsters against the Old Ipswichians, and partly because he considered Fives to be a very Edwardian thing. The film company approached the school and they were happy. Filming was brief and of the first pair. BBC4 budgets sadly do not allow for large crews, so it was just a cameraman, soundman and director standing at the back. Andrew Aitken reports - "Coren looked very dashing in a Westminster pink grampa collarless shirt and very long white shorts accompanied by a lamb pie and a glass of claret.”
Fives at Framlingham - e-mail from Mike Garnett in Australia "I recall we played cricket and rugby against Ipswich, Greshams, Felsted and others. We had two fives courts side by side and I think (but am not 100% sure) that there was a buttress. The rear boundary of the courts were delineated by a shallow drain. We used to play inter-house matches but I cannot recall ever playing against another school. It is all academic now because I think they were demolished some years ago - a pity. Quite a few schools out here have fives courts, including Geelong Grammar (where Prince Charles went to school in the 1960's), Scotch College, Wesley School and others. Most of the prestigious Anglican schools had fives courts, whereas the roman catholic schools tended to have huge handball courts - again, many still exist.
Back in 1986 I wrote a book 'Tennis, Rackets and Other Ball Games'. You may be interested in a couple of chapters which deal with fives and handball with pics of fives courts at Geelong Grammar and Scotch College. Sadly the book is long out of print.
Fives Service Ball Machine
Imperial College have recently been in correspondence with the EFA concerning the development of 'Ball Service Machine'which will provide a series of serves for the cutter to practise cutting the ball. The machine will be similar to that used in the tennis and cricket world for players to practise their shots. Watch this space!
Fives in New Zealand - e-mail from Neville Larson
I read with interest your article “Fives in Australia”. I was educated at Nelson College, New Zealand, and I enjoyed playing Eton fives during lunch breaks, I remember well the damage to hands it caused. They have 5 courts, 4 still in use. I would suspect that several of the older more traditional schools in New Zealand – in Wellington, Christchurch and New Plymouth – would be the same. We played quadrangular tournaments in all sports annually.
Webmaster's Note: The courts are three sided with no back wall possibly without the step, buttress and ledges.
French Bid to Conker the World
In a recent article in the Times the French suggested that although "The British invented the game of conkers, we do it better." The article went on to list UK Sporting Exports including Hopscotch Tiddlywinks, Cricket, Cresta Run and Eton Fives. "Eton Fives originated with medieval Britons hitting balls against church walls. Courts are mostly in public schools in the UK, but also exist in Malaysia, Argentina and Nigeria."
M.R.F.
Miscellanea Report 2006-2007 by Mike Fenn
Created 22 January 2008 by Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk