Fives, Bat Fives, Racquets and Squash Racquets

All four of these games are inextricably linked and have the common purpose of hitting a ball against a wall, above a line drawn across that wall, rather than hitting a ball over a net as with all other racket sports.

Such games as these have existed for many centuries. These games are well described in “The Badminton Library” books of 1890 written by E O P-Bouverie and A C Ainger. They describe Racquets as really only a slight development of a game played by children who happen to have among their toys, and what child has not, a ball and an instrument for hitting it. Armed with these a child sets out to play alone. He or she discovers quite quickly that hitting a ball to a distance also involves walking a distance to fetch it back. They enjoy hitting the ball hard but do not enjoy running a long way after it. How are the two desiderata to be combined? The obvious answer is by hitting the ball against a wall and intelligently awaiting its return. What pleasure and amusement is now achieved.

This is now the basis for all four games and the use of any available wall, whether it be the wall of a house in the street, a backyard or even the church or chapel wall. A single wall can be used, an end wall with one or two side walls or a completely square box or room. The next element is to introduce a second person and to hit against the wall cooperatively or competitively above the horizontal line drawn on the end wall until one player misses after a maximum of one bounce, hits it out, or fails to hit above the line. Now a game is born.

The game of Hand Fives is the obvious elder of these games using only the hand. The name is believed to originate from the 16th century and the use of the five fingers on the hand to hit the ball. Hence, as with boxing, “a bunch of fives”. Another opinion which is subject to some conjecture is that the name comes from an early form of the game played in Elizabethan times where a game had five players per side. A similar game which predates Eton, Rugby and Winchester Fives is Bat Fives using a wooden battledore or paddle. This game does not exist today and had died out by the 1920s when all Bat Fives courts were demolished. If you can imagine a hard leather ball, much of the density of a feathery golf ball, being hit hard with a wooden implement against a stone wall you can visualise that the velocity of the ball was almost uncontrollable and only very short rallies of 3 or 4 could be achieved. Hand Fives are the only Fives games played now albeit with a gloved hand.

There are various genre of Fives which depend upon the size and shape of the court, Eton Fives, Rugby Fives and Winchester Fives. Eton Fives court is the most interesting, developed from the shape and layout of the outside walls, steps and buttresses of the Chapel at Eton where the boys developed the game before worship. Rugby and Winchester Fives do not have the same hazards.

The game of Racquets has a rather criminal backdrop and historical development. In the 18th century at the debtors prisons of The Fleet Prison and The Kings Bench Prisons in London, the inmates were seeking outdoor exercise in the prison yards. Many of them had previously been Real Tennis players and used this equipment to hit against the prison walls developing a game similar to Fives. The equipment was soon modified from the unwieldy Instruments of Tennis to more lighter manoeuvrable rackets and smaller faster balls. This game soon became popular outside of the prisons and was regularised being played at Pubs, Public Schools and Clubs. Equipment developed into lighter rackets with smaller heads but longer handles being a total length of 30” compared to today’s Squash rackets at only 27”. The balls were much smaller and faster.

The game of Squash Racquets developed at Harrow School where boys, waiting their turn outside to go into the Racquets courts, would warm up using a soft punctured India rubber ball to hit against the wall. The ball was very soft and squashable compared to the Racquets ball and hence the name of Squash was adopted about 1830. The idea became very popular with the boys who found the game much more manageable and enjoyable to play and they soon preferred to play on the Racquets court with the softer ball. The rackets were shorter at 27” to improve manoeuvrability and the game was born.

Examples of the early equipment are rare but most examples are covered by the following collection of memorabilia.