Cricket on horseback and "bumble-puppy"

THE Olympic games are well under way – but back in England, a new sports history archive reveals some peculiar pastimes that certainly won’t be played out in the shadow of the five rings.

Joseph Strutt’s 1801 book ‘The sports and pastimes of the people of England, from the earliest period’ contains a host of unusual games, as well as some fascinating history about those we think we are familiar with.

The book is one of many held at Manchester Metropolitan University’s new Sports History Archive, which will open to researchers in the Autumn.

The archive is run by the sports and leisure history research team at the University, led by Professor Dave Day.

Professor Day said: “Books such as Strutt’s, held in our Sports History Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University, open our eyes to some of the peculiar sports played by our ancestors, and to some of their unusual beliefs about sports we still play today – such as the belief that tennis was originally played with an iron ball.

“The athletes in Rio are unlikely to have heard of ‘bumble-puppy’ or ‘loggats’, but they were certainly just as competitive in their day as our Olympic sports are now.

“We know the importance of preserving information about our sporting heritage – from the games played by royalty centuries ago to the archives of local sports clubs who have such an impact on their communities now, which is why the Sports and Leisure History team at the University are launching this archive in September. We have more than a thousand texts on sporting history which will be accessible to researchers from around the world.”

Seven historical games you won’t be watching at the Olympics

Bumble-puppy

Also known as ‘Nine-holes’ or ‘Bubble the Justice’, Bumble-puppy originated at the start of the 17th century, and was resurrected in about 1980 as a replacement for skittles, which had been outlawed. The game involved rolling metal balls at a square board containing nine holes, with points allocated depending on which hole the ball rolled into.

The phrase “bumble-puppy” was later used by Aldous Huxley in his novel Brave New World to describe a bat and ball game.

Cricket on horseback

In 1794, the Kentish Gazette advertised that a “very singular” game of cricket would be taking place “between the Gentlemen of the Hill and the Gentlemen of the Dale” – with the whole thing to be performed on horseback. The entry fee was one guinea per player, and the game began at nine o’clock.

Hippas

A manuscript in the Bodleian library dating to 1344 contains a representation of a sport known as ‘hippas’, where two pairs of competitors – each pair made up of one person riding on the shoulders of another as if on a horse – try to pull each other to the ground.

Tilting at a water butt

Various forms of jousting were popular since medieval times, but a less bloodthirsty version saw participants “tilting” or thrusting a lance at a tub full of water, which had to be hit in such a way to avoid it being spilled over the players. The game, which Strutt describes as “farcical”, was played without clothes to prevent them from getting wet, and was also played in Italy.

Loggats

Outlawed by Henry VIII, loggats was mentioned by Shakespeare in Hamlet and was played by throwing a sheep’s knuckle at bones. Similar games, which were also banned, included kayles – where a truncheon was thrown at a set of pins pins – and closh, where players used a bowl to knock down pins and was probably the most similar to the modern game.

Pitch and hustle

Played by “the lowest classes of the people”, pitch and hustle involved players throwing halfpenny coins at a mark to decide the order of play. Then all the halfpence pieces were put into a hat which was shaken and turned upside down – the first player received all the coins that landed heads up, before the hat was shaken again, the second player received the heads-up coins, and so on.

Hand-Tennis

Later known as ‘Fives’, this game dates back to the 14th century. Players – sometimes wearing a special white glove - would hit the ball to each other with their right hand over a central line. The game was particularly beloved of the aristocracy.

Notes to editors

For more information, contact Kat Dibbits in the Manchester Metropolitan University press office on 0161 247 5278 or email [email protected].