ROMANCE OF THE BALL

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

ROMANCE OF THE BALL

_ rt, lrf w 1"* g* ren ris ® to man y TmuLrnarubU pastimes in countries i yand uncTvjlised. It jroaldS,indeed, be very difficult to r _mn«rste all the various games in which a ball plays a prominent, if not th* essential part.

When one realise that sucli sanies as tennis, football, bowls, ° polo, cricket, croquet, billiards, basketball and golf, and many other popular games, all sprang from one common source, the study at once assumes quite an interesting aspect. It is with golf that this article chiefly deals and an attempt will be made to trace in all its romantic form the growth of this ancient pastime.

, -A* there are so few forms of health-giving sport where a ball is not the essential factor, it may be fafely assumed that the ball is not indirectly responsible for the stalwart development of mankind. There tnurt be a very large percentage of the people who either do not work or Whose occupations are of a sedentary nature. The fact remains, however, that the majority of the world's athletes are drawn from this class. It ha« often been remarked that 50 P® cent of the average newspaper space of to-day is (devoted to sport. There is a sound reason for this, and that reason is, not because the newsp*pwt find it advisable to humour a large section of their readers, but became such foresight has a national significance.

It is quite safe to assume that were sport to attain proportions detrimental to progress the Press would be the first to Tecognise the

position and act accordingly. I mention this because, according to Homer, handball" was responsible for the destruction of Troy. Heroditus attributes the invention of the ball to the Lydiana. Succeeding writers state that a female named Anagalla was the first to make a ball for use in pastimes. It is altogether uncertain what time the ball was first introduced into England. In the life of St. Cuthbert w ® ar ® to, d that he plaved at ball with the children of his fellows.

8y.... Clem Eggleton

Fitz-Stephen, writing in the thirteenth century, speaks of his London schooldays, when immediately after dinner he and his fellows went into the fields and played at the "bandyball" or "goff"; bandy meaning a cudgel. The game of ball was called by the French "palmball," the exercise consisting of receiving the ball and driving it back again with the palm of the naked hand. A glove was afterwards placed over the hand and later a wicker frame was strapped on, thus introducing the first elements of tennis as we know it today. The racquet soon followed. In Britain, particularly in Scotland, a development of the club became noticeable. There were many games played in England at this 6>tage, requiring the assistance of a club or bat, and the most ancient of them was the game of "goff."

The ball of the Romans was stuffed with feathers and tewn up in a piece of the ekin of an animal, and incidentally this was the first kind of ball used in England. One chronicler states that he had seen cotton used instead of feathers. Xhe bandy was made of a straight piece of ash, about 4Jft in length, curved at the bottom and faced with horn. It was also backed with lead. The ball was a little one and exceedingly hard. The game consisted of driving the ball into a series of holes made in the ground. He who first drove the 1 ball into all the holes was deemed to be the victor.

The distance between the first and last hole was three miles! The number of holes was optional, but the balls were to be struck into the .holes and not beyond them. When four persons played, two of them were partners and had one ball between them, but each player had his own bandy.

"Goff" was very fashionable amongst the nobility at the commencement of the seventeenth century. Prince Henry, eldest son of James 1., was passionately fond of the game. King Charles also spent a lot of his time at this exercise and was busily engaged on the links when a messenger arrived with a letter to inform him that a rebellion had broken out in Ireland. On reading the message, the King leaned heavily upon his stick and called for his coach, leaving immediately for Holyrood Palace, and journeying the following day to London.

"Groff" ("gowf," "golf") may literally be said to be in Scotland a game of immemorial antiquity. There is evidence that early in the fifteenth century it was more popular than at the present time. From this obvious inference, the game dated back a long way into the past, perhaps into some prehistoric period. In May, 1471, an Act was passed in Scotland restricting golf, as it tended to distract men from practising archery, which latter was highly essential in the interests of the country's welfare and protection.

The King was, however, the first to break down under the fascination of the game, as indicated by entries in the accounts of the Lords High Treasurers of Scotland (1503): "To clubbis and golf balls, etc." King James VI. had a lot of sympathy with the game, and on his return from Scotland said: "With my own ears have I heard from all the people a strong protest against the unfair restrictions that are placed upon golf. If the people cannot play on Sundays and holy days, when can they play," he said, "seeing that they have to work all the week days?" This was the forerunner of more lenient laws.

There are doubtless as many ladies playing golf to-day as men, but even way back in thpse early times the game had a following of the fair sex. For instance, Mary Queen of Scots, a few days after Darnley'a fate, was seen playing golf in the fields beside Seton.

The last of the Imperious race, Halbert Logan, found the game go absorbing that it nearly cost him his head. It appears that he had been summoned to the Privy Council; receiving the summons whilst in the progress of a round on the links, he swore roundly at the messenger. A warrant on a charge of treason was issued against him, and only flight to England saved him.

As previously mentioned, much of the newspaper space of to-day is allocated to sport, but even as far back as 1724 a London weekly had an account of a solemn match at wolf between Alexander Elphingetone and the notorious Captain Porteous for 20 guineas—"a stake so remarkable that the game was attended by the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Morton, and a vast mob of the little and great besides."

When the links were covered with enow, Duncan Forbes, president of the Court of Session, played on the sand. On November 1, 1728, he wrote: "After a hard pull, I got the better 'of my son at golf. If he is as good at any other thing, there ia some hope for him."

Garrick once gave some Scotsmen an invitation to visit him and dine, and when the party passed through Kensington the Coldstream Regiment were changing guard. On seeing the cluba carried by the party, they cheered lustily in honour of a diversion peculiar to Scotland.

The game of golf certainly recalls a wonderful and interesting history, and fortunately it is a game that haa left a well-blazed trail in its wake.