British Games.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 21, 23 November 1910, Page 8

British Games.

SOMETHING ABOVT THEIR ORIGIN. It will probably come as a surprise to many to learn that polo holds the distinction of ‘being our oldest game. If tradition can be trusted, it originated in the East in the seventh century B.C. Seeing what a magnificent game is polo, it is curious that it was never played by Englishmen until the yean 1863, when the first match was seen at Calcutta. It was in 1871 that polo first made its appearance in England, and no game has more rapidly become popular. Water-polo seems to have been known and exercised at Venice in the thirteenth century. And the arsenal subsequently kept two large rafts or pontoons for this purpose, to be delivered to the urban authorities from time to time. CRICKET. This sport, now so common and popular, has only of recent years attracted archaeological notice, and been found in some form or other to go back to the fourteenth, if not the thirteenth, century. By some it is supposed to be an evolution from club-ball, as it is cognate with rounders and hockey. The village of Hambledon is usually called the birthplace of ericket, but the Hambledon Club was not started till about 1750, while we have scores of a match played between Kent and All England in 1746. In a history ot Norwich there is mention of ericket played in that town in ■the reign of Charles H., but if the word cricket is, as some suppose, derived from the Saxon “creag,” then ’ the game is older than is generally believed. Surrey was the first county to organise a country cricket club. This was in 1845. The Sussex Club was started in 1857, and the Kent in 1859.

FOOTBALL, Football, as played under Rugby anfl Association rules, is of comparatively modern origin, but a rough-and-tumblq football was probably introduced intfll Britain by the Romans. In 1314 a proclamation was issued by Edward 11. forLidding the populace “to hustle over largo balls’’ in the streets of London; and in 1349 a statute of Edward 111. ordered’ the Sheriffs to suppress “football”—th.a first record in -which we can find the present title of the game used. In 1409. a proclamation of Henry IV. forbade! anyone to levy money on pretence of it being for the games of football or cockfighting; and up to the time of Charleg 11. the game was considered unlawfulIt is an indisputable fact that the game of football under the name of Calcio (kick) was played in Italy centuries ago. An old manuscript which -bears the date 1482 describes almost identically the present-day game. It afterwards changed and developed, so that the players increased from 11 to 27. In Britain not a hundred years ago the game was really a trial of strength’ in a match in which town played against town, village against village, or parish against parish. In many counties these contests were annual affairs, in which all the able-bodied inhabitants of the rival places took part. The great day for such games was Shrove Tuesday—when the people had a holiday—and at the appointed hour) the combatants usually assembled at & point midway between two towns, parishes, or villages. The leaders of the various sections were often the parsons of the place, and, as their presence was considered a guarantee of fair play on both sides, that strong arm of the law, in the person of the referee, was coifspieuo'us only by its absence, which, di| ibiless, was greatly to the advantage t>f that longsuffering gentleman. After the “kick-off,” the players endeavoured en masse to carry or kick the; ball—said to have been a bullock’s bladder, containing peas and beans —towards their opponents’ goal, which was oftentimes the village churchyard, or some other landmark equally well known. The field of play could be measured by miles only, but the natural obstructions—hedges, brooks, ditches, etc. —< which consequently presented themselves were considered insignificant by these rough-and-ready players. YACHT RACING. Yacht racing has been a favourite amusement with Britons for nearly two. and a-half centuries. In 1600 the Dutch’ presented a “yacht” to Charles 11., and two years later the Merry Monarch sailed a race for £ 100 against his brother, the Duke of York. The first sailing club organised in thel British Isles was the Cork Harbour Water Club, now the Royal Cork Yacht Club, which dates from 1720, but that great institution, the Royal Yachfl Squadron, is of much later date, having been founded in 1812. It was originally known as the Y’acht Club. The first English regatta was held on the Thames on Friday, June 23, 1775. The place was the Thames, between London bridge and Millbank, and the idea was Lady’ Mary Wortley’s. She had witnessed a “regata” at Venice. AH fashionable London embarked at Westminster, and a notable feature of the procession -was the splendid bargeg of the Great City Companies. The Lord Mayor led the procession, and the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland took part.