The Eton wall game originated at Eton College. It has similarities to both the modern sports of rugby union and football.
It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a slightly curved brick wall (which was erected in 1717). The most important match is the annual St. Andrew's Day game which is played between a team of "Collegers" (scholarship holders) and a team of "Oppidans" (the rest of the students, who comprise most of the student body). Although College has only 70 pupils (the traditional number of King's Scholars in College as laid down by King Henry VI) to pick its team from, compared to the 1250 or so Oppidans, College has one great advantage: the strip lies on 'College Field', a football field next to the Slough-to-Eton Road to which access is controlled by the incumbent Keeper of College Wall. Despite this, in practice, it is usual for them to allow the Oppidans to use it whenever they wish. On the traditional annual St. Andrew's Day match, the Oppidans climb over the wall, after throwing their caps over in defiance of the Scholars, while the Collegers march down from the far end of College Field, arm-in-arm, towards the near end, where they meet the Oppidans.
Contents |
Each team tries to move the ball towards their opponents' end of the playing area. In those last few yards of the lengthy field (an area called the "calx", Latin for chalk), a player can earn a "shy" (worth one point) by lifting the ball against the wall with his foot. A teammate then touches the ball with his hand and shouts "Got it!" Those two plays must be entirely within Calx. This also gives the scoring team the right to attempt a goal (worth nine points) by throwing the ball at a designated target (a garden door at one end of the field and a tree at the other end). A player may score a kicked goal, worth five points, if he kicks the ball out and it hits a goal during the normal course of play.
The process of getting the ball is arduous and a stalemate often ensues. This is because, in effect, the game consists of the two sets of players forming a rugby-style scrummage (called a "Bully") in which neither team may move the ball backwards (except in Calx, where a different type of Bully called a Count's Bully occurs). The Bully is formed next to the Wall and crabs slowly up and down the Wall inch by inch until the ball emerges. Many players, particularly those whose position is actually against the Wall (this is either the "wall" or the "second"), lose the skin off their elbows, hips and knees, for which reason long sleeves are usually favoured. Players within the Bully shove and push each other, mostly with their bodies but also by placing their fists (actual punching is not permitted) against the faces of the opposition and attempting to lever them backwards and away from the Wall. Grabbing an opponent's shirt ("holding") is also not permitted.
The fastest way to make ground is by kicking the ball upfield and out of play whenever it comes sideways out of the Bully - unlike most types of football, play is restarted opposite where the ball stops after it had gone out, or was touched after it had gone out. As such, the most common tactic revolves around the formation of a 'phalanx'. This consists of a tunnel (coming out from the wall, diagonally forward from the position of the ball) of players from one team who are crouching on hands and feet next to each other. Once the team in possession of the ball has formed a successful phalanx, it attempts to pass the ball down the 'tunnel' using the knees of the players forming it, to a player (known as lines) standing at the end of the phalanx whose job it is to kick the ball upfield. The team not in possession is constantly attempting to disrupt this, and win the ball back. The game is therefore chiefly characterised by this battle for a favourable tactical position.
The game lasts up to an hour (30 minutes per half); many games end 0-0. Scoring goals is very rare; they occur about once every 10 years and there has been a drought of goals in the St. Andrew Day game since 1909. There was a goal scored in a recent scratch match (a less formal warm-up match for the St. Andrew's Day game) in October 2005. However, shies are scored more frequently, with the Oppidan side scoring shies in 2002, and 2004. In the most recent St. Andrew's Day match, played on 21st November 2009, the outcome of the match was a 0-0 draw, with both sides failing to score. There was, however, a near controversy in the latter stages of the match. With College attacking, a rogue photographer stopped the rolling ball with his foot, preventing it from going into Calx, and thus preventing College an opportunity to score a shy. It was the Oppidan side, however, who finished the match on the upper hand, themselves moving into Calx in the final stages, only for College to deny them from scoring.
The Wall Game is organized entirely by boys, particularly by the Keepers of College Wall, Oppidan Wall and Mixed Wall. These posts are currently held by Patrick 'Pat-Pat' Leigh-Pemberton KS, Hugo Cobb (PB) and Woojin Chae KS, respectively. Boris Johnson is a past Keeper of College Wall. Eric Blair (a.k.a. George Orwell) and Harold Macmillan have been other famous players of the game. The First World War Flying Ace Arthur Rhys Davids also played, representing College with Ralph Dominic Gamble in 1915. Members of the College Wall also annually commemorate the great Wall Game Player James Kenneth Stephen, making a toast at each year's Christmas Soc Supper with the words in piam memoriam, J.K.S (in pious memory, J.K.S). Despite its renown outside the school, only a very small number of the 250 or so boys in each year ever take part in the sport, unlike the lesser-known but much more widely played Eton Field Game.
The Eton wall game has been played twice by all-female teams.
The British sitcom Green Wing features a fictional game, Guyball (pronounced gheeball, IPA: /ˈgiːbɔːl/), which parodies the obscurity of public school pastimes such as the Eton wall game. It is introduced by Guy Secretan, who learned the sport at the fictional school Whiteleaf (pronounced witliff, IPA: ['wɪtlɪf]). The object of the game is to throw balls in a "Topmiler", a wicker basket on top of a leather flying helmet. However, the rules of Guyball are never fully explained, and are designed to be as confusing and as difficult to understand as possible.
The Eton wall game is a game similar to football and Rugby Union, that originated and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a slightly curved brick wall, erected in 1717.
The most important match of the year is played on St Andrew's Day, by the Collegers (scholarship students) and the Oppidans (the rest of the school). Although College has only 70 pupils to pick its team from, compared to the 1250 or so Oppidans,the Collegers have one distinct advantage, in that access to the field that the game is played on is controlled by a Colleger. Despite this, in practice, it is usual for them to allow the Oppidans to use it whenever they wish. On the traditional annual St. Andrew's Day match, the Oppidans climb over the wall, after throwing their caps over in defiance of the Scholars, while the Collegers march down from the far end of College Field, arm-in-arm, towards the near end, where they meet the Oppidans.
Contents |
The aim of the game is to move the ball towards the opponents end of the playing area. In those last few yards of the field is an area called the "calx". In this area a player can earn a "shy" (worth one point) by lifting the ball against the wall with his foot. A teammate then touches the ball with his hand and shouts "Got it!". These two plays must happen within the calx. After this the scoring team can attempt a goal (worth nine points) by throwing the ball at a designated target (a garden door at one end of the field and a tree at the other end). Players can also score a kicked goal, worth five points, if he kicks the ball out and it hits a goal during the normal course of play.
The main game consists of the two sets of players forming a rugby-style scrummage (called a "Bully") in which neither team may move the ball backwards (except in Calx, where a different type of Bully called a Count's Bully occurs. The Bully is formed next to the Wall and crabs slowly up and down the Wall until the ball emerges. Many players(, particularly those whose position is actually against the Wall), lose the skin off their elbows, hips and knees. Because of this players usually wear long sleeves. Players within the Bully shove and push each other, mostly with their bodies but also by placing their fists against the faces of the opposition and attempting to lever them backwards and away from the Wall, though actual punching is not permitted. Grabbing an opponent's shirt ("holding") is also not allowed.When in Calx, a different type of Bully called a Count's Bully occurs. The fastest way to make ground is by kicking the ball upfield and out of play whenever it comes sideways out of the Bully - unlike most types of football, play is restarted opposite where the ball stops after it had gone out, or was touched after it had gone out
As such, the most common tactic revolves around the formation of a 'phalanx'. This consists of a tunnel (coming out from the wall, diagonally forward from the position of the ball) of players from one team who are crouching on hands and feet next to each other. Once the team in possession of the ball has formed a successful phalanx, it attempts to pass the ball down the 'tunnel' using the knees of the players forming it, to a player standing at the end of the phalanx, known as lines, whose job it is to kick the ball upfield. The team not in possession is constantly attempting to disrupt this, and win the ball back.
The game lasts up to an hour, with two halves of 30 minutes each. Many games end 0-0. Scoring goals (nine points) is very rare; they occur about once every 10 years and there has been no goals scored in the St. Andrew Day game since 1909. There was a goal scored in a recent scratch match (a less formal warm-up match for the St. Andrew's Day game) in October 2009. However, shies (worth 1 point) are scored more frequently, with the Oppidan side scoring shies in 2002 and 2004. In the most recent St. Andrew's Day match, played on 21st November 2009, the outcome of the match was a 0-0 draw, with both sides failing to score. There was, however, a near controversy in the latter stages of the match. With College attacking, a rogue photographer stopped the rolling ball with his foot, preventing it from going into Calx, and thus preventing College an opportunity to score a shy. It was the Oppidan side, however, who finished the match on the upper hand, themselves moving into Calx in the final stages, only for College to deny them from scoring.
The Wall Game is organized entirely by boys, particularly by the Keepers of College Wall, Oppidan Wall and Mixed Wall. Famous past players of the Wall game include Boris Johnson, who was Keeper of the College Wall, George Orwell and Harold Macmillan .The First World War Flying Ace Arthur Rhys Davids also played, representing College with Ralph Dominic Gamble in 1915. Members of the College Wall also annually commemorate the great Wall Game Player James Kenneth Stephen, making a toast at each year's Christmas Soc Supper with the words in piam memoriam, J.K.S (in pious memory, J.K.S). Despite its renown outside the school, only a very small number of the 250 or so boys in each year ever take part in the sport, unlike the lesser-known but much more widely played Eton Field Game.
The Eton wall game has been played twice by all-female teams.
The British sitcom Green Wing features a fictional game, Guyball (pronounced /ˈɡiːbɔːl/ "ghee-ball"), which parodies the obscurity of public school pastimes such as the Eton wall game. It is introduced by Guy Secretan, who learned the sport at the fictional school Whiteleaf (/ˈhwɪtlɪf/ "whit-liff"). The object of the game is to throw balls in a "Topmiler", a wicker basket on top of a leather flying helmet. However, the rules of Guyball are never fully explained, and are designed to be as confusing and as difficult to understand as possible.
In Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild has a far more sadistic variant of the "Wall Game", and is essentially an extreme hybrid of rock-climbing and dodgeball.
In the first of Charlie Higson's Young Bond novels SilverFin, the young James Bond comes to Eton and learns the rules of the Wall Game.
   | Economist.com article on the game - The Eton wall game | Shies, calx and bullies | Economist.com |
| | Freinberg, Tony (July 24, 2005) "Just don't call them the Eton Wallflowers" - Latest News, Breaking News and Current News from the UK and World - Telegraph - Telegraph |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
