10/07/2024
💬History is often written by the victorious, but today, the internet helps us uncover many truths.
Did you know squash might have started in prison?
While the popular story credits Harrow School in England, there’s a hint that prisoners first played in prison to vent their frustrations.
🔎Let’s dive into this intriguing mystery together!
World of Squash can be traced back to the early 1800’s in Fleet Prison, London!
Yes, it was a game created by prisoners to vent their anger and frustration, so judging by some of the players, it wasn’t too different from today!
Anyway, one of the ways these inmates passed the time was by hitting a ball against walls, sometimes in the corner, so they were able to use the sidewall.
They called the game ‘Racquets’🎾
Racquets grew in popularity and were played in alleys behind pubs before spreading to schools.
It does make you wonder how drunk people were when they played!🍻
Alleys are not the same now as they were back in the ‘old days’. I guess they were dirty, uneven and quite smelly!
You would have to be drunk to play!
From smelly alleys, the game grew in popularity and by around 1830, pupils at the prestigious Harrow School in London discovered that a punctured ball gave them a better way of controlling the ball.
🟠It took them a while to call the game Squash – no one knows for sure, but the commonly acknowledged reason for the name is that it derived from the noise the ball made when it hit the front wall.
Nowadays, all sports are so well-defined that it’s hard for us to imagine a time when things were more like the Wild West. At the time there were no sports associations. Each group of people played how they wanted.
For example, one prison might have played with a side wall, others not. There was no standardisation at all.
The first actual squash courts were built in 1864 in Harrow School.
Finally, in 1886, the first set of rules were created but it wasn’t until 1922 that court sizes were standardised!💯
One way or another, let's enjoy the present and share our passion for
