I was privileged to study in a school which had the only indoor court in India, or maybe Asia, of a strange and uncommon game known as Eton Fives!
As the name suggests, the game is associated with the British Public school of Eton, but there were more flavors to it than I knew at the time, and turns out it is one of those elitist games gaining in popularity, and played till today in a few schools mainly in England, and the one in India.
An Eton Fives game in progress. Notice the "buttress" on the left wall, also known as a hazard [Photo Credit]
The game of Fives
The game of fives, played mostly in the public schools of Great Britian, has three distinct forms which are known as Eton Fives, Rugby Fives and Winchester Fives, distinguished by varying rules and court shapes. The game is a fast one, and almost resembles the game of squash, except for the rules and a court with "hazards".
Besides England, the game was also taken to the "colonies" of yore, and one school in India, St. Pauls School, Darjeeling, has the only indoor court in the sub-continent. Having studied there in my youth, I was lucky to have played this interesting game against teams from Eton and Rugby.
The game itself is basically a ball game played by two or four players, in a court enclosed on three or four sides depending on the flavor being played, where a ball made of cork is struck by hand, protected by a padded leather glove.
The Logo Of the Eton Fives Association, EFA
The "Keeper of the Fives"
There is a quirky sounding and unique position in the game known as the "Keeper of the Fives", which in any other game would be the Captain of the team, and today is a coveted official position in all the schools this game is played at.
And the schools where this game is played now have an association known as the "Eton Fives Association" (EFA), who's website describes the game as:
Eton Fives has been described as the “best handball game on earth”. Our aim is to see that new courts are built and more people get the chance to play this wonderful game.
The Indoor Fives court at the St. Pauls School, Darjeeling, in India, 2008 [Photo Credit]
Competition, Tournaments and Trophies
As with all established sport, Eton Five too has its competitions and there are a huge amount of tournaments which takes place during the year. Among them the most famous is the Kinnaird Cup which is open to players of any age, and is becoming more competitive over the years.
The association also conducts an EFA League or the Eton League, and participation has been increasing every year, a sign that this game is picking up on popularity, and we can expect this sport to around for a long time as new players are experiencing the thrill of the game of Fives!
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