Fives

The origin of the name "fives" for the game is uncertain, but two main theories are commonly presented. The first is that it is derived from the slang expression "a bunch of fives" (meaning a fist);{{Cite web |title=FIVES- The Original Handball Game, Real Tennis, Rackets and 360 Ball |url=http://www.wessex.me.uk/Fives/fives.html |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=wessex.me.uk}} the other that an earlier form of the game, as described by Nichols, used five-a-side teams.{{Cite book |last=Strutt |first=Joseph |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJwSAAAAYAAJ |title=The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England from the Earliest Period: Including the Rural and Domestic Recreations, May Games, Mummeries, Pageants, Processions and Pompous Spectacles |date=1801 |publisher=Methuen & Company}}

Fives is generally considered to have originated from early forms of the French Jeu de paume. Games were most often played against the walls of the north ends of churchyards,{{Cite magazine |date=13 March 1971 |title=Archery was a royal sport long before Henry VIII played tennis |url=https://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/28902/archery-was-a-royal-sport-long-before-henry-viii-played-tennis/ |magazine=Look and Learn |access-date=2023-10-05}} or against the walls of belltowers.{{Cite web |title=Interesting |url=http://www.martockhistory.co.uk/research/fives.php |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=martockhistory.co.uk}} This often damaged window glazing, so many churches adapted their exteriors to protect against the game. This often came in the form of shutters and pintles inserted into walls, as well as latticework over the windows themselves. The sport also influenced the layout of several churches; at some churches, saplings were planted where Fives would have been played,{{Cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Tony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NWu6sLJn7-kC |title=Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports |last2=Martin |first2=John |last3=Vamplew |first3=Wray |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-35224-6 |pages=114–115}} at the Church of St James, Ashwick, a cross was moved "to the Vifes place... to prevent the Young People from spending so much idle time in that sort of exercise."{{Cite web |last=Sampson |first=Jerry |title=Research – Churchyard Fives |url=https://www.caroe.co.uk/cmsAdmin/uploads/fives-research.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401013434/https://www.caroe.co.uk/cmsAdmin/uploads/fives-research.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2022 |access-date=3 January 2023 |website=Caroe & Partners Architects}}

As such, many of the earliest written testaments of the game are directives by clergy taken to prevent playing of the game. Actions against the game (then referred to as either "hand-tennis" and "hand-ball"){{Cite book |last1=Levinson |first1=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8NMAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Rugby+Fives%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA332 |title=Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present |last2=Christensen |first2=Karen |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-513195-6}} have been found as early as 1287, when the Synod of Exeter banned the game due to the damage it caused to church buildings.{{Cite web |last=Rice |first=Douglas |title=The earliest Fives ball ever found? |url=http://www.derbymoorfives.net/documents/2014%20Fives%20Ball%20article%20from%20Douglas%20Rice.pdf |access-date=31 December 2022}} Other notable examples of wall ball games being banned include Robert Braybrooke, Bishop of London, who in 1385 prohibited the game "Necnon ad pilam infra et extra ecclesiam ludunt." (English: Neither inside not outside the church.){{Cite book |last=Wilkins |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RzUqAN6xxZkC |title=Concilia Magnae Britanniae Et Hiberniae: A Synodo Verolamiensi A.D. CCCCXLVI. Ad Londinensem A.D. MDCCXVII. Accedunt Constitutiones Et Alia Ad Historiam Ecclesiae Anglicanae spectantia. [Quatuor voluminibus comprehensa]. Ab Anno CCCCXLVI. ad Annum MCCLXV.. 1 |date=1737 |publisher=sumptibus R. Gosling, in vico, dicto Fleet-Street; F. Gyles, in vico, dicto Holborn; T. Woodward, inter duas Templi portas, Fleet-Street; et C. Davis, in vico, dicto Pater-Noster-Row |page=194 |language=la |author-link=David Wilkinson (theologian)}}

The name "fives" was applied to the game by 1591, as when Elizabeth I visited the village of Elvetham in Hampshire, she was entertained by the Marquess of Hertford by a game played by his servants:

"about three o'clock, ten of his lordship's servants, all Somersetshire men, in a square greene court before her majesties windowe, did hang up lines, squaring out the forme of a tennis-court, and making a cross line in the middle; in this square they (being stript out of their dublets) played five to five with hand-ball at bord and cord as they tearme it, to the great liking of her highness" – John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, Volume II.{{Cite book |last=Nichols |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QZ-cAQAAQBAJ |title=John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: Volume II: 1572 to 1578 |date=2014 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-955139-2}}

File:Fives Wall in South Petherton.jpg, Somerset]]

The version of fives played here is an example of Wessex fives, the common ancestor to all modern fives games. The first known fives court was built at the base of the church tower in West Pennard, Somerset, in 1813. By this time, fives had achieved some popularity in Wales, where it was referred to as "Ffeifs" – many courts and matches were referred to as "fives courts", although whether these were for playing Welsh handball is unclear.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

In the beginning of the 19th century, fives was played as a pub game especially in Somerset, and many courts were built alongside pubs, attracting large numbers of spectators. Gambling was often present at these matches. The courts at these pubs were different from those used later in the century, consisting of a free standing wall (which were, as such, referred to as either "fives walls" or "fives towers"), occasionally with a buttress attached.{{Cite web |last=Historic England |author-link=Historic England |title=Sports and Recreation Buildings |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/dlsg-sports-recreation-buildings/heag107-sport-and-recreation-lsg/ |website=Historic England}}

During this period, John Cavanagh, reputed to be the greatest fives player of all time, gained popularity. However, after around 1855, the sport experienced a serious loss of players, due to the prominence of other "more sophisticated" sports, such as squash, and was seen as old-fashioned due to its agrarian roots.{{Cite web |title=Somerset's fives walls, and how medieval English church architecture inspired a sport which thrives in Nigeria {{!}} Pedestrian Diversions |url=https://pedestriandiversions.github.io/videos/somerset-fives-walls.html |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=pedestriandiversions.github.io}} As described the Badminton Library:

The number of those who continue fives players after the age of twenty-five is very small; and, for obvious reasons, these veterans are usually schoolmasters. Again, fives is entirely a game for amateurs. It has no professors who make their living and their renown as its teachers or exponents. It has no matches to be reported in newspapers with a minuteness of detail suitable to events of international importance. No fives player, as such, has ever had his portrait published in an illustrated journal, or has had the meanest article of dress in the hosiers' shops named after him. Indeed, the game is not one that tends to exalt the individual player.

File:Eton Fives Court at High Elms 1.jpg

At the end of the 19th century, fives was gentrified from its origins as a rural sport to an elitist sport at public schools; codified forms of the game such as Eton fives and Rugby fives were introduced in the 1870s, which spread to schools such as Highgate, Westminster, Charterhouse and Harrow.{{Cite web |title=The Game of Fives in South Somerset |url=https://www.exploringbuildinghistory.co.uk/the-game-of-fives-in-south-somerset/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=Exploring Building History}} By the end of the 19th Century, fives had become a well-established sport for British public schools. In the 1920s, the sport began to be played at Cambridge University. The first recorded fives match was played between Eton and Harrow in 1885 (F. Thomas and C. Barclay of Eton beat E.M. Butler and B. R. Warren of Harrow).{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Fives continued to be played through the 20th century, but failed to develop a large nation standing. This was because it had a tradition of being a recreational sport played in free time, the large number of varieties of the game in play, and because the "more sophisticated" game of rackets was already established.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKk_vEK0hq4C&dq=%22Winchester+Fives%22&pg=PA36 |title=Advanced PE for OCR A2 |date=2004 |publisher=Heinemann |isbn=978-0-435-50612-4 |page=36}}

File:Fives court at Abingdon School during the 1930s.jpg

Several regional varieties of fives exist; however, most games played are either Rugby fives or Eton fives. Of the two, Etonian fives is the older, being played since the 17th century.{{Cite web |date=3 January 2013 |title=Fives in the UK |url=https://ukwallball.co.uk/what-is-wallball/fives-in-the-uk/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=UK Wallball}} The two major variants of the game differ primarily in the construction of the court, with Eton fives including a buttress and inside the court, and an open back wall.{{Cite web |title=An Introduction to Eton Fives |url=https://www.etonfives.com/the-game/laws-of-the-game |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=etonfives.com}}

Other variants of the game include Warminster and Winchester fives; Winchester fives has similarities to both Rugby and Etonian fives in regards to court construction, while Warminster fives dates to the late 18th century, and uses a specialised set of rules.{{Cite web |title=Warminster Fives – a new version of Fives! – The RFA |url=https://therfa.uk/warminster-fives-a-new-version-of-fives/ |access-date=2022-12-31}} The majority of fives-playing schools have only one type of court, although three schools have historically had both Eton and Rugby courts: Cheltenham, Dover, and Marlborough.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}

{{Main|Eton fives}}

File:Detail on the Northern Side of the Eton Fives Court at High Elms Country Park.jpg Eton fives courts]]

Eton fives is a form of the game which, unlike Rugby fives, is played only in doubles form. The sport was first created at Eton College (hence the name) by boys playing handball between two buttresses of the school chapel{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=naQbAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22Eton+Fives%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA386 |title=Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes |date=1889}} with rules for the game being created in 1877 under the title "Rules of the Game of Fives as played at Eton".{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Eton fives is played in three-sided courts around the size of a squash court{{Cite book |last=Fish |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A2K2BgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Eton+Fives%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA136 |title=Tokens of Youth: A Junior Autobiography |date=28 February 2015 |publisher=Troubador Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78462-122-3}} mimicking the sides of the school chapel, with a buttress (referred to as a "pepper-box"{{Cite book |last=Wood |first=William Wightman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lfYBAAAAYAAJ |title=Sketches of Eton |date=1874 |publisher=Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday}}) on the left-hand wall, and a raised step at the front of the court, extending around 80 cm into the court, at a height of 15 cm,{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Fives|volume=10|page=450}} creating the "upper" and "lower" parts of the court.{{Cite book |last=Nicholson |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LiAXAQAAIAAJ |title=The Shell Weekend Guide to London and the South-East |date=1979 |publisher=R. Nicholson |isbn=978-0-905522-12-8 |page=118}} A sloping ledge runs around the walls of the court, roughly four and a half feet from the floor, of which the bottom line is dubbed the "playline", above which shots have to be played. The upper limit of the court is the "coping" – stonework that lines the top of the walls.{{Cite web |title=An Introduction to Eton Fives |url=https://www.etonfives.com/the-game/laws-of-the-game |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=etonfives.com}}

The first purpose-built fives courts were built at Eton College in 1840, by then headmaster Edward Craven Hawtrey, who constructed four courts mimicking the sides of the school chapel. These courts varied in a few specifications; the distance between the front wall and the buttress was increased, and the floor's slope was reduced, which quickened play speed. The courts were built of sandstone, to reproduce the effect's of the chapel's walls,{{Cite web |title=A Brief History of Eton Fives |url=https://www.etonfives.com/the-game/a-brief-history-of-eton-fives |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=etonfives.com}} which are made of Taynton stone.{{Cite web |title=Eton|work= British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/bucks/vol1/pp142-153 |access-date=2023-01-23}}

The first Eton fives match was played on 12 February 1885, between Eton and Harrow School, playing at Harrow's fives courts. Eton fives began to be played at the University of Cambridge in 1920, with varsity matches beginning in 1927.{{Cite web |title=CU Eton Fives Club |url=https://www.cambridgesu.co.uk/organisation/12599/ |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=cambridgesu.co.uk}} The sport is regulated by the Eton Fives Association, which promotes the sport and runs tournaments annually. While Eton fives has historically been a male-dominated game, due to the public schools it was played in being single-sex, in recent years, women have begun to take a larger role in the sport, accounting for approximately 20% of games played as of 2016.{{Cite book |last=Lanceley |first=Graham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPoKDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Eton+Fives%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT37 |title=Alternative Sports and Pastimes: An A-Z |date=28 November 2016 |publisher=Book Guild Publishing |isbn=978-1-911320-19-7}}

{{Main|Rugby fives}}

File:Former fives court, King Edward VI School Retford.jpg, Nottinghamshire (Grade II listed)]]

Rugby fives, nominally developed at Rugby School in Rugby is the most common variant of the sport,{{Cite book |last1=Nauright |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkLYDgTnMxEC&dq=%22Rugby+Fives%22+-wikipedia&pg=RA1-PA83 |title=Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice |last2=Parrish |first2=Charles |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-59884-300-2 |page=83}} played in both singles and doubles. The variant is derived from Wessex fives, and was brought to Rugby in the 19th century by Thomas Arnold, the then headmaster of Rugby School, who had learnt the game playing at Warminster School.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}} Rugby fives is attested to in Thomas Hughes' 1857 Tom Brown's School Days, centered on the author's own experiences at Rugby, which align with the period in with Arnolds was headmaster. The sport is governed by the Rugby Fives Association, which stages multiple tournaments for the sport annually.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Rugby fives uses an enclosed court free from "hazards", with a hollow board running across the front wall, similar to that of squash.{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Rugby fives|encyclopedia=Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/sports/Rugby-fives |access-date=2022-12-31}} The court has a width of 18 feet and a length of 28 feet, with the front wall having a height of 15 feet. The Rugby fives court uses a shortened back wall, which has a height of 4'10''.{{Cite web |last=Rugby Fives Association |author-link=Rugby Fives Association |title=The Construction of Rugby and Winchester Fives Courts |url=https://therfa.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/04/Court_Specification-Rugby-and-Winchester-February-2017.pdf}} Rugby fives is most commonly played in gloves, using a leather-clad ball with a rubber core.{{Cite news |last=Allen-Mills |first=Tony |title=Rugby fives fans issue new balls plea |newspaper=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/rugby-fives-fans-issue-new-balls-plea-k6mx6027d |access-date=2022-12-31 |issn=0140-0460}} This ball is harder than that used in Eton fives, which increases the speed of play in the game.

Fives is played at several public schools throughout England, including Rugby School, Bedford School, and St Paul's School (London), as well as by the universities of Oxford{{Cite web |title=Rugby Fives |url=https://www.sport.ox.ac.uk/rugby-fives |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=sport.ox.ac.uk}} and Cambridge, which participate in an annual varsity match in the sport.{{Cite web |last=McGennity |first=Lucy |date=27 September 2016 |title=Rugby Fives Club |url=https://www.sport.cam.ac.uk/student-sport/university-sports-clubs/rugby-fives-club |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=sport.cam.ac.uk}} As of 2022, Rugby fives is played in two state schools, namely Stoke Newington School{{Cite web |date=1 July 2022 |title=Hackney secondary smashes stereotypes by introducing Rugby Fives – a sport traditionally limited to elite private schools |url=https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2022/07/01/hackney-secondary-rugby-fives-private-schools/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=Hackney Citizen}}{{Cite news |last=White |first=Jim |date=20 June 2022 |title=London state school pupils revive Rugby Fives and prepare to take on 'the poshies'|work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/2022/06/20/london-state-school-pupils-revive-rugby-fives-prepare-take-poshies/ |access-date=2022-12-31 |issn=0307-1235}} (whose courts were renovated by The National Lottery in 2007{{Cite web |title=Stoke Newington School – Upgrade Rugby Fives Courts and Multi-Use Games Are – Project|publisher=The National Lottery Community Fund |url=https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/grants/0030129013 |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=tnlcommunityfund.org.uk}}) and Derby Moor Academy.{{Cite web |title=Derby Moor Fives – The RFA |url=https://therfa.uk/clubzone/clubs/derby-moor-fives/ |access-date=2022-12-31}}

Winchester fives is a version of fives very similar to Rugby fives,{{Cite book |last=Egerton |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OV9CgAAQBAJ |title=Eton and Rugby Five – A Complete Handbook of Practical Advice, Instruction and Rules |date=31 May 2013 |publisher=Read Books Ltd |isbn=978-1-4733-8313-5}} played originally at Westminster School {{Citation needed|date=March 2025|reason=Surely it originated at Winchester College, not Westminster School?}}. The sport has been played at Westminster since July 1886, when two courts were opened at the site.{{Cite journal |date=November 1909 |title=Westminster Fives |url=https://elizabethan.westminster.org.uk/Filename.ashx?tableName=ta_elizabethan&columnName=filename&recordId=332 |journal=The Elizabethan |volume=XII |issue=28 |page=375}} The court used is almost identical to that used in Rugby fives,{{Cite web |title=Fives at Eton |url=https://www.etoncollege.com/news-and-diary/school-news/fives-at-eton/ |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=Eton College}} except for a 45° change in wall direction for almost 10 inches on the left wall. This makes the back of the court narrower, and creates a very small buttress similarly to that of Eton fives. This buttress also serves to diversify gameplay by allowing winning shots to be made more easily: sharp changes in direction are created by bouncing the ball off the buttress.{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Freddy |date=26 March 2011 |title=Fab fives |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/fab-fives/ |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=The Spectator}} The game is played in doubles, with matches being played to either 11 or 15 points.{{cite news |date=19 March 2015 |title=Get Active: Why Winchester Fives is better than squash |work=Southern Daily Echo |url=https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/11867466.get-active-why-winchester-fives-is-better-than-squash/ |access-date=4 October 2020}}

The sport has no organisation of its own, but The Schools' Winchester Fives Doubles tournament is run yearly by the Rugby Fives Association.{{Cite web |title=Winchester pairs dominate the Schools' Winchester Fives Doubles Championship – The RFA |url=https://therfa.uk/winchester-pairs-dominate-the-schools-winchester-fives-doubles-championship/ |access-date=2023-01-02}}

File:Warminster Fives Court.jpg]]

Warminster fives, also known as West Country fives, is played at Lord Weymouth School, now Warminster School. An 1860 fives court still stands at the school and was in regular use until the 1970s.{{Cite web |title=FIVES COURT – A PRECIOUS RARITY – Warminster School |url=https://www.warminsterschool.org.uk/news-and-events/news-and-events/warminster-fives |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=warminsterschool.org.uk}} The court used in Warminster fives is unique in its construction: the court is similar to a fives wall, except for two small walls jutting from the front wall at 45° angles. The court itself is a grade II listed building, first being listed in 1978.{{Cite web |title=FIVES COURT AT WARMINSTER SCHOOL, Warminster – 1036190|url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1036190 |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=historicengland.org.uk}}

Warminster fives is likely to have inspired Rugby fives: Thomas Arnold, headmaster at Rugby responsible for the introduction of the sport at the school was previously a teacher at Warminster before joining Rugby.{{Cite web |title=Warminster and West Country Fives |url=https://www.etonfives.com/miscellaneous-items/1625-warminster-and-west-country-fives |access-date=2022-12-31 |website=etonfives.com}}

The Warminster variety of fives also differs greatly in its rules: teams play three-a-side; one on the left, center and right sides of the court (referred to as "squif", "centre" and "skunk"). The court has dimensions of roughly 8 metres in width and depth.

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| image1 = [https://100radleyobjects.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/image-9b-1880-fives-bat-insert.jpg Fives-bat used to play Bat fives]. Held at the Radley School Archives.

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Bat fives is a form of fives predating Rugby, Eton, and Westminster forms of the game.{{Cite web |title=Fives, Bat Fives, Racquets and Squash Racquets |url=https://jimstennis.com/contextRoot/html/fives/fives.html |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=jimstennis.com}} It is very similar to the game of rackets, and can even be considered an early form of the game, differing in the shape of the bat used, and the slightly smaller ball used in rackets.{{Cite book |last=Routledge |first=Edmund |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bivExgEACAAJ |title=Every Boy's Book: A Complete Encyclopaedia of Sports and Amusements |date=1868 |publisher=George Routledge and Sons}} The game was played using a willow bat with a curved bowl,{{Cite book |last=Many Hands |url=http://archive.org/details/ThreeHundredThingsABrightBoyCanDo |title=Three Hundred Things a Bright Boy Can Do |date=1914 |publisher=Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd.}} measuring around 21 inches by 4 inches,{{Cite journal |last=Brooke |first=E W |title=A Brief History of Fives at Radley |url=https://radleyarchives.co.uk/browse/magazines/the-radleian/the-radleian-2010-present/the-radleian-2010/7565-the-radleian-2010-136?q=fives%20bat |journal=The Radleian |page=136}} with the end wrapped in leather.{{Cite journal |last=Munro (Saki) |first=Hector Hugh |author-link=Saki |title=The Schartz-Metterklume Method |url=https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/englishliterature/chapter/the-schartz-metterklume-method/ |journal= |year=2014}}

Bat fives was played mostly at Radley and Westminster, but was also played at Rugby, Cheltenham, and Aldenham.{{Cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=Julian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8T5NxQEACAAJ |title=Tennis, Rackets, Fives |last2=Spens |first2=James |last3=Tait |first3=Rev J. A. Arnan |date=1890 |publisher=Bell}} It used courts similar in size to squash courts,{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Alex |date=October 2016 |title=100 Years On and Fives is Flourishing |url=https://www.oldaldenhamian.org/StaticFiles/AldenhamITW_0000008557.pdf |journal=Old Aldenhamian |issue=44 |page=18}} with an open back, and with no buttress, step or hazards.{{Cite web |last=Wiseman |first=Howard |title=Batty About Fives |url=http://www.etonfives.com/miscellaneous-items/1623-batty-about-fives |access-date=2023-01-01 |website=etonfives.com}} The sport ceased to be played around 1903,{{Cite journal |last=Barnes |first=David |year=2011 |title=Rugby School Fives |url=https://issuu.com/fivesfederation/docs/fivesannrep10-11 |journal=Rugby Fives Association Annual Review 2010–11 |pages=22–24}} in favour of Eton fives, and most courts were demolished in the 1920s.

When playing, a line was drawn on the ground around 10 feet in front of the front wall. Games were then played to either fifteen or twenty-five points. The 1914 book Three Hundred Things a Bright Boy Can Do describes gameplay as:

The first player takes the ball, and strikes it against the wall with his bat above the line on the wall, and so that it may fall outside of the line on the ground. The other then strikes it, and the players then continue to hit it against the wall, either before it comes to the ground or at the first rebound, until one of them missing it, or driving it out of bounds, or beneath the wall-line, loses or goes out. The ball may fall anywhere within the side boundaries, after once being struck up by the player who is in.

File:ALPP - Fives.png lithograph of a game of Fives in progress found in A Little Pretty Children's Book]]

File:Fives_Gloves_and_Ball.jpg

Fives is generally played wearing leather gloves,{{Cite web |title=Story, Manchester Metropolitan University |url=https://www.mmu.ac.uk/sport-and-exercise-sciences/news/story/?id=4580 |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=Manchester Metropolitan University| date=16 August 2016 }} the practice of which dates from the 18th Century – in John Newbery's 1744 children's book A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, two fives players can be seen wearing white gloves on their right hands.{{Citation |last=Newbery |first=John |title=Fives |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Little_Pretty_Pocket-book/Fives |work=A Little Pretty Pocket-book |access-date=2023-01-01}} The balls used in fives generally weigh around an ounce and a quarter, and vary in material – leather and rubber are most commonly used.{{Cite book |last=Heathcote |first=John Moyer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XMYAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22hand-tennis%22&pg=PA417 |title=Tennis |date=1891 |publisher=Longmans, Green |page=434}}

As shown before, court dimensions vary greatly between different versions of Fives; however, modern day court construction is relatively uniform. Two main types of courts exist; traditional ones, and pre-cast courts. Traditional courts are built by bricklaying a form, which is then coated in a cement render,{{Cite web |title=Courts build in the traditional way |url=http://www.jprcourts.com/court-manufacturing-2 |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=JPR Courts}} which consists of concrete and sharp sand (alternatively grus), which is then coated in Keene's cement plaster. Precast concrete courts are also available,{{Cite web |title=Pre-cast fives courts |url=http://www.jprcourts.com/court-manufacturing-3 |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=JPR Courts}} which are more cost-effective, and faster to build (traditional courts take 4–5 months, concrete courts can be erected in weeks) than traditional courts.{{Cite web |title=Prefabricated fives courts |url=http://www.jprcourts.com/court-manufacturing |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=JPR Courts}}

There are some well-established clubs overseas, such as the Zuoz Fives Club in Zürich, Switzerland.[http://www.etonfives.com/the-game/club-secretaries/1490-zuoz-fives-club-zuerich Zuoz Fives Club Zürich], Eton Fives Association. Retrieved 23 June 2017.

Eton fives is the only version of Fives played in the north of Nigeria,{{Cite web |date=16 January 2018 |title=Personal project: Eton Fives |url=http://www.olafpix.com/personal-project-eton-fives/ |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=Olafpix}} and is especially popular in Katsina State, being more popular in Nigeria than in England itself.{{Cite web |title='Nigeria loves Eton fives' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2011/6/28/nigeria-loves-eton-fives |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=aljazeera.com}} The sport was introduced in 1928 by former Eton pupil J. S. Hogden, who was teaching in the state of Katsina (in the Provincial Secondary School) and in Birnin Kebbi.{{Cite news |title=Gentlemen in northern Nigeria |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/baobab/2013/12/05/gentlemen-in-northern-nigeria |access-date=2023-01-02 |issn=0013-0613}} The version of the game in Nigeria is played using a tennis ball, as traditional balls "take chunks out of the mud walls of the courts", and gloves are not used. In Nigeria, fives is popular; the Emir of Katsina, Abdulmumini Kabir Usman plays, and has a court inside the {{Ill|Gidan Korau|ha|Katsina (birni)#Masarautar Katsina}} Katsina Royal Palace.{{Cite news |date=28 June 2011 |title=Eton's ancient game thrives in Nigeria|work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-idUSTRE75R01320110628 |access-date=2023-01-04}}

Fives in Nigeria is regulated by the Fives Federation of Nigeria{{Cite web |last=Kuti |first=Dare |date=18 January 2022 |title=FIVES is a National Not Northern sport – Dangaladima |url=https://www.aclsports.com/fives-is-a-national-not-northern-sport-dangaladima/ |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=ACLSports}} Several inter-state tournaments are run, which include the Sardauna cup and Dan-Iyan Zazzau Super Cup.{{Cite web |title=Fives Federation to begin 2019 with President Muhammadu Buhari tourney |url=https://theeagleonline.com.ng/fives-federation-to-begin-2019-with-president-muhammadu-buhari-tourney/ |access-date=4 January 2023 |website=The Eagle Online|date=29 January 2019 }} The organisation also works to popularise the sport in Southern Nigeria.{{Cite web |title=Nigeria: Fives Federation Plans to Create Awareness in States |url=https://allafrica.com/stories/201110241448.html |website=Daily Trust}}

The Eton Fives Association has run multiple tours in conjunction with the Nigerian Fives Association to Nigeria to play the sport: one in 1965,{{Cite web |title=A trip down memory lane – the EFA tour of Nigeria in 1965 |url=https://www.etonfives.com/miscellaneous-items/97-blank-article-22 |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=etonfives.com}} and a second in December 1984 (after which the Nigerian Fives Association visited England),{{Cite web |title=Visit of the Katsina Fives Club to England March 1989 |url=http://www.etonfives.com/season-archive/1988-89/2076-visit-of-the-katsina-fives-club-to-england-march-1989 |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=etonfives.com}} and most recently, a second tour by Nigerian players in 2019.{{Cite web |title=First Nigerian Tour For 30 Years Is A Huge Success |url=https://www.etonfives.com/news/2932-first-nigerian-tour-for-30-years-is-a-huge-success |access-date=2023-01-04 |website=etonfives.com}}

Fives was played in schools and universities in Australia in the nineteenth century. A court was opened at the Hutchins School in Hobart, Tasmania, in November 1877,"Hutchins' School Fives Court", The Mercury [Hobart], 24 November 1877, p. 2. The court was described as "the only one, we believe, in the colony", and its dimensions as: "Length of floor, 21 ft.; height and width of court 14 ft. each. The court will be an open one, with a flagged floor, the walls will be built of brick, and cemented on the inside.""Laying the Foundation Stone", The Mercury [Hobart], 24 September 1877, p. 2.

The erection of a fives court on the Recreation Ground of the University of Melbourne is noted in the Council minutes of Trinity College in 1873,Minutes, Trinity College Council, 30 May 1873, vol. 1., p. 18. and there were newspaper reports of an "annual tournament in connexion with the University Fives Club" in 1881, when Professor Herbert Strong acted as judge."Fives", The Argus, 9 July 1881, p. 8. A double-handed tournament and a single-handed handicap tournament were played there in August 1883."University Fives Club", The Argus, 18 August 1883, p. 10.

Fives is played in some secondary schools in New Zealand, for example Nelson College, New Zealand's oldest state school.{{cite web|title=Nelson College, New Zealand|date=31 January 2014 |url=http://www.nelsoncollege.school.nz/our-school|access-date=17 March 2015}}

Eton fives is played in Malaysia,{{Cite web |title=BBC Two – Great Asian Railway Journeys, Series 1, Penang to Kuala Kangsar, Eton Fives at Malay College |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p083sj9k |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=BBC |date=18 February 2020}} being introduced to Malay College Kuala Kangsar by Charles Ernest Bazell, the school's Oxfordian fourth headmaster, in 1923.{{Cite web |last=Hashim |first=Hisham Badrul |title=Eton Fives Courts at the MCKK – Reviving an Eton Heritage – Berita MCOBA |date=April 2019 |url=https://berita.mcoba.org/2019/04/01/eton-fives-courts-at-the-mckk-reviving-an-eton-heritage/ |access-date=2023-01-22}} Two Eton fives courts exist, reopened in 2014, after 50 years of disuse.{{Cite web |title=Sept 2014: The Only Way is Asia |url=http://www.etonfives.com/miscellaneous-items/910-the-only-way-is-asia |access-date=2023-01-02 |website=etonfives.com}} These courts are speculated to have been the first in the country; however, a report by The Straits Times from 30 April 1920 references fives courts at the Padang Polo (polo ground) in Penang.{{Cite web |title=NewspaperSG – The Straits Times, 30 April 1920 |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/issue/eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/issue/straitstimes19200430-1 |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=eresources.nlb.gov.sg}}{{original research inline|date=January 2023}} Eton Fives teams from Malaysia have been entered into tournaments – in March 2015, two teams were sent to the UK National Eton Fives Schools Championship at Eton College, reaching the Plate Quarter Finals.{{Cite web |title=Eton Fives – © 2022 BADAN WARISAN MALAYSIA. All rights reserved. |url=https://badanwarisanmalaysia.org/tag/eton-fives/ |access-date=2023-01-02 |website= 2022 BADAN WARISAN MALAYSIA. All rights reserved. |date=19 April 2016}}

In India, Eton fives is played only at St. Paul's School, Darjeeling, where there exist two courts built in 1899 by the brother of one of the school's former rectors as a gift to the school.{{Citation |last=St. Paul's School |first=Darjeeling |title=St. Paul's School, Darjeeling, India collection |url=http://archive.org/details/StPaulsSchoolDarjeelingIndiaCollection |access-date=2023-01-22}} Courts also exist in Kodaikanal,{{Cite web |title=Fives in the Himalayas |url=https://www.etonfives.com/miscellaneous-items/1834-fives-in-the-himalayas |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=etonfives.com}} as well as at the Laxmi Vilas Palace, but these are not in use.{{Cite web |title=New Courts Discovered In India |url=http://www.etonfives.com/miscellaneous-items/2377-new-courts-discovered-in-india |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=etonfives.com}}

Fives has been played in the United States since the 18th century, first attested to in a by-law in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1791, where several forms of ball games were prohibited from being played within eighty yards of the town hall to protect its windows.{{Cite journal |last=Thorn |first=John |date=Spring 2007 |title=1791 and All That: Baseball and the Berkshires |journal=Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=119–126|doi=10.3172/BB.1.1.119 }}

The Racquet Club of Philadelphia built a set of Fives Courts in 1900, but these were quickly used for playing squash.{{Cite web |last=TheRacketLife |date=27 June 2022 |title=Where Did The Game Of Squash Originate? |url=https://theracketlife.com/where-did-the-game-of-squash-originate/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=The Racket Life}}{{Cite web |title=History of Squash |url=https://wsf.sportyhq.com/w/info/history-of-squash |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=World Squash Federation}} Fives courts also existed at the old location of the Racquet and Tennis Club in New York City before it relocated in 1918, as well as at the Chicago Athletic Association.{{Cite web |title=USCTA {{!}} Lost Courts of America |url=https://uscourttennis.org/lost-courts-of-america/ |access-date=2023-01-22}} Fives has received little attention in America since the early 20th century; however, American handball players such as Timothy Gonzalez{{Cite web |title=This British Style of Handball Has a Weird Twist |url=https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/timbo-gonzalez-eton-fives |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=Red Bull}} and Mathieu Pelletier{{Cite web |date=30 August 2017 |title=Outdoor Director Pelletier Learns Rugby Fives |url=https://wphlive.tv/wph-rfc-outdoor-director-pelletier-learns-rugby-fives/ |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=WPHLiveTV}}{{Cite web |title=America discovers Fives! – The RFA |url=https://therfa.uk/america-discovers-fives/ |access-date=2023-01-22}} have brought attention to fives by playing it.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

Like in England, fives was also played in prestigious preparatory schools, most notably Groton School and St. Mark's School, Massachusetts. Of these, only Groton still plays, where three Rugby fives courts, built in 1884 by Endicott Peabody, are in use as of 2016. Until 2001, eight courts had existed at St. Mark's School, Massachusetts, built by William Greenough Thayer, and an annual competition between the two schools was held until at least the 1980s.{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Paul |date=1984 |title=Rugby Fives in the USA |url=https://therfa.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/10/1984-85-Paul-Wright-Rugby-Fives-in-the-USA.pdf |access-date=22 January 2023}} In March 1979, a tour of England was made by players from St. Mark's School, the first ever by American players.{{Cite web |last=Fünfs Wald |first=A. |date=May 1979 |title=Yankee Doodle Dandies |url=https://therfa.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/10/1979-80-Yankee-Doodle-Dandies.pdf |access-date=22 January 2023}} Several other courts exist scattered throughout the country, for example one near Kezar Lake, and another at the Union Boat Club in Boston.{{Cite web |last=Butterfield |first=Neil |date=October 2016 |title=Neil Butterfield revisits Fives in the USA in October 2016 |url=https://therfa.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/10/2016-Neil-Butterfield-revisits-USA-Fives.pdf |access-date=22 January 2023}}

In 2021, Mexico's first Eton Fives court was built in Oaxaca by Emilian Ruiz Ayala, a player who learnt the sport at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz.{{Cite web |title=Viva El Fives |url=https://www.etonfives.com/season-archive/2020-21/3078-viva-el-fives |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=etonfives.com}}{{Cite web |title=World Fives Day 2021: £6,900 Raised |url=https://www.etonfives.com/world-fives-day/3095-world-fives-day-2021-6-900-raised |access-date=2023-01-22 |website=etonfives.com}} Fives also has a history in Brazil, several fives courts were built by the Western and Brazilian Telegraph Company, although these were closed in the late 1920s. Courts also existed at the São Paulo Athletic Club, which were eventually converted into a swimming pool. Finally, a set of fives courts were built at St Paul's School in São Paulo in 1934.{{Cite web |date=March 1936 |title=Fives in Brazil. |url=https://therfa.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/10/1936-Fives-in-Brazil.pdf}}

Bat fives was played in Uruguay at the Montevideo Cricket Club,{{Cite journal |last=Gambetta |first=Emiliano |date=21 June 2020 |title=Turismo en bicicleta en el Montevideo de principios de siglo XX. El caso del Club Nacional de Velocipedistas (1904–1909) |url=https://ojs.fhce.edu.uy/index.php/claves/article/view/533 |journal=Claves. Revista de Historia |language=es |volume=6 |issue=10 |pages=37–66 |doi=10.25032/crh.v6i10.3 |s2cid=225673264 |issn=2393-6584|doi-access=free }} where there were two courts.{{Cite web |last=Cocks |first=R. K. |date=22 October 1932 |title=Fives in Foreign Climes |url=https://therfa.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/10/1932-Fives-in-foreigh-climes.pdf}}

• GAA Handball
• UK Wallball

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Egerton |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OV9CgAAQBAJ |title=Eton and Rugby Five – A Complete Handbook of Practical Advice, Instruction and Rules |date=31 May 2013 |publisher=Read Books Ltd |isbn=978-1-4733-8313-5}}

• [https://therfa.uk/ The Rugby Fives Association (RFA) website]
• [https://www.britannica.com/sports/fives#ref88490 Encyclopædia Britannica article on Fives in general]
• [http://www.etonfives.com The Eton fives Association website]

Category:Fives

Category:Youth sport in England

Category:School sport in the United Kingdom

Category:Sports originating in England

Category:Team sports

Category:Wall-and-ball games

Category:Handball sports