Welsh handball

Welsh Handball (Welsh: Pêl-Law) is one of the most ancient native sports of Wales. It is related to coeval sports such as Irish handball, Fives, Basque pelota and later American handball and has been continually attested since the Middle Ages. The sports popularity saw it become an important expression of Welsh culture and offered ordinary people opportunities through prize-money, bookkeeping and even player professionalism.

Due to its cultural significance games of Pêl-law were simply referred to as Chwarae Pêl (playing ball) and it has since been described as "Wales’ first national sport".

Pêl-law shares many rules and its methods of scoring with other handball games, as well as squash and racquetball. A hard, leather-cased ball (a Spaldeen is often used today) is struck with the palm against a front wall. The objective is to keep the ball out of the opponent's reach but inside the bounds of play so that they are unable to return, points are only awarded for the serving player.

Scores are marked on the front wall using the traditional "box" scoring system, and formal matches are overseen by an official score marker and one referee. Whilst historically the rules varied from village to village, the scoring method remained constant and is still in use today.

Pêl-law has been attested in the literature of Wales since the Middle Ages. However, as similar games have been played throughout the world for thousands of years, the game is believed to be much older. Handball-like games have originated in several places at different times. Hieroglyphs in the temple of Osiris in Egypt portray priests taking part in a game very similar to handball. Mesoamerican civilisations in South and Central America had a form of handball-like game, which was a large part of pre-Columbian culture.

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