Fives

Fives is an English sport believed to derive from the same origins as many racquet sports. In fives, a ball is propelled against the walls of a special court using a gloved or bare hand as though it were a racquet, similarly to hand-pelota.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1925) describes fives as a ball game played with hands or bat in court with two, three or four walls. The name may be derived from the slang expression "a bunch of fives" (meaning a fist). The game has also been known as hand-tennis and historically was often played between the buttresses of church buildings in England. There are links between Fives and the Irish, Welsh and North American handball games. In recent years, British clubs began to establish ties with clubs in those countries.

Fives is not the same as Long Fives, which is played in a real tennis court.

There are two main types of fives, Rugby Fives and Eton Fives. A precursor to Rugby Fives is Warminster (or Wessex) Fives; another variant of Wessex fives is Winchester Fives, although there are only about 9 places in the UK where this is still played.

Most schools where fives is played have only one type of court but three schools have historically had both Eton and Rugby courts - Cheltenham, Dover and Marlborough. Cheltenham now only have Rugby courts and Dover two unrestored Eton courts; Marlborough have four rugby and two Eton courts, all in good condition.

Eton Fives, invented by Eton boys in 1877, is played competitively as a doubles game. In Eton Fives the ball is slightly softer and lighter than other versions of the game and the gloves are fairly thin.

The Eton Fives court is modelled on part of Eton College's Chapel and is enclosed on three sides and open at the back. It has a more complex variation and some specific court features or "hazards". A small step splits the court into upper and lower sections, and sloping ledges run horizontally across the walls, one of which forms the "line". There is a large obstruction, known as a 'buttress', or a 'pepper' to fives players, on the left-hand side of the court in line with the step. At the bottom of the buttress is the 'box' or 'pepper pot'. The step extends approximately 80 cm into the court and is around 15 cm high. The first courts at Eton were built in 1840, and subsequently at a multitude of other locations, and the Laws for Eton Fives were first published in 1931.

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