Rugby fives

Rugby Fives is a handball game, similar to squash, played in an enclosed court. It has similarities with Winchester Fives (a form of Wessex Fives) and Eton Fives. It is played mainly in the United Kingdom.

It is most commonly believed to be derived from Wessex Fives, a game played by Thomas Arnold, famous Headmaster of Rugby School, who had played Wessex Fives when a boy at Lord Weymouth's Grammar, now Warminster School. The open court of Wessex Fives, built in 1787, is still in existence and use at Warminster School.

An early mention of the game can be found in the novel Tom Brown's School Days (1857) by Thomas Hughes. The author attended Rugby School during the period when Dr Arnold was Headmaster.

The game is played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles), the aim being to hit the ball above a 'bar' across the front wall in such a way that the opposition cannot return it before a second bounce. The ball is slightly larger than a golf ball, leather-coated and hard. Players wear leather padded gloves on both hands, with which they hit the ball.

Either singles or doubles can be played.

A standard rugby fives court is four-walled, with the floor being rectangular in shape. It is 28 feet long by 18 feet wide and the upper limit of the in-court area is 15 feet for the front wall, sloping down the side walls to 4 feet 10 inches at the back wall. Previously, the height of the back wall was higher at 6 feet but was reduced for architectural reasons as it removes the need for a balcony in new facilities thus reducing building costs and improving communication between coaches and players. In addition, a wooden bar running across the front wall with an upper height of 2 feet 6 inches marks the lower limit of the in-court area on the front wall - there is no lower limit for the other three walls.

The floor is concrete so that the ball will bounce well. The walls may be stone, brick or concrete but covered in a layer of hard-wearing plaster.

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