A HISTORY of the GAME of SQUASH

 

It is probable that all racket games derived from the medieval game of tennis, or real/royal tennis. In the 14th Century tennis was played by hand. It developed into a highly structured indoor game played on a complex court with a net and rackets. In 1600 there were about 1,800 courts in Paris. The game spread to England (it is recorded that Henry VIII was a keen player) where over a period of time two offshoots developed, lawn tennis and rackets. Real tennis required a large enclosed space whereas lawn tennis was an outdoors game, and rackets, although more often an indoors game, required a much smaller and less complicated space.

 

By the early 19th Century most public schools and many private clubs had one or more racket courts. Various offshoots of rackets developed such as handball, Eton fives and Rugby fives (all with rules similar to squash and derived from racket rules).

 

There seems to be little doubt that squash rackets originated at Harrow school some time prior to 1850. Two main versions of how it originated exist. One story has it that boys waiting for their turn on the rackets courts at Harrow school were in the habit of hitting a racket ball around the outside wall (courtyard) of the racket court. Because of noise and/or broken windows they were told to use a softer or "squashier" ball. An alternative story appears in an article by Stuart Hardy, librarian and archivist. Hardy suggests that the younger boys, owing to the pace of rackets, used a softer Indian rubber ball with a hole in it. This allowed the boys to practice correct technique. Possibly the truth is a combination of both tales (hence the name). There are early 1850s "Old Boys" letters referring to 'mini rackets' or 'baby rackets'. There is no doubt that a form of squash existed by 1851.

 

Bill Mattick, in his book "An Introduction to Squash Technique", quotes from a report by Richard Mulcaster, Headmaster of Merchant Taylor's School and St. Pauls England in 1851:

 

...it is generally noted to be one of the best exercises and the greatest preservation of health.

 

By the turn of the century the game was so popular that the Bath Club had installed courts for the new game of 'squash rackets'. At this time the basic dimensions of the court had not been standardised. In an article written for the Windsor Magazine (vol. XIII, 1901) Eustace H. Miles, amateur Rackets Champion of 1899, writes:

 

Any wall - for instance, the wall of a room or the outside wall of a house - can be used for squash. The wall need not necessarily be plain, if only the windows be wired over. A visit to Harrow will show you that the windows and other irregularities in the surface can actually be made to add to the interest of the game.

 

By 1911 many private clubs had built courts, usually to the dimensions of the Bath

 

Club courts. This year saw the Tennis and Rackets Association attempt for the first time to standardise the court, racket and ball. It was in 1918 that the basic dimensions were finally agreed to. The rules of squash are very similar to those of rackets, although the scoring in squash was first to 9 with only the server scoring while rackets was first to 15 with only the server scoring.

 

In the same article, Miles states that:

 

...there are many more racket courts than tennis (Royal) courts ... the large clubs ... Lord's, Prince's, and the Universities ... most Public schools, and in most garrison towns (such as Portsmouth), where they do much to account for the fitness of our British officers. ... Spens, Eastwood, Hedley, and Crawley - in fact the Army is keener about Rackets than any other class of people. The garrisons in India have their Racket courts, in spite of the heat. ... a game in India as being like running about in a Turkish bath.

 

It was not so much squash that followed the British army, as is often stated, but the parent game of rackets. By the 1930's the child had displaced the parent - squash rackets was far and away more popular than rackets, probably due mainly to the cost of building squash courts as against racket courts. The squash court is 9.75m x 6.4m while the racket court is 18.23m x 9.14m, almost double the size. An additional advantage would have been that you could build almost two squash courts for one and a half racket courts.

 

Miles states that there were racket courts in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Whereas the British game developed around the soft ball, the American game retained the harder style ball and heavier rackets, with their courts being longer and narrower than British courts. The American game also retained the first to 15 point scoring system with every rally won earning a point. The American game would seem to be closer to the parent game of rackets.