Quarter Staff

The quarterstaff was closely identified with sport and civilian self-defense, as a weapon of expedience used by travelers or in formal duels. By the early 1700s the weapon was commonly employed in public prizefights, with the winner receiving both gate-money and the proceeds of wagering. The famed English stage gladiator James Figg promoted the art, along with backswording and pugilism, in bouts at Southwark Fair, and after his retirement from the stage in 1735 he taught it to young aristocrats at his own School of Arms in London's Oxford Street.

There do not appear to be any records of recreational quarterstaff-play between 1748 and 1870, probably because during this period armed prize fighting was virtually replaced by the new sport of boxing. Quarter staffing was militarily obsolete and does not appear to have been a popular rural pastime, so it is possible that the art effectively became extinct.

The traditional English staff was a sturdy weapon of oak or similar hardwood, difficult to maneuver with any regard for a sparring partner's safety. It's important to remember that Figg and his contemporaries were professional fighters, willing to risk injury in un-armored, full-contact bouts with weapons (although it was suspected at the time that some professionals fixed their fights, in the manner of modern pro-wrestlers.) The danger of fencing with oak staves may have dissuaded amateurs from taking up the art recreationally, in contrast to the gladiators who fought to earn their living.
Bamboo was introduced into England around 1827. Bamboo poles were light enough that players could strike to the body at full speed and risk only a welt or bruise, and a slender eight-foot length was flexible enough to absorb impact without splitting. British cavalrymen employed bamboo training weapons in lance maneuvers, following the example of Indian soldiers they encountered during the "Raj" period, beginning in 1858, and bamboo quarter staves are recommended in all of the surviving Victorian-era manuals.

As Britain entered the Industrial Age, there arose a relatively affluent urban middle-class with time to pursue sports and other diversions. Supply meets demand, and the first sporting equipment companies were established, leading to a rapid evolution in sporting equipment design and manufacture.
Even armed with lightweight bamboo weapons, the knees and shins, groin, hands, temples, throat, and eyes were still vulnerable to serious, even if accidental, injury. By 1870, however, amateur quarterstaff fencers could choose from a diverse range of protective equipment designed for other sports.

Tragically, many young English athletes gave up their lives in the trenches of the First World War, and the generation that might otherwise have perpetuated the new sport of quarterstaff fencing was all but lost. Many other Victorian-era combat arts and sports were similarly afflicted, some experiencing a brief revival in the 1920s (such as quarter staffing as practiced by the Boy Scouts) before finally succumbing during the Great Depression and then World War Two. Similarly, the homogenizing effect of the international Olympic movement caused many obscure sports to fade from memory through lack of publicity and funding. It is only in comparatively recent years that these activities have been researched and, in some cases, brought tentatively back to life.

Skittles

Skittles or Nine Pins has long been played in the Inns of England. In general, players take turns to throw wooden balls down a lane at the end of which are several wooden skittles in an attempt to knock them all over. There are a number of skittle games across England and there have been many more in the past. In Germany, in the 3rd or 4th century monks played a game with a kegel, which was a club, carried for self-defense. In the game, the kegel represented a sin or temptation and the monks would throw stones at it until they knocked it over.
There are two 14th century manuscripts which show a game called club Kayles and which depict a skittles game in which one skittle is bigger, differently shaped, and in most cases positioned so as to be the most difficult to knock over. The throwers, in the pictures, are about to launch a long club-like object at the skittles underarm. The large skittle is presumably a king pin as featured in some of the modern versions of skittles. The fact that the thrower is not using a ball is not at all unusual - the Skittles cousins, Aunt Sally, and various games played on a court in Northern Europe still uses a baton shaped stick to chuck at the doll and many modern skittles games throw a object called a "cheese" instead of a ball. A cheese is any "lump" which is used to throw at the skittles and shapes can vary from barrel shaped to cheese shaped. There is no doubt that Skittles has been one of the most popular sports in England since at least medieval times. Many old pictures and books mention it. A study of old pictures of the Thames Frost fairs shows that Nine Pins was consistently one of the entertainments.

Medieval Games of Chance

The Medieval Games of chance were always popular, although they were forbidden both by ecclesiastical and royal authority. New laws were continually being enacted against them, especially against those in which dice were used, though with little avail. It appears more likely that dice were first forbidden by the Church, and then by civil authorities, on account of the fearful oaths uttered by those players who had a run of bad luck. It was very common for people to ruin themselves at this game, and, as a proof, the poems of troubadours are full of imprecations against the fatal chance of dice.

The games of cards like Triomphe, Piquet, Trente-et-un were much in fashion in France, and as much forbidden as dice. However, they were played in taverns and even at the court. Loaded dice and false cards were not uncommon, as many were cheating for a living.

On the opposite side were the games requiring skill and calculation. Generally known as Tables, they comprised all the games played on a board, particularly chess, draughts, and backgammon.

In France, it was Charles V who first thought of giving a more serious and useful character to the Medieval Games, and who, in a celebrated edict forbidding the games of chance, encouraged the establishment of companies of archers and bowmen. These companies, to which was subsequently added that of arquebusiers, still exists, especially in the French Northern provinces.

Hammer Throwing

Hammer throwing, one of the throwing events in track and field, was developed into a sport centuries ago in Ireland, Scotland, and England. Legends trace it to the Tailteann games held in Tara, Ireland, about 2000 D.C., and tell of the Celtic hero Cuchulainn who gripped a chariot wheel by its axle, whirled it around his head, and threw it father than did any other mortal. Wheel hurling was later replaced by throwing a boulder attached to the end of a wooden handle. Among the ancient Teutonic tribes forms on hammer throwing were practiced at religious festivals honoring the God Thor.

The event was popularly contested throughout the Middle Ages; a statue of Joseph O'Hanrahan portrays a half-clad Irish giant hurling the hammer. A 16th century drawing shows King Henry VIII throwing a blacksmith's sledgehammer, the implement from which the event derived its name.

Since 1866 the hammer throw has been a regular part of track and field competitions and England, Scotland, and Ireland. The hammers were made of forged iron, had no prescribed weight, and their handles varied to in length between 3 and 3 1/2 feet. The athlete swung the hammer around his head and threw from a standing position to a distance measured from his forward foot. Later the hammer was thrown a line marked on the field. The best distances achieved were between 130 and 140 feet.

The English standardized the event in 1875 by establishing the weight of the hammer at sixteen pounds and its length at 3 feet six inches and by requiring that it be thrown from a circle seven feet in diameter. For a decade these restrictions reduced the distances, but slowly gave rise to a technique utilizing one or two body turns before the delivery. In 1887 the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States adopted the seven-foot circle and the sixteen-pound hammer, but set is overall length at four feet.

In 1895, A. J. Flanagan of Ireland, using three jumping rotations on the ball of his left foot, originated a new school of hammer throwing. In 1896 he immigrated to the United States and proceeded to improve his world record over the next thirteen years from 147 feet to 184 ft. 4 inches. By a then, the implement had undergone changes resulting in the replacement of the wooden handle by a steel wire connecting the iron ball with a pair of grips.