The Eton wall game is a game which bears some resemblance to rugby union that originated at and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long ("The Furrow") next to a slightly curved brick wall ("The Wall") erected in 1717.
The traditional and
most important match of the year is played on St Andrew's Day, as the
Collegers (King's Scholars) take on the Oppidans (the rest of the
school). Although College has only 70 boys to pick from, compared to
the 1250 or so Oppidans, the Collegers have one distinct advantage:
access to the field on which the Wall Game is played is controlled by
a Colleger. Despite this, it is usual for them to allow the Oppidans
to use it whenever they wish.
The wall game being
played in the late 19th or early 20th century. At right is The Wall,
the dark strip of ground running alongside it is The Furrow.
At the annual St
Andrew's Day match, the Oppidans climb over the wall, after throwing
their caps over in defiance of the Scholars, while the Collegers
march down from the far end of College Field, arm-in-arm, towards the
near end, where they meet the Oppidans.
The Wall Game is
also played on Ascension Day, immediately after a 6 a.m. service on
the roof of College Chapel. Various scratch matches are also played
throughout the Michaelmas and Lent halves (terms), where boys from
different year groups, as well as masters, take part.
The aim of the game
is to move the ball towards the opponents' end of the playing area.
In those last few yards of the field is an area called the "calx".
In this area a player can earn a "shy" (worth one point) by
lifting the ball against the wall with his foot. A teammate then
touches the ball with his hand and shouts "Got it!" These
two plays must happen within the calx. After this, if the umpire says
"Given", the scoring team can attempt a goal (worth a
further nine points) by throwing the ball at a designated target (a
garden door at one end of the field and a tree at the other end). A
player can also score a kicked goal, worth five points, if he kicks
the ball out and it hits a goal during the normal course of play.
The main game
consists of the two sets of players forming a rugby-style scrummage
(called a "Bully") in which neither team may "furk"
the ball, which is to hook it backwards (except in Calx, where a
different type of Bully called a Calx Bully occurs). The Bully is
formed next to the Wall and crabs slowly along the Wall until the
ball emerges. Many players, particularly those whose position is
actually against the Wall, lose the skin off their elbows, hips and
knees. Because of this, players usually wear long sleeves. Players
within the Bully shove and push each other, mostly with their bodies
but also by placing their fists against the faces of the opposition
and attempting to lever them backwards and away from the Wall. Actual
punching is not permitted, and grabbing an opponent's shirt
("holding") is also not allowed.
When in Calx, a
different type of Bully called a Calx Bully occurs. The fastest way
to make ground is by kicking the ball upfield and out of play
whenever it comes sideways out of the Bully – unlike most types of
football, play is restarted opposite where the ball stops after it
had gone out, or was touched after it had gone out.
Consequently, the
most common tactic revolves around the formation of a 'phalanx'. This
consists of a tunnel (coming out from the wall, diagonally forward
from the position of the ball) of players from one team who are
crouching on hands and feet next to each other. Once the team in
possession of the ball has formed a successful phalanx, it attempts
to pass the ball down the 'tunnel' using the knees of the players
forming it, to a player standing at the end of the phalanx, known as
Lines, whose job it is to kick the ball upfield. The team not in
possession is constantly attempting to disrupt this, and win the ball
back.
The game lasts up to
an hour, with two halves of 30 minutes each. Many games end 0-0.
Scoring goals (ten points) is very rare; they occur about once every
10 years and there have been no goals scored in the St Andrew's Day
game since 1909. There was a goal scored in a recent scratch match (a
less formal warm-up match for the St Andrew's Day game) in May 2016
by a College player. However, shies (worth 1 point) are scored more
frequently.
In the 2015 St
Andrew's Day match, the outcome was a 0-0 draw. This marked the 106th
consecutive St Andrew's Day match in which no goals were scored by
either team. There was, however, a near controversy in the latter
stages of the match. College was in Calx and shouted "Got it"
to claim that they had scored a shy. Even though even an Oppidan
player told the umpire that it was a clear shy and that it could be
seen from where he was, the umpire claimed he could not see the ball
off the ground and did not give the shy.
In the 2016 game,
the 250th St. Andrew's Day match, College triumphed 1-0 against the
Oppidans. This was the 107th consecutive St Andrew's Day match in
which no goals were scored by either team; however, College scored a
shy.
The Wall Game is
organized entirely by boys, particularly by the Keepers (captains) of
College Wall, Oppidan Wall and Mixed Wall. Famous past players of the
Wall game include Boris Johnson, who was Keeper of the College Wall,
George Orwell and Harold Macmillan.[citation needed] The First World
War flying ace Arthur Rhys Davids also played, representing College
with Ralph Dominic Gamble in 1915.
Members of the
College Wall also annually commemorate the great Wall Game player
Logie Leggatt, making a toast at each year's Christmas Sock Supper
with the words in piam memoriam L.C.L (towards the pious memory of
L.C.L). Despite its renown outside the school, only a very small
number of the 250 or so boys in each year group ever take part in the
sport, unlike the lesser-known but much more widely played Eton Field
Game.
The Eton Wall Game
has been played twice by all-female teams.
