The Eton wall game is a game similar to football and rugby union, that originated from 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. On 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 the early morning service on the roof of College Chapel. Various scratch matches are also played throughout the Michaelmas and Lent terms, where boys from different year groups, as well as masters, take part.
Read more about Eton Wall Game: Scoring, Play, Organisation, Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words wall and/or game:
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility,
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger.
Stiffen the sinews, conjure up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“In the game of “Whist for two,” usually called “Correspondence,” the lady plays what card she likes: the gentleman simply follows suit. If she leads with “Queen of Diamonds,” however, he may, if he likes, offer the “Ace of Hearts”: and, if she plays “Queen of Hearts,” and he happens to have no Heart left, he usually plays “Knave of Clubs.””
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)