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Tourball |
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The History of Tourball |
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Tourball started in the
garden of the Manor Hotel, Yeovil on July 10th 2006. Two of the
Speldhurst Cricket Club touring side - Oscar Renton and Simon
"Willbags" Willan - were throwing a ball to each other and bouncing
it off a garden table. The game became more competitive and other
players joined in. Gradually a simple set of rules were developed.
At the end of the day, Andy Brown suggested that a tournament should
be played between the tourists. The tournament was organised by
Howard Dunmall and was played during the following days. It was decided that since this was a game played by cricketers - and hence gentlemen - there should be no rules but rather a series of conventions to which players would agree to adhere. During the week the conventions were adapted and added to. These conventions were finally developed and collated by Andy Brown. The conventions can be found on this site. The winners of the first ever Tourball tournament were Dr Ken Eames and Andy "Eamo" Eames. They combined safe catching with a "never miss the table" method. In the end, this risk-averse approach proved to be more effective than the high-risk strategies (table edging; ultra spin; drop shots; skimmers and so on) of the other teams. The game was
christened "Tourball" on the last day of the cricket tour. There was
some debate about whether it should be spelled "Tor Ball" in honour
of the nearby Glastonbury Tor, or "Tourball" because the game was
invented whilst on tour. It was finally decided that it was a tour
invention - hence Tourball. Tourball is always written with a
capital T and as one word. |
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Most importantly, the history of Tourball
is being written by the people who play the game today. |
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(c) Tourball.co.uk 2006 |