
What is stoolball and how to play?
Stoolball is played on circular grass field with an 82m diameter. There is a pitch in the middle of the field that is 15m long. A match is played between two teams with 11 players on each team. Similar to cricket, one team does the batting while the other team does the bowling and fielding.
When did stoolball become a sport?
The game was officially recognised as a sport by the Sports Council in early 2008. The National Stoolball Association changed its name to Stoolball England in 2010 on the advice of the Sports Council and was recognised as the national governing body for stoolball in England in 2011.
What is stoolball or cricket in air?
The sport is sometimes even referred to as 'Cricket in air'. Stoolball is played on circular grass field with an 82m diameter. There is a pitch in the middle of the field that is 15m long.
What is a stoolball injury?
Stoolball is a sport that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its rules but also within the spirit of the game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the sport itself.

Why is it called stoolball?
There is a tradition that it was played by milkmaids who used their milking stools as a "wicket" and the bittle, or milk bowl as a bat. Hence its archaic name of bittle-battle....Stoolball.CharacteristicsCountry or regionSussex, Kent, Surrey, MidlandsWorld GamesNo6 more rows
What modern game is stoolball?
Medieval Stoolball Was the Grandfather of Modern Game Baseball? It appears that medieval stoolball may be the precursor to many bat-and-ball sports we know today such as cricket and baseball. Medieval stoolball dates back to at least the 15th century and possibly as far back as the 11th century.
Do people still play stoolball?
Stoolball is played in East and West Sussex, Kent, Surrey and Hampshire and is gaining recognition again across the country. Stoolball is played extensively in schools in Sussex and there are mixed gender and ladies' leagues playing throughout the Summer.
How many overs are in a stoolball?
8 ball oversAlways use a soft ball. Decide how long the match will last (how many 8 ball overs), who will field first and who will bat first, usually by tossing a coin. Batters: hit the ball and aim to score as many runs as possible.
Where is stoolball played?
Stoolball is a bat and ball game now played mainly in the counties of Sussex, Kent and Surrey. It has its origins from at least the 15th century and some argue that cricket is derived from stoolball. It is game for both sexes: both adults and older children.
How do you play bat and trap?
0:502:05How to Play Bat and Trap? an Ancestor to Cricket - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipThe roll switch after the first inning is complete like cricket. When the team is batting the ballMoreThe roll switch after the first inning is complete like cricket. When the team is batting the ball is placed on one end of the trap. And the player hits the other side to propel the ball upwards.
How many players are in a stoolball team?
11 players1. Teams. 1.1 A match shall be played between two teams of not more than 11 players.
What was the most popular sport in medieval times?
A number of outdoor sporting games like game-ball, bowls, colf, shinty, stoolball, hammer-throwing, horseshoes, skittles, and wrestling were popular among Medieval citizens apart from archery, jousts, and tournaments.
What is a stoolball bat?
Stoolball is an exciting team sport, similar to Twenty20 cricket. Two teams compete to score the most runs. There are two wickets standing at shoulder height, about 14 metres apart. The bats are willow, with a round face and a long, sprung handle. The ball, small and hard, is bowled underarm towards one wicket.
How do u play rounders?
The basic rules are: The bowler bowls the ball to the batter, who hits the ball anywhere on the Rounders pitch. The batter then runs to as many posts as possible before the fielders return the ball to touch the post the batter is heading for. Games are usually played over 2 innings.
How is the game of rounders played?
Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running around the four bases on the field. A game of rounders on Christmas Day at Baroona, Glamorgan Vale, Australia in 1913.
What is a stoolball bat?
Stoolball is an exciting team sport, similar to Twenty20 cricket. Two teams compete to score the most runs. There are two wickets standing at shoulder height, about 14 metres apart. The bats are willow, with a round face and a long, sprung handle. The ball, small and hard, is bowled underarm towards one wicket.
How is the game of rounders played?
Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running around the four bases on the field. A game of rounders on Christmas Day at Baroona, Glamorgan Vale, Australia in 1913.
What was the most popular sport in medieval times?
A number of outdoor sporting games like game-ball, bowls, colf, shinty, stoolball, hammer-throwing, horseshoes, skittles, and wrestling were popular among Medieval citizens apart from archery, jousts, and tournaments.
How can I play cricket?
0:392:58How to Play Cricket - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipWickets. Comprise three vertical stumps. And two horizontal bails. Step 3 set up play by sending theMoreWickets. Comprise three vertical stumps. And two horizontal bails. Step 3 set up play by sending the fielding team onto the pitch to try to catch the ball and prevent runs from being scored.
What is the meaning of the game "Stool Ball"?
Written by William Shakespeare and the Sussex-born playwright John Fletcher, the comedy, The Two Noble Kinsmen used the phrase "playing stool ball" as a euphemism for sexual behaviour.
When was the game Stoolball invented?
Stoolball is attested by name as early as 1450. Nearly all medieval references describe it as a game played during Easter celebrations, typically as a courtship pastime rather than a competitive game. The game's associations with romance remained strong into the modern period.
What was the first sport women participated in?
Stoolball seems to have been one of the earliest sports in which women participated. Activities for women before about 1870 were recreational rather than sport-specific in nature. They were typically non-competitive, informal, rule-less; they emphasised physical activity rather than competition. In contrast, stoolball allowed women to participate in competitive sport.
What is the name of the game that milkmaids played?
It may be an ancestor of cricket (a game it resembles in some respects), baseball, and rounders; stoolball has been called "cricket in the air". There is a tradition that it was played by milkmaids who used their milking stools as a " wicket " and the bittle, or milk bowl as a bat. Hence its archaic name of bittle-battle.
What is a stobball?
According to Alice Gomme, the earliest references show that the game was called Stobball or Stoball, and was a game peculiar to North Wiltshire, North Gloucestershire, and a little part of Somerset, near Bath: but although 17th century antiquarian John Aubrey describes a game called "stobball", played in this area, his description of it does not sound like stoolball, and another contemporary text from the same region characterises "stoball" as a game played mainly by men and boys. The Oxford English Dictionary considers it unlikely that "stool ball" could have been corrupted into "stobball". Stobball could very well instead be the game Willughby called "stow-ball," which resembled golf.
When was the first stoolball match?
A “fine match of stoolball” is recorded as having been played in June 1747 by a total of 28 women at Warbleton. The first inter-county stoolball match took place between the women of Sussex and Kent in 1797 at Tunbridge Wells Common on the historic border between the two counties.
When did stoolball become a sport?
The game was officially recognised as a sport by the Sports Council in early 2008. The National Stoolball Association changed its name to Stoolball England in 2010 on the advice of the Sports Council and was recognised as the national governing body for stoolball in England in 2011.
What is stoolball?
Stoolball is a team sport which has been played for over 500 years. Similar to cricket, two teams compete to score the most runs. It is played by ladies-only teams, mixed teams and schools.
What is the spirit of stoolball?
Stoolball is a sport that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its rules but also within the spirit of the game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the sport itself.
Is stoolball good for kids?
Stoolball is played all year round, moving indoors for the winter. With its softer ball, indoor stoolball is particularly good for children.
What is stoolball?
Stoolball is a team sport which has lot of similarities to modern day cricket and baseball. In fact, many believe stoolball might have be the sport from which cricket and baseball originated from. The sport is sometimes even referred to as 'Cricket in air'. Stoolball is played on circular grass field with an 82m diameter.
How many players are on a stoolball field?
Stoolball is played on circular grass field with an 82m diameter. There is a pitch in the middle of the field that is 15m long. A match is played between two teams with 11 players on each team. Similar to cricket, one team does the batting while the other team does the bowling and fielding.
What is the difference between cricket and baseball?
Cricket — a team sport played on a rectangular pitch in the centre of a large grass oval, two batters protect their wicket while the fielding team try to get them out. Baseball — a bat and ball game in which the aim is to hit the ball and score runs by running around four bases.
What is the game of bat and trap?
Bat-and-Trap — an old English bat and ball game, in which a ball is projected into the air out of a trap using a bat, and then hit between posts 21 feet away .
What is the objective of bowling?
Bowling has to be done underarm, as in softball, and has to reach the batsman without bouncing. The objective of the sport is similar to that of cricket. The batting team tries to score as many runs as possible, and the bowling team tries to get all the players out.
Is stoolball a popular sport?
The scoring and the manner in which players get out are similar to that of cricket. Currently the sport is not very popular and is played only at a local level in a few counties in England. Not to be confused with the game called stoolball played by the prisoners-of-war at Colditz castle during World War II. Share:
What is the meaning of "playing at stool ball"?
Some of the poetic mentions of the game imply an undertone of sexuality ; "playing at stool ball" was used at least once as an euphemism. In many stool ball games, tansy-cakes were the traditional winners' prize. Tansy-cakes were a traditional Eastertime food (see here, and a recipe here ), so this is another connection of stool ball ...
How does a pitcher hit the home stool?
The pitcher stands near the Base and throws the ball underhand toward Home, trying to hit the Home stool with the pitch. The batter stands at the Batter's Line and tries to prevent the pitcher's throw from hitting the Home stool, by hitting the ball away with the bat.
How to play Monopoly?
Every village probably had its own way to play, just as many households today have their own "house rules" for Monopoly. So if you want to change the game, go right ahead! Here are some ideas, marked with a * if they are period or likely-period variations: 1 Use your bare hands to hit the ball instead of the bat. * 2 Add the "soak 'em" rule: Runners can be put out by hitting them with the ball (don't do this unless your ball is very soft!). * 3 Add the retaliation rule: When teams change sides, if the team that has just gone "out" can run onto the field, pick up the ball, and hit one of the other team's members before they leave the field, the "out" team gets to bat again! This can be really rowdy. It's an authentic rule from several early bat and ball games, including early baseball. * 4 Allow runners to stop at the base instead of having to run around it without stopping. Also, one might add multiple bases. * 5 Require that fielders only catch the ball in their clothing: their skirts or hats, for example.
What side of the batter's line do fielders have to be on when throwing the ball at the home target?
Fielders must be on the Base side of the Batter's Line when throwing the ball at the Home target. So if the batter hits the ball behind Home (what in baseball would be a foul ), the batter runs, and the fielders can go get the ball… but they can't throw it at Home and put the batter out until they get back on the other (Base) side of the batter's line.
What direction do you run when hitting a baseball?
On hitting the ball, the batter must run counterclockwise around the outside of the Base. The batter may not stop on the Base -- once you start running, you have to run around the Base and all the way back home. You must touch the Home stool when you get there, but you don't have to touch the Base.
What is a Nerf ball?
A Nerf ball might work. The ball pictured on the right was made from a pattern that was used for many leather balls throughout medieval Europe. The pattern is pictured on the left (not to scale). The three pieces were cut from soft leather. They were sewn together inside-out until only a slit remained.
When was the first ball game invented?
It was also the first bat-and-ball-type game known to have been played in North America (at Plymouth in 1621 at Christmastime, no less, ...
What is a stoop ball?
Stoop ball is a pickup neighborhood game played on the stairs of a residential dwelling by a minimum of two players. The rules are based loosely on baseball. The object of the game is to score the most runs in 9 innings .
What is the original version of stoopball?
In addition to the "baseball rules" or "bounces" variation described above, there is also the "curbball" version, often played in parks. The "original" version of stoop ball is a solitary game, with the same player both throwing the ball and attempting to catch it and earning points based on how many times the ball bounced before it was caught. In St. Louis, Missouri, this game was known as "stepball", where it was played from at least the 1930 to the 1980s. A Portable Stoopball Striker has even been patented.
What is the name of the ball that the batter throws at the stoop?
The "batter" throws a pink rubber ball (either a " spaldeen " or " pensie pinkie ") at the stoop.
Where is the stoopball championship held?
The Stoopball League of America holds its annual world championships every July in Clinton, Wisconsin.
Where is stoop ball played?
Stoop ball (also spelled "stoopball") is a game that is played by throwing a ball against a stoop (stairs leading up to a building) on the pavement in front of a building. Historically, it has been popular in Brooklyn and other inner cities. In Boston, the game is known as "Up-Against." In Chicago, the game is known as " Pinners ." In Chicago's Bridgeport area the game is called "Three Outs". The game is also known as "Off the Point". It first became popular after World War II.
Who played stoop ball?
Stoopball has been played and enjoyed by a number of prominent persons. Sandy Koufax played stoop ball before beginning his Hall of Fame baseball career, and announcer Marv Albert missed the city game so much that he had a stoop constructed at his house in the suburbs. Billy Joel played stoop ball on suburban streets.
Who was the stoop ball champion in the 2010 New York Street Games?
Although the documentary does not acknowledge Delio Jimenez as the stoop ball champion during that era, Billy Joel paid to have a likeness of Delio Jimenez painted on a Park Slope mural which stands on 12th street to this day.
When was the game of stoolball invented?
Stoolball is attested by name as early as 1450. Nearly all medieval references describe it as a game played during Easter celebrations, typically as a courtship pastime rather than a competitive game. The game's associations with romance remained strong into the modern period; Fletcher and Shakespeare's comedy The Two Noble Kinsmen, used the phrase "playing stool ball" as a euphemism for sexual behaviour.
Where is stoolball played?
The game's popularity has faded since the 1960s, but is still played at a local league level in Sussex, Kent, Surrey and the Midlands. The National Stoolball Association was formed in 1979 to promote and expand stoolball. The game was officially recognised as a sport by the Sports Council in early 2008. The National Stoolball Association changed its name to Stoolball England in 2010 on the advice of the Sports Council and was recognised as the National Governing Body for stoolball in England in 2011. Some variants are still played in some schools. Teams can be ladies only or mixed. There are ladies' leagues in Sussex, Surrey and Kent and mixed leagues in Sussex.
Where did stoolball originate?
Stoolball is a sport that dates back to at least the 15th century, originating in Sussex, southern England. It may be an ancestor of cricket (a game it resembles), baseball, and rounders, in fact stoolball is sometimes called "Cricket in the air". Traditionally it was played by milkmaids who used their milking stools as a " wicket ".
How do batsmen score runs?
The batsman scores "runs" by running between the wickets or hitting the ball beyond the boundary in a similar way to cricket. A ball hit over the boundary counts for 4 runs if it has hit the ground before reaching the boundary, or 6 runs if it landed beyond the boundary upon first contact with the ground. Fielders attempt to catch the ball or run out the batsman by hitting the wicket with the ball before the batsman returns from his run.

Overview
Confusion with the game of Stoball
According to Alice Gomme, the earliest references show that the game was called Stobball or Stoball, and was a game peculiar to North Wiltshire, North Gloucestershire, and a little part of Somerset, near Bath: but although 17th century antiquarian John Aubrey describes a game called "stobball", played in this area, his description of it does not sound like stoolball, and another contemporary text from the same region characterises "stoball" as a game played mainly by me…
History
Stoolball is attested by name as early as 1450. Nearly all medieval references describe it as a game played during Easter celebrations, typically as a courtship pastime rather than a competitive game. The game's associations with romance remained strong into the modern period. Written by William Shakespeare and the Sussex-born playwright John Fletcher, the comedy, The Two Noble Kinsmen us…
Description and rules
Stoolball is played on grass with a 90-yard (82-metre) diameter boundary, and the pitch is 16 yards (15 metres) long. Each team consists of 11 players, with one team fielding and the other batting. Bowling is underarm from a bowling "crease" 10 yards (9.1 metres) from the batsman's wicket, with the ball reaching the batsman on the full as in rounders or baseball rather than bouncing from the pitch as in cricket. Each over consists of 8 balls. The "wicket" itself is a square piece of …
See also
• Bat and trap
• Origins of baseball
• Pub games
• Trap-ball
• Rounders
Bibliography
• Coates, Richard (2010). The Traditional Dialect of Sussex. Pomegranate Press. ISBN 978-1-907242-09-0.
• Collins, Tony, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415352246.
• Gomme, Alice Bertha (1894). The traditional games of England, Scotland and Ireland : with tunes, singing rhymes and methods of playing according to the variants extant and recorded i…
• Coates, Richard (2010). The Traditional Dialect of Sussex. Pomegranate Press. ISBN 978-1-907242-09-0.
• Collins, Tony, ed. (2005). Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415352246.
• Gomme, Alice Bertha (1894). The traditional games of England, Scotland and Ireland : with tunes, singing rhymes and methods of playing according to the variants extant and recorded in different parts of the kingdom. London: David Nutt.
External links
• Stoolball England
• Stoolball is Alive and Well in Sussex (article by Martin Hoerchner for the Society for American Baseball Research)
• Stool ball: a medieval baseball game