Fives can be played by everybody from the ages of seven to seventy

The best game in the world

Eton fives is a handball game in which pairs of players hit a cork and rubber ball around a bizarre three-walled court. It's fun, keeps you fit and even civilizes you.

Eton fives is:

Great cardio vascular exercise
Ideal for both sexes and all ages
Encourages honesty and generosity
Takes up very little space
Cheap to play ... and great fun

The sport of sports

Eton fives is a sort of three-dimensional, all-action snooker. The Corporation of London's sports skills development officer, Chris Smith, considers the game to be the ideal "gateway sport", as it develops all the skills needed to play other ball games.

Eton fives demands:

quick reflexes
excellent hand-eye coordination
highly developed technique including the ability to spin the ball
use of left and right hands (so it exercises both sides of the body)
deftness of foot
fitness - a game can last three or even four hours, exercising lungs and muscles
anticipation - you need to assess a series of factors including what your opponents and partner are likely to do, and how the ledges of the court will effect this
coordination between partners. As it has to be played in pairs, Eton fives is by definition a social game - unlike tennis, badminton or squash you need to play with somebody

From seven to seventy

It can be played by both sexes and people of all ages, from seven to 70.
Girls and women are increasingly taking up the game.
Children can start playing when they're as young as seven, and there are some players in their seventies. A veterans tournament in 2009 - open to players over forty - attracted several players in their sixties. The long-term benefits of exercise of this kind are huge, and help to keep people healthy, active and mentally sound.
Because it is by nature a pairs' game it is a very social game and four players of differing abilities can have an evenly matched game, so long as the pairs are balanced.

A great game for girls

Increasing numbers of girls and women have been playing three-walled handball.
There are national competitions for schoolgirls and adult women, involving hundreds of competitors.
Courts are beginning to be built specially for them. As of summer 2009, Cheltenham Ladies College in Gloucestershire is building courts for its pupils.
There is also a national mixed tournament which attracts scores of players.
Fives is a good sport for girls, as it relies on reflex, fleet-footedness and guile as much as strength.
It has proved as popular with the girls as the boys in the state schools where it has recently been introduced according to Howard Wiseman, who runs a coaching agency Refca (Rugby and Eton Fives Coaching Agency).

A game of honesty

The defining ethos of the game is a result of the fact that there is no place for a referee or umpire.

There is no referee because only the players can tell if the ball has bounced twice, they have hit the ball cleanly, if they have been significantly baulked by another player or if they would have returned the ball if they hadn't been.

Players themselves have to admit foul shots, and have to decide for themselves if they are entitled to a let.

Another reason why there is no role for a referee is that much of the play is hidden from spectators' view.

As a result, the game encourages honesty with yourself and your opponents. Disputes have to be settled between the players on court.

Even the highest level of the game is played without a referee.
This is very significant - many games rely on a referee to call foul play so the players themselves are robbed of the need to be honest and can become inveterate cheats - see how football has become marred by players diving to win penalties.

Fives therefore promotes conflict resolution - players are taught from the beginning that they have to see things from their opponents' point of view, and to judge themselves from a neutral standpoint.

The game requires courtesy; the need to help your opposition is built into the game. Each rally starts with the server throwing the ball up for his opponent to strike. The server must serve to the returner's requirements. And yet it is very rarely a problem: servers learn to throw it to their opponents' satisfaction. No other game has this peculiarity.
The game encourages a sense of humour and a philosophical attitude to failure: its irregular playing surface means even the most well-placed shot can fly out of court.

The best fun

Above all it is huge fun. There is a basic joy in hitting a ball against a wall with your hands and most societies have a version of handball ... the advantage of Eton fives is in the irregular court.
The ball bounces around like a pinball against its features, but you learn how it behaves so rallies can last for 30 or 40 shots. Grown men and women will laugh in delight at how the ball is kept in play thanks to judgement, quick reflexes, sound technique and luck.

The perfect inner city sport

Fives is the perfect urban sport, as it takes up very little space and is very cheap to play.

A fives court takes up roughly half the space a squash court would - 35 square metres, as opposed to 62 square metres.
You need a space just 5metres wide and 10 metres deep for a court. So 24 people can be playing at the same time on six courts occupying just 30m x 10m. A tennis court will take up 36m x 18m.
A bank of six courts takes less space than a single tennis court.
Six courts can keep 24 pupils busy (six x four) which will often represent a whole class.

Courts can often be built in areas which would not accommodate any other playing space - as they can be built in a narrow strip too small for football, tennis, basketball or netball.
And fives costs practically nothing to play.
The only equipment children need is gloves, which sell for about £25 and will last many months of constant use.

The courts do not actually diminish playground space, as they are open-backed and can even be used for shelter during rain showers or as a clean space which is out of the wind and the rain for certain kinds of exercise.
Fives is also good for keeping kids busy at break time, as just two can play a casual form of the game and it takes no time to pull gloves on or off.
And because it's a sport that students will want to play in their own time, fives can help schools meet government targets of getting students to spend five hours in physical activity a week, three of which can be extracurricular.

Why is the court such a strange shape?

Court's shape is an accident of genius.
The defining physical characteristic is the court: it is a peculiar three-walled court with ledges, slopes, a step halfway across and an irregularly shaped buttress on the left hand side.

The court is a replica of a space beside Eton College's chapel that boys found made a perfect space to play on. (See history of the game.)
The playline is more than four feet from the floor, which means the ball always needs to rise to volleying height, which encourages powerful shoulder-high shots and back spin - both reflex and guile.

The buttress on the left hand side means it is a pair's game - you have to have somebody upcourt and back court for balls which hit or bypass the buttress.

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