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THE ALLEYNIAN 710
Fred Griffiths (Year 13) investigates the history of the much-loved breaktime sport of patball, and reflects on its place in his own affections
Back in 2014, patball was featured in the ‘sport’ section of the Oxford University’s student magazine, The Cherwell . It was likened to a ‘flash mob’ and described as ‘both addictive and rogue’. Any Dulwich student who has taken up their place on one of our many patball courts at breaktime will certainly know where The Cherwell author was coming from. But the origins of the game came much earlier; it can in fact be traced back to 1901. Those familiar with Queen Victoria will know this was the year she passed away, which certainly makes it seem an awfully long time ago. Nevertheless, patball is going strong, with, notably, the Upper School students more engaged than ever in the intricacies of the game. Back in the 211th Alleynian , two pupils named ‘Carmichael and Hoffman’ were said to be the original ‘masters of the patball’! Reading a description like that certainly conjures up connotations of martial arts, with these Alleynians cast as the original two sensei.
I must admit, despite a heavy amount of research carried out both for this article and for the Patball Handbook (published June 2021), I still cannot attest to exactly where patball was first conceived. Sources in the archives have indicated that it was at Dulwich College, most likely in an area of the grounds frequented by many a pupil to this day. The rules, as I discovered to my frustration, are hard to pin down. This is for the simple reason that there are so many variations, played across different sections of the school, by different year groups and even by different friendship groups. Whether it is permitted to use one’s feet is the question that I have found to be most debated, with a level of seriousness akin to what one would expect at a tribunal. However, what is, I believe, unequivocally the case is that a vast amount of fun is to be had when playing patball, whatever your age or level of skill.
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