Synopsis
In museums and trophy cabinets, in cupboards and attics, there are loads of old balls in Britain. And now, in all their battered glory, Played in Britain - English Heritage's exciting new series on the nation's sporting heritage - presents the best of them, up close and personal. Stuffed with feathers, inflated by pigs' bladders, hand-sewn and leather bound, chipped and cracked - but not always round - here are the balls which British sportsmen and women have kicked and thwacked, hurled and chased over the centuries. In deepest Sussex we follow the mysterious stoolball, contested by such teams as the Plumpton Shrimps and Hayward Heath Bluebells. From the MCC collection lands the world's oldest cricket ball, knocked around Lord's for a record breaking innings of 278 by William Ward in 1820, while bouncing accross the line from the National Football Museum comes the famous orange panelled ball with which England won the World Cup at Wembley in 1966. On other pages we catch the gnarled remains of cheese-shaped leather hulk fought over by the boys at Harrow, and the cork and string balls swatted around the oldest tennis courts in the world by the likes of Henry VIII.
Skittle balls, billiard balls and rugby balls - why are they that shape, we ask - gutta percha golf balls from St Andrews and threadbare tennis balls from Wimbledon, the nation's finest are all here in all their intimate detail. 'New balls, please!' we hear from the umpire cry. No thank you. This load of old balls will do just fine. Simon Inglis is Britain's foremost expert on football sporting stadiums and is the author of Football Stadiums of Britain (Harper Collins) and Sightlines (Yellow Jersey).