Editing Stoolball (section)

==History==
===Medieval and Tudor references===
[[File:ALPP - Stool-Ball.png|thumb|1767 Illustration of Stoolball in the children's book ''[[A Little Pretty Pocket-Book]]'']]
[[File:Stoolball fords green 1902.jpg|thumb|Stoolball game in 1902 in Nutley, East Sussex]]
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 (playwright)|John Fletcher]], the comedy, ''[[The Two Noble Kinsmen]]'' used the phrase "playing stool ball" as a euphemism for sexual behaviour.<ref>{{cite book |title=Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game |last=Block |first=David |year=2006 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-6255-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Encyclopedia of traditional British Rural Sports |editor1=Tony Collins |editor2=John Martin |editor3=Wray Vamplew |year=2005 |publisher=Routledge Sports Reference |isbn=978-0-415-35224-6}}</ref>

===Early competitions and establishment of codes===
Stoolball makes an appearance in the dictionary of [[Samuel Johnson]], where it is defined as a game played by driving a ball from stool to stool.

Stoolball seems to have been one of the earliest [[women's sports|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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Richard |title=A History of Women in Sport Prior to Title IX |url=http://thesportjournal.org/article/a-history-of-women-in-sport-prior-to-title-ix/ |website=The Sport Journal |date=14 March 2008 |access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref>  In contrast, stoolball allowed women to participate in competitive sport.

A "fine match of stoolball" is recorded as having been played in June 1747 by a total of 28 women at [[Warbleton]].<ref name="SxEx-MLSS">{{cite web |url=https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/lifestyle/the-much-loved-sussex-sport-of-stoolball-1-6849306|title=The much-loved Sussex sport of stoolball|website=sussexexpress.co.uk|author= |date=17 July 2015|access-date= |publisher=[[Sussex Express]]|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181030090614/https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/lifestyle/the-much-loved-sussex-sport-of-stoolball-1-6849306|archive-date=30 October 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref name="SB-MC">{{cite web|url=http://www.stoolball.org.uk/2008/07/matterface-cup-and-veterans-cup|title=Matterface Cup and Veterans Cup 2008|date=28 July 2009|access-date=10 April 2016}}</ref>  Sussex women wore blue ribbons to represent the county while the women of Kent wore pink ribbons.<ref name="SB-MC"/>

Sussex historian Andrew Lusted has argued that between 1866 and 1887 the Glynde Butterflies stoolball team were the first women in England to be considered sports stars.<ref name="SxEx-MLSS"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stoolball.org.uk/history/story/glynde-butterflies|title='The Glynde Butterflies 1866-1887' by Andrew Lusted {{!}} England's first female sports stars|website=stoolball.org.uk|author=Andrew Lusted|date= |access-date=7 September 2022|publisher= |language=en}}</ref> In 1866 the first recorded stoolball match took place between teams of named women representing villages as the Glynde Butterflies took on the Firle Blues.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stoolball.org.uk/history/story/glynde-butterflies/|title=The Glynde Butterflies 1866-1887|access-date=10 April 2016}}</ref>  Other teams included the [[Chailey]] Grasshoppers, [[Selmeston]] [[Harvest bug|Harvest Bug]]s, [[Heathfield and Waldron|Waldron]] Bees, [[Eastbourne]] Seagulls, [[Danny House|Danny]] Daisies and [[Westmeston]].<ref name="SxEx-MLSS"/>

The sport's modern rules were codified at [[Glynde]] in 1881 where the two slightly different sets of rules in the east and the west of Sussex were brought together.<ref>{{harvnb|Collins|2005| p=251}}</ref>  In 1867 the rules in the east of the county were compiled by the Rev [[William de St Croix]], the vicar of Glynde, and were the first rules to be established.<ref name="SxEx-MLSS"/>

===20th century revival===
A Sussex Stoolball League was established in 1903.<ref name="Locke 2011 203"/>  Initially played by women only, men joined in shortly afterwards.<ref name="Locke 2011 203"/>  Modern stoolball is centred on Sussex where the game was revived in the early 20th century by [[Major William Grantham]].<ref>{{harvnb|Locke|2011 |p=203}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Nauright|2012| p=194}}</ref>  Grantham wore a traditional Sussex [[Smock-frock|round frock]] and [[beaver hat]] to stoolball games.<ref name="SEng-Hist"/>  In 1917, [[County Cricket Ground, Hove|Sussex County Cricket Ground]] in Hove hosted a match between young men who had lost one arm in [[First World War]] action at a temporary hospital in Brighton's [[Royal Pavilion]], "damaged by wounds", and a team of older lawyers, "damaged by age".<ref name="SEng-Hist"/>  The soldiers won and were deemed to be 'heroes'.<ref name="SEng-Hist"/>  In 1919 a demonstration match was held at [[Lord's]] and the game was also played near the trenches of the battlefields of the First World War.<ref name="Collins 2005 252">{{harvnb|Collins|2005| p=252}}</ref><ref name="Locke 2011 203"/>

First played in 1923, the League Championship Challenge Cup is open to the winning teams of the five leagues of the Sussex County Stoolball Association - North, East, West, Mid and Central.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stoolball.org.uk/sussexchampionship/2014|title=Sussex County Stoolball Association League Championship, 2014 Season|access-date=10 April 2016}}</ref>  By the 1930s stoolball was being played in the Midlands and the north of England.<ref name="Locke 2011 203"/>  Since 1938 Sussex and Kent have competed annually for the Rose Bowl, which was presented to Sussex by Major William Grantham.  This is sometimes a team representing Sussex and sometimes one of Sussex's five leagues may represent the county against Kent.<ref name="SB-MC"/>  Grantham founded the Stoolball Association of Great Britain at Lord's in 1923.<ref name="Collins 2005 252"/>  By 1927 over 1,000 clubs were playing stoolball across England, however in 1942 the Stoolball Association of Great Britain ceased to function.   The National Stoolball Association was founded on 3 October 1979 at Clair Hall in [[Haywards Heath]] attended by 23 people from nine different leagues.  On the advice of the Sports Council the governing body was renamed Stoolball England in 2010.<ref name="SEng-Hist"/>

In the early 20th century stoolball was also played outside England, including in [[France]], [[Japan]] and [[Ceylon]] (now Sri Lanka).<ref name="SEng-MSR-G">{{cite web|url=https://www.stoolball.org.uk/history/story/stoolball-in-sussex-by-russell-goggs/|title=Stoolball in Sussex, by M S Russell-Goggs|first=M.S.|last=Russell=Goggs|access-date=30 October 2018}}</ref>