Game instructions for Peeball :
No-one knows when or where the sport of Peeball began. What is clear however, is that the growth of the beverage industry and the invention of the modern day urinal in 1891 sent the popularity of the once aristocratic game of Peeball soaring. The history of the sport prior to this date is sketchy, although there is much evidence to suggest that England had a thriving peeball community in Tudor times; AJP Taylor, no less, suggesting that 'Greensleeves' is a derivation of Green Pees. By the late 1840s in Great Britain, County Peeball was a fiercely competitive domain, with gentleman athletes like W.C. Grace and Sir Harold Slashman commanding huge followings. The Battle of the Roses between Lancashire and Yorkshire in 1884 was the third biggest grossing sporting event of the decade, with minor riots erupting in Leeds after a potentially match-winning stand by Dr. James Wettbotham was disqualified for illegal use of the hands. Whether he dropped his monocle into the playing area deliberately was one question, but why he stooped to pick it up mid-stand has never really been resolved. 50 years later, the decision was still being argued about in lavatories throughout the North. |
