Eton Wall Game

The Eton wall game originated at Eton College. It has similarities to both the modern sports of rugby union and football.

It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a slightly curved brick wall (which was erected in 1717). The most important match is the annual St. Andrew's Day game which is played between a team of "Collegers" (scholarship holders) and a team of "Oppidans" (the rest of the students, who comprise most of the student body). Although College has only 70 pupils (this number has traditionally been the number of King's Scholars in College as laid down by King Henry VI) to pick its team from, compared to the 1250 or so Oppidans, College has one great advantage: the strip lies on 'College Field', a football field next to the Slough-to-Eton Road the access to which the incumbent Keeper of College Wall has control of. On the traditional St. Andrew's Day match, the Oppidans climb over the wall, after throwing their caps over in defiance of the Scholars. However, in practice, it is usual for them to allow the Oppidans to use it when they wish.