FIVE NATIONS: see IROQUOIS.
FIVES. A ball game played by two or four players in a court Fives. A ball game played by two or four players in a court enclosed on three or four sides, the ball being struck with the hand usually protected by a glove. Certain forms of the game in the United States, in Ireland and in some parts of the north of England are known as handball (q.v.). The origin of the game is probably the Jeu de Paunie. The derivation of the word fives is doubtful. It may be from Longue Paume in which five on a side played or from the five fingers or that the winners formerly had to make five points. There were buildings known as fives courts before the middle of the 18th century and the word fives was then applicable to games played both with the hand and with a racket or bat. (Bat fives is still played at a number of British public schools.) There are three forms of hand fives in Great Britain which require separate notice. Eton fives, Rugby fives and Winchester fives. These games are chiefly played at public schools but there are a few other courts to be found in various parts of the country. In Nov. 1927, an Eton fives court covered in and artificially lighted was opened at Queen's club. Among the schools which play Eton fives in addition of course to Eton, where the game was invented, are Harrow, Charterhouse, Shrewsbury, Repton, Uppingham, Aldenham and Highgate. Among those which play Rugby fives are Rugby, Marlborough, Clifton, Cheltenham, Haileybury and St. Paul's. Winchester fives courts are few and far between but there are one or two other schools beside Winchester which have them. There is a Fives Association which is affiliated to the Tennis and Rackets Associ ation. In 1925 two open competitions, one for Eton fives and one for Rugby fives were started, but the next year they were allowed to lapse. In 1928, however, they were restarted.
Eton Fives.—The peculiar features of the Eton court arose from the fact that in early times the game was played against the chapel-wall, so that buttresses formed side walls and the balus trade of the chapel-steps projected into the court, while a step divided the court latitudinally. These were reproduced in the regular courts, the buttress being known as the "pepperbox" and the space between it and the step as the "hole." The riser of the step is about Sin. The floor of the court is paved; there is no back wall. On the front wall is a ledge, known as the "line," Oft. 6in. from the floor, and a vertical line, painted, aft. Bin. from the right-hand wall. Four people usually play, two against two ; one of each pair plays in the forward court, the other in the back court. The server stands on the left of the forward court, his partner in the right-hand corner of the back court; the taker of the service by the right wall of the forward court, his partner at the left-hand corner of the back court. The forward court is known as "on-wall," the other as "off-wall." The server must toss the ball gently against the front wall, above the line, so that it afterwards hits the right wall and falls on the "off-wall," but the server's object is not, as at tennis and rackets, to send a service that cannot be returned. At fives he must send a service that hand-out can take easily; indeed hand-out can refuse to take any service that he does not like, and if he fails to return the ball above the line no stroke is counted. After the service has been returned either of the opponents returns the ball if he can, and so on, each side and either member of it returning the ball above the line alternately till one side or the other hits it below the line or out of court. Only hand-in can score. If hand-in wins a stroke, his side scores a point; if he misses a stroke he loses his innings and his partner becomes server, unless he has already served in this round, in which case the opponents become hand-in. The game is 15 points. If the score is "13. all," the out side may "set" the game to five or three, i.e., the game becomes one of five or three points; at "14 all" it may be set to three. The game and its terminology being somewhat intricate, can best be learnt in the court. No apparatus is required except padded gloves and fives-balls, which are covered with white leather tightly stretched over a hard foundation of cork, strips of leather and twine. The Eton balls are I4in. in diameter and weigh about I oz. apiece.
Rugby Fives is much less complicated owing to the simpler form of the court. This is a four-walled building with no hazard of any kind. There are also a few courts which have no back wall. The court is larger than an Eton court. No standard dimensions have been issued. A play board is fixed on the front wall, about 34in. from the ground. The ball is rather smaller than that in use at Eton fives. The rules as to return of service, taking balls, etc., are similar to those at Eton fives.
Winchester Fives is like Rugby fives in nearly every particular except that in the left-hand wall of the Winchester court there is a small buttress built on the same lines as a tambour in the tennis court.