Eton Wall Game

Eton Wall Game

November 30

Every year on St. Andrew's Day, England's prestigious Eton College holds the famous Eton Wall Game, a variety of rugby that has its own highly technical rules and is different from all other forms of the game. The game is played between two teams: the Collegers, who are boys receiving scholarships and living in the old College, and the Oppidans (which means "townspeople"), who live in boarding-houses in town.
The rules are so complex and mysterious that even the spectators are often confused, although the players seem to understand how to play the game. The object of the game is to win goals by maneuvering the ball into the opposing team's "calx," designated by a chalk line on a garden wall at one end of the field and by a mark on a tree at the other. The game is made up of many scrimmages along the brick wall that marks off the college athletic field for which the game is named, and goals are almost never scored.

CONTACTS:
Eton College
Windsor, Berkshire SL4 6DW United Kingdom
44-17-5367-1000; fax: 44-17-5367-1159
www.etoncollege.com

SOURCES:
EngCustUse-1941, p. 169
YrFest-1972, p. 86

Celebration day: Nov 30