Pushball - a forgotten sport

Wales' relationship with football and rugby goes back to the nineteenth century, but there was another kind of ball - a massive 6ft in diameter - that was used to play a very different game at the turn of the twentieth century too.'Pushball' was devised in the United States by M.G. Crane in 1891, and a few years later it became popular in some circles in Britain. According to tradition, the first official game was played at The Chrystal Palace in 1902 by teams of eight, with slightly different rules to those associated with the game in America. Although the enormous ball could weigh 50lb and more the teams would lift the ball in the air in order to score points over the goal bar, as well as pushing it on the floor and through the goalposts.Our small collection includes photographs of the game played in Powys, in Rhayader and Presteigne - where else in Wales would this forgotten game have be played?