Winchester College Football

Winchester College Football, also known as Winkies or WinCoFo, is a ball game played at Winchester College - it is akin to the Eton Field and Wall Games and the Harrow Game in that it enjoys a large following from Wykehamists and old Wykehamists but is unknown outside the community directly connected to Winchester College.

Rules and Gameplay

Winkies is played on a pitch known as a canvas, which is approximately 40 metres long and 15 metres wide (note - will find out exact measurements later) flanked on either side by 3 metre high wire netting designed to prevent balls from being kicked off the pitch. About a metre in front of the netting and about one metre off the ground is found a thick rope supported by nine stout posts at intervals along the canvas (seven on some of the smaller pitches on Palmer Field): the distance between two adjacent posts is known as a 'post' - the total length of the canvas is eight posts. The inaccessible area between the ropes and the netting is known as 'Ropes'. The area off the end of the pitch is known as 'Worms'. Teams are of 6, 10 or 15 people. Until 2002, there was also a junior competition (Jun IXs) with teams of 9 - now this is played with teams of 10. In VIs, there are two kicks, one hotwatch and three hot (scrum) players; in Xs, there are two kicks, two hotwatches and six hot players, and in XVs there are three kicks, four hotwatches and eight hot players. The aim of the game is to kick the ball (a standard association football) into Worms. Great players of the game include Henry Brown, Robert Harding, and Michael Fontes -- the latter could bust the ball the length of the canvas -- making themselves legends with all that knew the game.

Now for the rules of this great game. There are a few main rules in Winkies. These are called tag, dribble, behind your side, and handiwork. Tag occurs when a team-mate kicks the ball, and a man on his own team then kicks it without waiting for the other team to touch the ball. If, however, the ball goes backwards off the first kick, the second man may play the ball "down" (this is when the ball is kicked and must travel at less than 5foot in height). Dribble is much the same, but occurs if the same man touches the ball twice. Behind your side is designed to stop people loitering up the pitch. Once a man on your team kicks the ball, you must endeavour to get back to the point where he kicked the ball from. Handiwork is any illegal use of the hands. Only the full backs, called "kicks" can use their hands to pick the ball up off the ground. Any other man may catch the ball on the full. Use of the hands at any time is deemed handiwork. Breaking any of these rules means that play is brought 1 or two posts back. In a standard team of 15 men, there are 8 forwards, called the "Hot", who play like a rugby scrum. Whenever the ball goes out of play, or a foul is committed, a "hot" is held. This can be held on ropes at the side, where the object is to flick the ball past the opposing team, thus making them all offside, or in the middle of the pitch. Unlike in rugby though, the ball can't be hooked by any players until a team has managed to shove the opposing team off the ball. Once the ball is out of the hot, the half-backs, called "hotwatches" try to get the ball past the hot, either to kick the ball into Worms, or to kick the ball into ropes. If at any stage during the game the ball enters ropes, it is usually the job of the hot to go in an retrieve it, by getting the other hot out of the way. The winner is the team with the most points.

OTH, Commoners and College

The houses of Winchester College are split up into 3 groups. These are the Old Tutor's Houses (OTH), consisting of Furley's, Toye's, Cook's, Chawker's, Hopper's; Commoners, consisting of Kennaez, Freddie's, Phil's, Trant's, Beloe's; and College, which is separate. Each group has a captain who is responsible for organising their Canvasses and picking the teams for matches.