Although now a sport of global appeal the roots of the game of squash herald from a rather humble background, or to be precise, a criminal background. For it was in the early 19th century at Fleet Prison that the first seeds of squash were sown as the inmates took to hitting a ball against a wall to keep themselves amused. The game of Rackets was soon developed from this past-time, which rather surprisingly soon found its way into Britain’s growing band of public schools and by 1830 the first game of squash was being played at Harrow School.
The exact nature of how squash developed from rackets is open to debate, but popular folklore would have it that the sport originated after pupils began playing with a punctured racket ball – the popular result being a game that produced a greater variety of shots and angles. What is for certain is that by the mid-1860s the game of squash had become so popular that the first ever four squash courts were built at Harrow School.
The sport was soon exported to North America and by 1920 squash had gained such popularity that it staged its inaugural professional championship, which saw C.R. Read beat A.W.B. Johnson. The two were members of the Queens Club and RAC Club respectively, both of which still exist today and provide a popular hub of squash activity.
By the 1920’s squash was rapidly succeeding its founding father game of Rackets in the popularity stakes and by 1928 the sport justified the formation of its own Squash Rackets Association. This followed on from earlier similar associations which had been formed in the USA in 1907 and four years later in Canada. It was in 1907 that the United States held the first ever National Championship to be staged anywhere in the world, with John Miskey having the distinction of capturing that very first title.
As the popularity of squash gathered pace in its own right the nature of the ball wasn’t the only major difference to develop between itself and Rackets. In 1911 the standard dimensions for a court measuring 32feet by 21feet were proposed in Britain and formally acknowledged as the British standard some twelve years later.
Since its inception squash has always had a global appeal and one of the first greats of the game was F.D. Amr Bey of Egypt who won the first of his five British Open titles – the then equivalent of the World Championships – in 1933. Taking up the baton from Bey was fellow countryman M.A Karim who took the title on no less than four successive occasions between 1947 and 1950.
If the early years of squash were dominated by Egypt, then it was very much the turn of Pakistan to rule the court in the second half of the twentieth century, with the all conquering Khan dynasty including brothers Jahangir and Jansher who both won the World title an incredible eight times.
In a rather unusual anomaly for the times, the women’s British Open was actually staged prior to its male counterpart, with the first event taking place in 1922. The sport was dominated by English players in its early years, such as the brilliant Janet Morgan. The 1960s saw the emergence of arguably the greatest female squash player of all time, the Australian Heather MacKay, who remained undefeated throughout her eleven year career.
Like so many sports whose growth had been fuelled by British Imperialism, Squash was initially controlled in England by the Squash and Rackets Association, while its counterpart, the United States Squash Rackets Association, oversaw matters on the other side of the Atlantic.
However in 1966 representatives from Australia, Great Britain, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, the USA, Canada and the United Arab Republic met in London and agreed to the formation of the International Squash Rackets Association (ISRF) which had its first meeting in January 1967. Since then a new body, the World Squash Federation has emerged as the sport’s governing body. However one thing that hasn’t changed is the sport’s popularity, which continues to thrive and is now played in over 150 countries around the world.
