BADMINTON History

BADMINTON

History

Badminton has a long and fascinating history. With roots in China more than two thousand years ago, it was purely recreational until a competitive version was developed in India and England ago, and late-nineteenth century. The game spread in the 1870s to Canada and the United States, where national organizations similar to those of other countries were formed in the 1930s. Since World War II, the game has gained tremendous popularity in many countries. It is a major sport in most countries of northern Europe and Southeast Asia and is considered virtually the national sport in Indonesia and several other countries. Denmark, Sweden, England, Holland, and Germany lead the European nations in their interest.

It’s contains a fuller history of the game.

(1) Ancient Times

The shuttlecock, badminton’s unique object, was central to the ancient Chinese game of Ti Jian Zi, or shuttlecock kicking. Evidence of this game dates back at least to the Ist century B.C. Shuttlecock kicking was also popular in the neighboring areas of Japan, India, and Siam, and soon found its way to Sumeria and Greece. Although the shuttle was usually hit by feet or hands, various bats were occasionally used as well.

Exactly how arid why the shuttlecock’s popularity became so widespread so early is not clear. It is reasonable to assume, however, that feathers from eaten fowl were plentiful and that perhaps methods of storing them, such as sticking them into cork or balls of yarn, led to the discovery of a delightful plaything. The fascination and enjoyment of striking a shuttlecock back and forth, either in gentle play or in fierce competition, is a thread running through the ages.

(2) Medieval Times and 17th Century

English woodcut illustrations from the 14th and 15th centuries show peasants batting a shuttlecock to each other with rectangular wooden paddles, and by late in the 16th century this had become a popular children’s game. The word “battledore” was given to the striking instrument, being a derivative of the Old English word batt, for cudgel. William Shakespeare makes reference to battle dore and shuttlecock many times in his plays and other writings. Samuel Pepys in his Diary makes reference to “shittlecock.” The social status of battled ore shuttlecock rose in the 17th century, as it became a pastime for royalty and the leisured classes. As such, in France, it was called jeu de volant, or “game of shuttlecock.” A 1638 etching from the French court shows a fine gentleman volleying a shuttle by himself with a well strung battledore in each hand. The Parisian artist Jean Chardin painted a mas terpiece “Jeune Fille Jouant au Volant” (Young Girl Playing at Shuttlecock) which now hangs in Florence’s famous Uffizi Gallery.

Prince Henry, son of King James I of England, is said to have beening at shuttle-cocke with one far taller than himself and hitting him by chance with the shuttlecocke upon the forehead.” This quotation from Two Maids of Moreclacke suggests that even as early as the 1600s there was an element of real competition in the game.

In Germany-and Scandinavia the game became known as federball, or featherball, and in 1650 Queen Kristina of Sweden built a special court herself and visiting noblemen near Stockholm’s Royal Palace. Even Catherine the Great is said to have played in Russia.

At this patrician level, the shuttle was hit into play at the start of a rally by a servant, hence the term, “to serve.”

(3) 18th Century

Battledore and shuttlecock was an accepted institution in Europe in the 1700s, The French author de Garsault devoted six paragraphs to the shuttlecock in a book on the Art of the Tennis Racket Maker, and he lamented the age-old problem that shuttles cost too much and were “quickly spoiled.” Art continued to record the game’s popularity. In Poland, Adam Manyoki painted “Young Prince Sulkowski” with a shuttle and battledore, and aft English portrait (c.1740) of the young Earlof Dysart depicts him similarly.

The first evidence of battledore-shuttlecock in America dates to this period. The popularity of the game in ‘England during King James’ time certainly caused it to spread to the colonies, but exactly when is not known. Yet, in 1742, the London. merchant wrote Mrs. Ross of Annapolis, “You sent for shuttlecocks and no battledores, whether you intended to omit them I could not guess, but as they are used together, I sent them so, with variety, I hope it’s not wrong.” A 1766 advertisement in New York by one James Rivington stated that he sold battledores and shuttlecocks. A 1790 tapestry from colonial Williamsburg shows two boys hitting a shuttlecock back and forth on a Virginia hillside. Throughout this the, the game appears to have been especially popular with young people, but the object of the game was still primarily to hit thm shuttle to each other, or to oneself, and to keep it in the air as long as possible. The idea of a net and of trying to prevent one’s partner from returning the shuttle was still a century away.

(4) 19th Century

By the early 1800s, battledore and shuttlecock was a regular fixture in English country houses. These country gentlemen were sportsmen and one in particular, the 7th Duke of Beaufort, issued a series of books on sports and games named after his Gloucestershire estate, Badminton House. His family, the Soreersets, were avid players at shuttlecock: inscriptions on the vellum heads of their battledores record rallies consisting of 2,117 shots on January 12, 1830, and of 2,018 shots in February, 1845.

The transition from battledore-shuttlecock to badminton, building slowly for over 1,800 years, quickened in the 1850s and 1860s. One day, someone stretched a string across the middle of the Front Hall at Badminton House, making an elementary net. Whether it was the Somerset children, or one of the Duke’s sporting friends, or a visiting Army officer who had seen such a net in India, no one can be certain. In any case, the “new game” badminton battledore was advertised by a London toy dealer in 1860, and by 1867 a rather formal game, with lines and real nets, was being played in India by English officers and their families. Although the precise birthplace and birthdate of modern badminton is thus impossible to specify, it is certain that the latter took place before the March 1874 inauguration of modern lawn tennis.

From 1870 to 1900, badminton came of age as a competitive indoor sport. The first rules appeared in India in 1873, and clubs were formed throughout the British Isles to promote competition. The first tournaments were held there early in the 1890s, and the first All-England Championships were held in 1899. Until the 1920s, the major titles were contested by English, Scots, and Irish. Rules varied from place to place until about 1905, When the Badminton Association of England adopted and promulgated uniform new rules which are in essence those followed today.

(5) The Modem Game

Beginning in the 1920s, badminton spread first from England to northern Europe, becoming especially popular in the Scandinavian countries, and then to North Arnerica and the Far East. The Irishman who had dominated the All Englands in the early 1920s, Frank Devlin, was instrumental in promoting the game in Canada, and the interest in badminton developed by the British in India and Malaya was soon found throughout Asia, as one country after another rose to the top ranks: Thailand and Indonesia in the 1950s, Japan in the 1960s, China in the 1970s, and Korea in the 1980s.

The International Badminton Federation was formed in 1934 with nine member countries and grew to more than eighty-five affiliated nations in the 1980s. Various international competitions for teams and individuals were instituted in the post-war years and by 1979 the game had become fully professional. A year-long circuit of open tournaments throughout the world attracted the top players to a touring career similar to that of other professional athletes. The decision in 1985 to make badminton an Olympic sport solidified the game’s position as a major international sport.

참조 : BADMINTON Terminology