General The Aunt Sally World Championships.

[Morris Oxford]

A gentle reminder to those who may be interested.

The Aunt Sally World Championships will be held today at the Charlbury Beer Festival.

Charlbury Beer Festival

www.charlburybeerfestival.org

 

[holdsteady]

A gentle reminder to those who may be interested.

The Aunt Sally World Championships will be held today at the Charlbury Beer Festival.

Charlbury Beer Festival

www.charlburybeerfestival.org

I only live an hour away from Oxford and it’s only about 16 miles to Henley so the Oxfordshire border, but if I am ever a bit bored or missing home I will bring up Aunt Sally to whoever happens to be around me and enjoy the look on their face as they think I am making it up, always amused me how local to Oxfordshire it is.

This is our version of the Super Bowl, you truly are world champion purely because no one else plays it. Cheers for putting this on here, going to enjoy telling people today about it.

 

[Essexyellows]

For those who have always lived in Gods fine Shire - they don`t play Aunt Sally anywhere else!

The locals up here looked confused when I explained how it worked............

I reckon @Paul B may well be rubbing shoulders with you!

 

[jfp]

OUFC stewarding legend Kevin Giles is one of the great's of the sport.

 

[QR]

Our house back onto a pub garden and a lasting memory of mine as a kid is laying in bed on long summer evenings and hear the sound of the clatter of the dolly and the cheer of the players every few minutes. The mention of the game and I'm right back there.

 

[Stranger]

Shouldn't it be played on a Wednesday evening?

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

Shouldn't it be played on a Wednesday evening?

Thursday.

Wednesday evening???? Wash your mouth out!!

And it's not a proper match without the all important beer leg either.

 

[Morris Oxford]

Charlbury cricket ground is a great venue for it and the beer festival.

Next door to Charlbury railway station.

You are even allowed to cross the road without the need to use a foot bridge despite the fact you may have drunk a pint or two of Pip Squeak &Wilfred or Snail Creep Hanging.

 

[Morris Oxford]

For those who have always lived in Gods fine Shire - they don`t play Aunt Sally anywhere else!

The locals up here looked confused when I explained how it worked............

I reckon @Paul B may well be rubbing shoulders with you!

I think it might be played predominantly Oxfordshire but they certainly play it in parts of Gloucestershire too.

 

[Marked Ox]

For those who have always lived in Gods fine Shire - they don`t play Aunt Sally anywhere else!

The locals up here looked confused when I explained how it worked............

I reckon @Paul B may well be rubbing shoulders with you!

20 years ago or so ago, it had been exported and played in a small part of Holland and there were 2 places in the US. Haven't a clue if it still is.

 

[SSO]

I cannot understand how this game has not branched out further. Back in the day there were a few pubs around with 2 or 3 Aunt Sally throws and 4 dartboards. These pubs were full of a Tuesday and Wednesday evening especially in the summer. They would have 2 or even 3 darts teams and 2 Aunt Sally teams playing home and 2 playing away. My father in law ran the darts league for 40 years. At one time it was one of the biggest darts leagues in Europe.

Mind you if ever a sport needed VAR it was Aunt Sally.

 

[Oxymoron]

Thursday.

Wednesday evening???? Wash your mouth out!!

Wednesday all day long

Oxford Aunt Sally

www.oxfordauntsally.co.uk

 

[QR]

Wednesday all day long

Oxford Aunt Sally

www.oxfordauntsally.co.uk

Theory ascribes Aunt Sally as a development of a game which was essentially a humane version of a barbaric blood sport called "throwing at cocks". In this horrible pastime a cock was tied by one leg to a stake in the ground and the participants would then pay for a turn at throwing a "cok-steles" (small club) at the bird. Whoever killed the bird got to take it home for dinner. If the bird's leg was broken, the sad creature would be supported on sticks until the bitter end. Joseph Strutt noted in 1801 that humane versions of this had been seen as fairground amusements wherein the cock was replaced by a wooden replica and people paid a small sum to attempt to hit it. He thought that this had died out but this theory believes it persisted and became Aunt Sally.

A bit gruesome but the folklore around my neighborhood was that it was a robin not a cock.

 

[holdsteady]

Theory ascribes Aunt Sally as a development of a game which was essentially a humane version of a barbaric blood sport called "throwing at cocks". In this horrible pastime a cock was tied by one leg to a stake in the ground and the participants would then pay for a turn at throwing a "cok-steles" (small club) at the bird. Whoever killed the bird got to take it home for dinner. If the bird's leg was broken, the sad creature would be supported on sticks until the bitter end. Joseph Strutt noted in 1801 that humane versions of this had been seen as fairground amusements wherein the cock was replaced by a wooden replica and people paid a small sum to attempt to hit it. He thought that this had died out but this theory believes it persisted and became Aunt Sally.

A bit gruesome but the folklore around my neighborhood was that it was a robin not a cock.

That’s the Chequers at Quarry in the photo, shut down sadly at Xmas last year. Former local haunt of mine.

 

[SSO]

I remember it most for a team I played for about 30 years ago and we would have won our section had a certain pub in Chalgrove not signed on 3 "ringers" just 2 weeks into the season. We were the only team that could lay a glove on them but they were winning 3-0 every week and should have been playing in one of the top 5 sections. We couldn't manage to keep up with them despite sharing the spoils with them 2-1 in each of the games between us.

 

[Marked Ox]

I remember it most for a team I played for about 30 years ago and we would have won our section had a certain pub in Chalgrove not signed on 3 "ringers" just 2 weeks into the season. We were the only team that could lay a glove on them but they were winning 3-0 every week and should have been playing in one of the top 5 sections. We couldn't manage to keep up with them despite sharing the spoils with them 2-1 in each of the games between us.

We got promoted by 2 leagues many moons ago even though we finished 2nd by a fair bit, whilst not far ahead of the next 2. We weren't impressed as we enjoyed the laugh of it as the division we'd been in was more about fun rather than being serious. Teams were respectful of each other but utter silence and looking miserable/pensive weren't requirements.

 

[SSO]

We got promoted by 2 leagues many moons ago even though we finished 2nd by a fair bit, whilst not far ahead of the next 2. We weren't impressed as we enjoyed the laugh of it as the division we'd been in was more about fun rather than being serious. Teams were respectful of each other but utter silence and looking miserable/pensive weren't requirements.

It was about having a laugh and keeping your name out of the blobbers list in the OM. The beer leg was always a laugh but you would get the odd spiky game every summer. We had one once where we lost the beer leg and the other team had several players who asked for pints instead of the traditional halves. They were a horrible lot who refused to play the football team card that went round to pay for the food. Our landlady put on a fantastic spread each week and this team just scoffed the sandwiches, chips, chilli sauce, sausage rolls and curry and fucked off as quick as they could. I miss the game but not some of the see you next Tuesdays that came with it.

 

[Sheik Djibouti]

It was about having a laugh and keeping your name out of the blobbers list in the OM. The beer leg was always a laugh but you would get the odd spiky game every summer. We had one once where we lost the beer leg and the other team had several players who asked for pints instead of the traditional halves. They were a horrible lot who refused to play the football team card that went round to pay for the food. Our landlady put on a fantastic spread each week and this team just scoffed the sandwiches, chips, chilli sauce, sausage rolls and curry and fucked off as quick as they could. I miss the game but not some of the see you next Tuesdays that came with it.

Or Thursdays

 

[Under The Cuckoo Lane]

I played in the ASWC once. Not to be knocked - at least the Doll wasn't knocked off many times - but I made up for it with the Mrs when I got home.

 

[SSO]

I played in the ASWC once. Not to be knocked - at least the Doll wasn't knocked off many times - but I made up for it with the Mrs when I got home.

I bet she was glad to have all her rolling pins back.

 

[OX14]

Wednesday all day long

Oxford Aunt Sally

www.oxfordauntsally.co.uk

When I played for an Abingdon pub a few years ago it was always Wednesday night.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

What a delightful thread, and thanks to all who have contributed, and to @Yellow River.

As an exile, I wholeheartedly echo the sentiments of @holdsteady regards our Oxfordshire relationship with Aunt Sally.

I grew up in rural South Oxon, and my formative years were spent in the village pub, drinking (under age) in the beer garden - adjacent to the Aunt Sally (run?). I never played. I wish I had.

It wasn't until I moved away that I realised what a beautifully local thing it was.

And now it's a badge of honour.

Of course, my home town (village) and pub are much changed now, but if there is one time, one place, that could make me feel what it was to be rural Oxon then it would be sat in the beer garden of a Brakspear pub on a hot Summers evening (probably dreaming of watching OUFC in the 2nd tier) with Aunt Sally by my side.

God bless Oxfordshire.

 

[Essexyellows]

Its a sad sign of the times when the pub where you used to play is now houses and its name barely remembered by the new residents.

 

[OX14]

Its a sad sign of the times when the pub where you used to play is now houses and its name barely remembered by the new residents.

Yes went past the old Plough pub in Sutton Courtenay the other day that i didn't even realise had closed down, now is houses. Played at that one a couple of times in the past.

So many pubs have closed down around here which is a shame as the remaining pubs that are still open do not seem to be any busier apart from when a big football game is on.

 

[jfp]

Bampton League still going strong - 57 teams across West Oxfordshire and bits of Glocs.

 

[Morris Oxford]

More nostalgia just to keep this thread going!

 

[Emilio]

I moved away from the Oxford at 13, and despite visits back to watch the U's, I never really spent much time living the Oxon life after that. It's only been in recent years (my early 30's) that I've visited for more than a day at a time, and am gradually rediscovering gems of the shire on each trip.

This thread has pulled one of those long-lost memories from the furthest chasms of my mind. Only the briefest of memories, but one that has also brought with it a strong pang of love for my father (who passed away last year) as he most definitely would have been the one who taught me how to play.

What a wonderful world we live in, that such a game can have a well-wrought regional identity, including its own leagues, yet be entirely alien to any outside the county.

 

[Wallop]

So who won?

 

[OUFC1978]

So who won?

So who won?

Roger.

 

[BrockBuster]

Was always round the villages, remember playing it at the White Lion in Ardley and The Bell in Lower Heyford.

Halcyon days!