Winchester College football facts for kids

Winchester College football, also known as Wincofo or winkies, is a special type of football (also called soccer) played at Winchester College in England. Students at this famous school play the game during the spring term, which they call "common time." It used to be played in the autumn term, known as "short half." This game is quite similar to other unique sports played at old English schools, like the wall game at Eton. Winchester College is located in the city of Winchester in Hampshire, England.

How Winchester Football Started

This unique game began on Kingsgate Street, a long street right next to Winchester College. Back then, there were very few rules! The only thing that has stayed the same is the size of the playing area, called the "canvas." It's the exact same size as the part of the street where the first games were played.

Nobody knows exactly when the game moved from the street. It was moved to the grassy area at the top of St. Catherine's Hill. To stop the ball from rolling into the canal below, younger students from the college were used to fetch the ball if it went out of bounds. Even today, classmates still act as "watchers" to catch stray balls.

However, there were some problems with this system. Sometimes, the watchers would get hurt because enthusiastic players would crash into them. So, ropes were introduced to mark the edges of the playing field. These ropes are now a very important part of the game.

Images for kids

• 

  Illustration of Winchester football by Richard Baigent, 1838. It shows "kickers-in" (watchers) on both sides of the field. St. Catherine's Hill, where the game was once played, is in the background.

• 

  A "Hot" in a game of 22-a-side Winchester football in Meads, by R. B. Mansfield, 1866.