Robin Longbottom on how a variation of the old game of knurr and spell became popular in the area

IN the early 1920s a variation of the old game of knurr and spell became popular in the Keighley and South Craven area, where it was known as ‘tipping’ or ‘long knock’.

Unlike the old game, in which a knurr (ball) was tripped from a spring spell and then hit as it was rising into the air, in the new game the knurr was suspended in the loop of a sling. The sling hung from the arm of a wooden gallows set into the ground and the aim, as in many field sports, was to achieve distance – the player who struck the farthest was the winner.

The club was often up to six feet long, with the best sticks made from hickory. It terminated with a wooden head that had a flat face, and the sticks were extremely whippy. The knurr was the size of a large marble and made of china clay. Match knurrs weighed half an ounce and were marked before play to avoid cheating.

Players, known as laikers, were supported by backers who agreed the rules and direction of play. Once the gallows had been fixed in the ground, ashes – or sand – were spread in the 'spell oyle' to give the player better foot grip. The number of strikes for each player was usually 20 or 30 and these were generally taken in sets of five. Before play, laikers often put on a display of bravado known as ‘winding up’, in which they swung the club around their heads.

Inns and taverns played a large part in arranging matches and often had land available for play. Many landlords were also keen players, perhaps the most notable being Roland Aspinall, a former wrestler. He was an innkeeper in Halifax and later took the George Hotel at Cullingworth. Known as the Goliath of Mount Tabor, he weighed in at some 16 stones and played during the 1920s and 30s using a six- foot-long stick. In 1926 he is said to have hit a knurr an incredible 333 yards at a match near Halifax. However, when a contest was set up some years later between him and a golfer named George Marwood, he only managed 223 yards, whilst the golfer hit a golf ball 293 yards.

In 1934 – whilst he was the landlord of the King’s Head at Cow Green in Halifax – Aspinall was challenged by Harry Bottomley, an iron moulder from Keighley, who was almost 20 years his junior. The match was played for a prize of £100 before a crowd of over 600. It was a dull day with no wind and the distance of the strikes was disappointing. Aspinall eventually beat his challenger by eight yards. Three years later he was again challenged by a Keighley player, called Tom Critcheson, a stone mason who was also nearly 20 years younger. He was beaten by four yards after Aspinall hit 194 yards.

By the end of the 1930s the days of the long sticks were over, and players began to use shorter ones, between 3ft 6ins and 4ft long. Hotly contested matches were often arranged between Yorkshire and Lancashire and handicap matches were arranged to encourage younger players. Although the game began to wane after the Second World War, it remained strong in Cowling, where meetings were held at the Bay Horse Inn and a challenge cup was presented by Tetley’s Brewery.

Matches continued to be played at Cowling up to the 1970s. By now in terminal decline, it had a short revival in Greetland, near Halifax, when Freddie Trueman had a go at playing. The last attempt to revive it was at the King’s Arms in Sutton-in-Craven in the early 1990s, however the revival was short-lived due to problems over health and safety and insurance.