19世紀末イングランドにおけるホッケーボールとしてのクリケットボール採用維持の経緯

抄録

In the year 1886, the Hockey Association of England made history by adopting an ordinary cricket ball painted white as the official hockey ball. As hockey continued to gain global acceptance, its widespread diffusion served to maintain the trend of using a ball made of cricket-ball material. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, English hockey players had already begun to question the suitability of this ball. This debate led to a trial match being organized to test new balls that were intended to replace the cricket ball. Judging from the chronology of events and the result of this crucial trial match, this article aims to elucidate the initial circumstances that surrounded the ultimate decision to retain the cricket ball as the official hockey ball. The insights gleaned from this study can be summarized as follows: (1) The Hockey Association claimed that the cricket ball was not adopted until various other balls had been well tried. However, hockey players had not found the basis for this adoption very persuasive. It was the consensus of hockey players, rooted in their experience of playing the sport, that paved the way for this experiment with new balls. (2) H. F. Battersby and the Hockey Association arranged for the trial match to be played on Wimbledon Common with the aid of F. H. Ayres, a well-known manufacturer from London. Needless to say, the match had a single predetermined purpose: to ascertain whether the new balls were more suitable than the cricket ball. However, the new balls failed to live up to their much-touted advantages, and did not find favor with the players. In other words, from the viewpoint of those who wished to introduce the new balls, the trial match was an utter failure.