Shove ha'penny league forced to disband

The traditional British pursuit of shove ha'penny has suffered a blow after one of its few remaining leagues disbanded. For hundreds of years the "sport", which originated as "shoffe grote" back in the 15th century, was played in pubs up and down the land.

But supporters have warned it could vanish forever after failing to win over the younger audience needed to keep it alive. One of the UK's few surviving leagues, based in the market town of Louth, Lincolnshire, has just wound up after dwindling to only a handful of players.

It was formed more than 70 years ago and at its height in the 1950s had so many devotees that it had to be split into two divisions. But in recent years just three teams have been forced to repeatedly face each other over the board. Now they have finally admitted defeat.



Players have blamed the demise on the popularity of pool, quiz and fruit machines and the changing face of the country's pubs. Geordie Dunn, president of the Louth league, who has played the game for more than 50 years said: "A piece of history has come to an end.

"It's very sad, but there are no youngsters taking the sport up. They would sooner put 50p in a table and play a game that's over in minutes. I remember people queuing up to play. Time was when on a Saturday night you would go in the pub and put your name down to have a go."

The earliest version of the game was played with the groat coin, but by Victorian times it was shove ha'penny that dominated inns and taverns.