Push ball

[St Annington]

An American sport called push ball arrived in the UK in 1902. Some time during August or September an exhibition game was played in Sheffield as part of a national tour.

Anybody know the details?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/jun/01/the-forgotten-story-of-pushball-a-game-for-giants-that-bewitched-britain

The picture below is for illustration only, it's not related to the game played in Sheffield.

 

[SteveHB]

Game looks to be known about in Sheffield well before 1902, proposed match, December 1895.

 

[St Annington]

Developed at Harvard University in the 1890s, it had first been seen in the UK via cinematograph and electroscope "animated pictures", billed as "the great American game of pushball, the new rival of football" ......

.....an actual pushball was displayed in an athletic outfitter's window at London's Cheapside - with a not-very cheap £22 10s price tag that seemed almost as big as its circumference.

http://www.goalpostbooks.co.uk/the-bizarre-game-of-pushball-football-with-a-6ft-ball/