Sport way back when!

With the London 2012 Olympics in full swing and sporting fever truly sweeping the country, if not the world, we thought this would be a great opportunity to reflect on sporting history in Edinburgh.  Whilst there are no records of Mary King being a particularly great gymnast or Stephen Boyd being a dab hand with a racquet, there are some fascinating tales to behold.

The earliest reference to sport in Edinburgh our historian could find could be found at the 'barras' or the barriers, at the west end of the Grassmarket, where the Royal Tournament yards could be found dating back to the early fourteenth century.  Royal Tournaments were also held near St Cuthberts in the West End, on the north side of the Castle, until the infamous Nor' Loch was created.

In the late 15th century and early 16th, King James IV loved tournaments.  He had married Margaret Tudor whose brother was Arthur, and therefore as a result was fascinated by the Arthurian legend, ordering a Round Table to made for one tournament. His tournaments took place at the 'barras' or outside Holyrood Palace and were celebrated throughout Europe.

In 1456, James's grandfather, James II formally designated the little vallley of Greenside to the west of Calton Hill as the official playing fields of Edinburgh. This became the place for plays, 'mystery plays' and organised games of Holy Fest days.  Strangely there is no commemoration of this at the location, but fittingly the Edinburgh Playhouse continues this tradition at the site today.

The usual place for sports before the declaration of the official playing fields were at the Mercat Cross, the Salt Tron (by the Tron Kirk), and the Butter Tron (by what is now the Hub).  'Real tennis' courts could also be found at nobleman's houses, with a Royal tennis court obviously at Holyrood.  Today's sports fans would have been outraged that football and golf were banned on the orders of James I but continued in some form regardless!

It would be remiss of us to do a sporting blog post and not to congratulate Team GB on their accomplishments to date in particular Mary King, the legendary Olympic equestrian star who yesterday won silver with her team mates.  An epic achievement in her sixth Olympics and following an awful accident in 2001.

With thanks to Chris Aliaga-Kelly for his input into this blog post