Squash court Facts and Oddities

Several generations have played squash to different levels and gone on to retire without giving a thought to the history of squash court that takes beatings from the black rubber ball which travels at 160km per hour or withstands players weight when they support themselves during rallies or occasionally, scratches from our racket bumper/guards.

One of the most ignored part of squash, is the building itself called *squash court* that we play on.

Courts are only talked about when commentators for squash Tv like Joey Barrington, a former world top player, praises some magnificent all round glass wall displayed at tournament venues in England, Egypt, Qatar, New York etc.

According to World Squash Federation (WSF) figures. There are over 50,000 squash courts and about 20 million squash players worldwide.

For instance, England is regarded as the number 1 squash playing nation because there are approximately 8,500 squash courts and 500,000 players.

With 50,000 squash courts worldwide, the history of the courts are always ignored when it comes to squash narratives. Emphasis are always on record broken by players, cash prizes etc.

The first recorded instance of a building made specially for Squash was in 1864 at Harrow, England when four courts were erected. These were built on the site of the previous open-roofed "ad-hoc" courts.

The first ever privately owned Squash court was built by a former Harrow pupil, Vernon Harcourt, in Oxford in 1883.

The first recorded Squash court in the USA was built by the Philadelphia Racket Club in 1891.

The first attempt to standardise the size of the international squash court was by the Tennis and Rackets Association (UK) in 1909.  It failed.

A successful attempt to standardise courts was made in 1925 by the Tennis and Rackets Association.  The following were the dimensions chosen:

Length  32 feet
Breadth  21 feet
Height of front wall line 15 feet
Height of back wall line  7 feet
Distance of short line from front wall 18 feet
Height of cut line on front wall     6 feet
Height of board from ground     19 inches

Note:  *None of these dimensions have changed in a modern court, some 94 years later.(2019)*

The first glass backwall to be installed was at the Abbeydale Club, Sheffield, England in October 1969 by Ellis Pearson Ltd.

The first use of a portable court for a major championship was in September, 1978 in Kings Hall, Stockholm, Sweden on the occasion of the Swedish leg of the PIA World Series.  Perstop Ltd. erected a
prefabricated court with a glass back wall in the arena.  Some 600 people watched the final.
Credit: squash court information