Управление соревнованиями и федерациями по Rugby Fives

Fives (historically known as hand-tennis) is an English handball sport derived from jeu de paume, similar to the games of Gaelic handball, Basque pelota, and squash. The game is played in both singles and doubles teams, in an either three- or four-sided court.

The origin of the name "fives" for the game is uncertain, but two main theories are commonly presented. The first is that it is derived from the slang expression "a bunch of fives" (meaning a fist); the other that an earlier form of the game, as described by Nichols, used five-a-side teams.

Fives is generally considered to have originated from early forms of the French Jeu de paume. Games were most often played against the walls of the north ends of churchyards, or against the walls of belltowers. This often damaged window glazing, so many churches adapted their exteriors to protect against the game. This often came in the form of shutters and pintles inserted into walls, as well as latticework over the windows themselves. The sport also influenced the layout of several churches; at some churches, saplings were planted where Fives would have been played, at the Church of St James, Ashwick, a cross was moved "to the Vifes place ... to prevent the Young People from spending so much idle time in that sort of exercise."

As such, many of the earliest written testaments of the game are directives by clergy taken to prevent playing of the game. Actions against the game (then referred to as either "hand-tennis" and "hand-ball") have been found as early as 1287, when the Synod of Exeter banned the game due to the damage it caused to church buildings. Other notable examples of wall ball games being banned include Robert Braybrooke, Bishop of London, who in 1385 prohibited the game "Necnon ad pilam infra et extra ecclesiam ludunt." (English: Let them play ball neither inside nor outside the church.)

The name "fives" was applied to the game by 1591, as when Elizabeth I visited the village of Elvetham in Hampshire, she was entertained by the Marquess of Hertford by a game played by his servants:"about three o'clock, ten of his lordship's servants, all Somersetshire men, in a square greene court before her majesties windowe, did hang up lines, squaring out the forme of a tennis-court, and making a cross line in the middle; in this square they (being stript out of their dublets) played five to five with hand-ball at bord and cord as they tearme it, to the great liking of her highness" – John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, Volume II.

The version of fives played here is an example of Wessex fives, the common ancestor to all modern fives games. The first known fives court was built at the base of the church tower in West Pennard, Somerset, in 1813. By this time, fives had achieved some popularity in Wales, where it was referred to as "Ffeifs" – many courts and matches were referred to as "fives courts", although whether these were for playing Welsh handball is unclear.

In the beginning of the 19th century, fives was played as a pub game especially in Somerset, and many courts were built alongside pubs, attracting large numbers of spectators. Gambling was often present at these matches. The courts at these pubs were different from those used later in the century, consisting of a free standing wall (which were, as such, referred to as either "fives walls" or "fives towers"), occasionally with a buttress attached.

During this period, John Cavanagh, reputed to be the greatest fives player of all time, gained popularity. However, after around 1855, the sport experienced a serious loss of players, due to the prominence of other "more sophisticated" sports, such as squash, and was seen as old-fashioned due to its agrarian roots. As described the Badminton Library:The number of those who continue fives players after the age of twenty-five is very small; and, for obvious reasons, these veterans are usually schoolmasters. Again, fives is entirely a game for amateurs. It has no professors who make their living and their renown as its teachers or exponents. It has no matches to be reported in newspapers with a minuteness of detail suitable to events of international importance. No fives player, as such, has ever had his portrait published in an illustrated journal, or has had the meanest article of dress in the hosiers' shops named after him. Indeed, the game is not one that tends to exalt the individual player.

At the end of the 19th century, fives was gentrified from its origins as a rural sport to an elitist sport at public schools; codified forms of the game such as Eton fives and Rugby fives were introduced in the 1870s, which spread to schools such as Highgate, Westminster, Charterhouse and Harrow. By the end of the 19th Century, fives had become a well-established sport for British public schools. In the 1920s, the sport began to be played at Cambridge University. The first recorded fives match was played between Eton and Harrow in 1885 (F. Thomas and C. Barclay of Eton beat E. M. Butler and B. R. Warren of Harrow).

Fives continued to be played through the 20th century, but failed to develop a large nation standing. This was because it had a tradition of being a recreational sport played in free time, the large number of varieties of the game in play, and because the "more sophisticated" game of rackets was already established.

Several regional varieties of fives exist; however, most games played are either Rugby fives or Eton fives. Of the two, Etonian fives is the older, being played since the 17th century. The two major variants of the game differ primarily in the construction of the court, with Eton fives including a buttress and a step inside the court, and an open back wall.

Other variants of the game include Warminster and Winchester fives; Winchester fives has similarities to both Rugby and Etonian fives in regards to court construction, while Warminster fives dates to the late 18th century, and uses