browseQuoits
Ian Macdonald (Photographer)
Original Side Gallery exhibition text, 1980:
Quoits, as in most skill games, demands a keen eye, a healthy physique and continuous practice.
As a newcomer to the game, and as an interloper to the Esk Valley region, the thing which immediately struck me about the game was the atmosphere generated, especially at open individual meetings. This atmosphere was, and still is, a rich warm friendly one brought about by people participating with keen enthusiasm, playing a game in a splendid environment with good natured rivalry. Being familiar with the workings of photography I felt the need to communicate both with myself and hopefully with others my response to this game.
I should like in the first instance to thank the Side Gallery for making the practical side of the work possible. They have willingly allowed me the freedom to make my statement about the game and to present it in the form of this exhibition. Secondly I should like to thank players and spectators and all those involved with the game. I derived tremendous personal enjoyment from making the photographs. If some of my own enthusiasm for the game and its characters comes across to the viewer then I shall be doubly happy. Ian Macdonald, Grosmont, March 1980
Danby & District Quoits League
There are twelve centres for Quoits in the Danby and District League. League games are played on Monday and Thursday evenings from Easter time until late Summer. All games are played out of doors. Each village has a team, which comprises of nine men.
Each Saturday from the end of May clubs take it in turn to have an open individual quoit match. These games tend to begin at between 1.30 and 2.00 p.m. It is preferable to have the individual finished on the same day. The whole atmosphere of the final tends to be lost by a re-arrangement. If the day is fine then most clubs tend to finish before total darkness. Two clubs, during the 1979 season, put on flood lighting, this arrangement being started by the Egton Bridge Club. If many photographs tend to have flash it is because by the time things had warmed up, available light was too low for a large format camera.
The whole atmosphere of a fine quoit day is quite memorable. Entries for the open individual need to be in before the Friday evening of the weekend of the match. The draw is made, often over a pint, either Friday evening or Saturday morning. The competition is on a straightforward knockout basis. People begin to arrive and as the competitors sort themselves out, games get under way. Most games are ‘straight off’, that is, the players do not have a throw around to get their eye in. As more and more people arrive the atmosphere, one of good-humoured banter builds up. Games always end up with a handshake, a gesture which symbolises the serious though good natured competition of the game. One of the highlights of the day for me is the tea. As the players enjoy themselves, wives of the local club prepare the most splendid teas, in church and school halls or community centres. The pace out on the grounds slows somewhat as people drift away to tea.
Following tea, the drama begins to build up towards the final and as the dusk deepens, predictions are being shattered by rare turns of events. Nobody is totally consistent as a look at a list of any year's winners will show. The final is played out amidst hushed silence and with the last quoit, applause, sporadic during the late afternoon, bursts out in appreciation of the whole day. Grounds are then quickly squared up, watered and covered and many competitors and spectators end up in the local for a real ding dong sing song often accompanied by piano accordion.
This is Quoits today in the Esk Valley: friendly and, at its best, keenly competitive, but always extremely good natured.
Quoits – A General Description of the Game
The Quoits
Quoits are circular bands of malleable iron, no wider than 8½ inches outside diameter or 5½ inside diameter. One side of the band has in effect been pushed in to create a slope on the quoit. This gives rise to a hill, and a hole or face side to the quoit. The quoit ought not to be more than l½ inches in height and weigh no more than 5¼ lbs. Most quoits played with are very old, some probably as old as the players who use them, others very much older.
Aim of the Game
Quoits is essentially a competitive outdoor game between two men and has been played virtually without break for at least the last 100 years in the North Yorkshire region. The general aim of the game is to play the quoits one at a time, each player having two, alternately from one end to the other, the player whose quoits land nearest the pin or hob scoring points.
The best lead, or first quoit, is called a face gaiter. This is a quoit thrown so that it sticks into the clay around four inches in front of the pin and slopes forward with its face side leaning over to touch and cover the top of the pin. The delivery of such a quoit is often emphasised by a knapping sound, which, although a pleasant sound to the thrower, spells doom to the opposition. If this happens the opposition’s only real chance is to save a point by seconding the gaiter up, that is to deliver his quoit to land directly against the first quoit. It follows that the man who leads off has the best chance of establishing a good beginning. Who leads is determined most often by spinning a quoit up in the air, the opposition calling ‘hill’ or ‘hole’ to decide.
When throwing quoits most players take two strides from an imaginary line cutting through the hob at right angles to the pitch. The majority of players throw from their side, although several individuals throw from between their legs. Of the seven basic throws the face gaiter, perhaps the most difficult throw to master, is closely followed by a hill gaiter, as a favoured lead quoit. A hill gaiter means the quoit lands with its hill against the front of the pin. Quoits falling in front of the pin and not touching may be got around by throwing a side quoit. There are four main side quoits: ‘A Pot’, a quoit thrown by a right handed player to land on the left hand side of the pin with the hill side of the quoit leaning over to touch the pin; ‘A Side On’, a quoit thrown by a right handed player to land on the left hand side of the pin this time with the face of the quoit leaning over to touch the pin; ‘A Frenchman’, a quoit thrown by a right handed player to land on the right hand side of the pin to lean over with the hill of the quoit touching the pin; ‘A Que’, a quoit thrown by a right handed player to land on the right hand side of the pin and lean over with its face side touching the pin. Left handed players reverse the terminology.
Quoits which ring the hob are of little use against top class players as they are open to being topped. A lead quoit which rings may be topped by throwing a flat quoit, the last of the seven basic throws, to land straight on top of the ringer. The last quoit to ring claims two points and if two ringers have been put on it becomes difficult to put a third ringer on. If a third ringer does go on it may be loose and easily tipped off. Four ringers on is extremely rare. Not that good players are not accurate but that a fourth quoit would easily bounce off the pile of iron built up around the pin.
For each league game and especially for each individual match a referee is appointed. Quoit distances from the pin not immediately discernable by eye are measured by the referee with straight-legged compasses. Very fine measurements, for instance when deciding whether a quoit is actually touching the pin or not, are decided by feeler gauge.