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polly on the mopstick

Hi,

We played Polly on the Mopstick at school. Our version had one boy with his
back to the wall, and the rest of the team in single line scrum fashion.
We would chant 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, Polly on the Mopstick Amen,
and the other teams score would be the number who could leapfrog on,
and stay on during the chant.

Kind regards
Dave
As I remember it, the team that were "receiving" had to hold up to a chant of "Polly on the mopstick, one two three". The tactics were for the attacking team to wait till the end then send in the fattest kid to cause a collapse. As for British Bulldog, one lonely bloke had to stand facing a stampeding horde. Having caught one of them, there was then two to face the horde, and so on. In the army there was a similar version of this game, called Murder Ball, but that was more murderous.
 
We used to play a game called Murder Ball in PE lessons at grammar school; there was a mat at each end of the gym, the class was divided into two teams, and a basketball was thrown by the PE teacher into the air in the middle of the gym. The object of the game was to land the ball on the opposing team's mat. The rules.....what rules? Anything short of actually breaking a limb or gouging out an eye was OK.

I wonder what today's parents would make of that......
 
I thought it was polly up the mopstick but 'on' makes more sense. Saw it being played on 'Victorians on film' on Chanel 5 a few days ago. Wife said she'd never heard of it but then she's from Smethwick so what would she know? It does seem to fit with previous comments that it was a game we played in Brum and it's fame hadn't spread as far as Cape Hill. I guess I was playing it in the 50s.
Also played British Bulldog which could finish in a fight. There was a similar game to bulldog where you hopped across on one leg with your arms folded and had to knock an opponent onto his two legs (or knock him over). I can imagine all of these games have been well and truly banned.
 
Murder ball and British Bulldog played in Smethwick in the scouts and at school. We played Pack Horses which seems identical to Polly on a Mopstick, except that one boy has his back to the wall and supports the boy's head who makes a back in front of him. You can make a back of three lads then the opposing team jump on and shout Pack Horses, Pack Horses 1,2,3 before the horses collapse.
 
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