Sir – Re: (Oxfordshire Limited Edition, February, Debbie Dance: Our Sporting Heritage, p.95). One aspect of Oxford’s sporting heritage that should not be forgotten is cudgel-play, also known as singlestick. According to The Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, this popular and traditional martial art was a feature of Cowley Wake which was ‘famed as the Olympiad of the country’.
This sport was actually an event at the real Olympics in 1904. Perhaps someone in the Oxford martial arts community should organise a commemorative revival of the sport in Cowley in 2012.
Tom Hassall, Oxford
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