For almost 100 years, Squash has been an important activity at the Pall Mall Clubhouse. Since 1912, when three courts were built, the Club has been a national leader in the development of Squash as a game, and over the years many active Club squash players have given their time to assist in this.
In 1912, there was no national body for the game and the Club was very involved over the next few years in setting the standards (making the rules, setting standard size of courts, specification of balls etc.) In the 1920s our involvement in starting up Inter Club matches and Tournaments was substantial. In 1924, the first international match (England v America) was played at our premises. The Amateur was started at around the same time and several of our Club were on the organising Committee.
In 1926, the Club set up the Junior (Under 19yrs) Amateur Championship to be played at the Club, which was organised by us and played at Pall Mall until the Squash Rackets Association took it on in the 1970s. The winner of that competition, which is one of the top world junior Tournaments, receives the Drysdale Cup. This trophy was purchased by squash playing members of the Club in memory of Dr Theodore Drysdale, a well known Club player who represented England and who had died very suddenly. The Cup is still owned by the Club and is presented to the winner by a squash committee member annually. The tournament now attracts youngsters from around thirty countries.
The Club was also closely involved at this time, in setting up the national governing body for the game – the Squash Rackets Association. The first office of the SRA was in our Pall Mall Clubhouse. Perhaps it is not surprising that over the years we became known as "the home of squash". In the years up to the Second World War, the Club retained its position as a leader in the game with many distinguished players as well as an ever increasing number of ordinary club players. In the mid 1930s, the court, which is now No.1, was converted from a Fencing Salon to a standard sized squash court. The other three courts had been built before there was a standard size and were one foot narrower than the standard. In 1950, the American game (they use a harder ball and the courts are of different dimensions) was thought to be increasing in popularity and the Club, conscious of our leading role in the development of the game, decided to replace the original three courts with two standard ones and an American one, which was the only one of its type in London. Since that time, Squash has continued to flourish with hundreds of members playing. There are now eight different Club competitions, (over 450 entries) with a Final's Night in March followed by a dinner attended by over 100 members.
More than 200 members play regularly in Leagues as well as many more playing just for fun or taking lessons from the Professional or his Assistant. We also have over 50 external matches with other Clubs.
For some time, an increasing part of the game has been Doubles Squash. With this in mind some twenty one years ago, we decided to put up two doubles courts at Woodcote Park. The SRA was not prepared to say what the dimensions of the court should be. So four members of the Club investigated the matter and came to the conclusion that the length should be the same as that of a singles court but the width should be four feet greater. This was the basis for our courts. Several years later, the World Squash Federation pronounced this as the official size. Due to the popularity of doubles, Pall Mall built it’s own full sized doubles court in 2004, this is the first of it’s kind in central London.
PFDT August 2009