Badminton History: Week Post One

Badminton had originally come from the games “battledore” and “shuttlecock” that children had played. It had started with a paddle, instead of a racquet, and with a cork stuffed with feathers, instead of feathers attached to a cork. But badminton as its own game had started in the mid-18^th century by British military officers stationed in British India. Around that time, the name of the sport was Poona. Eventually, the game was brought back to England by retired British military officers and that’s when the official rules were made. The new sport began in 1873 at the Badminton House, Gloucestershire, which was owned by the Duke of Beaufort. For the period of that time, it was called “The Game of Badminton,” and eventually its official name became Badminton. Until 1887, the rules were very contradictory and confusing so finally a group of badminton players made a Bath Badminton Club and had standardized the rules that still stand to this day.