do with personal achievement,” saidMaureen Bryan, a top Canadian player and secretary of the Ontario Shuffleboard Association (OSA). While avid players worldwide remain committed to the game, the elephant in the room continues to be the sport’s “old people” reputation and dismal growth. There is, however, a stirring afoot that may lead to change. Clubs around the globe are beginning to develop creative plans to attract young people and, at the same time, grow player numbers. Myrna Bilton says that her own club hopes to initiate a plan to have regular family nights to accommodate people who work during the day. Germany and Brazil have made attracting the young generation a priority; a goal that includes targeting schoolaged children. There are clubs in the United States beginning to attract younger people by introducing “night shuffleboard” interfaced with food and a bar. Early reports on these new initiatives appear to be bearing fruit so, if all it takes is a combination of night play, beer and burgers, this may be the key that cracks shuffleboard’s “old persons” stereotype. Only time will tell. THE BACK STORY The full history of shuffleboard is unknown, but the most substantive information available supports the claim that its development goes back more than 500 years. Documented fact does reveal that in 15th-century England, King Henry VIII frequently played the game and gambled on his ability to win. Back then, though, the King and his upper-class friends played a much different game than the floor shuffleboard which we see today. The original game was called shove-groat (or slide-groat) and involved sliding a large coin down a tabletop aiming at getting it as close to the end of the table without it falling off. While King Henry could play the game any time he chose, he ruled that “commoners” could not, banning it on the grounds that it was too distracting from work and soldiering. His decree eventually evaporated long before the evolution of the game from table to floor. Recreation CSANews | WINTER 2019 | 47
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