Badminton is the world’s 2nd most popular sport. Interestingly enough, it also has a history that is uniquely global. So naturally, there will be many different cultures and countries that might claim to be the inventors of the sport.
But where did badminton truly originate? The answer takes a little bit of digging.
Where did badminton originate?
Badminton has a long and very curious history. In fact, games involving a piece of wood tied to a feather that contestants hit date back all the way to the ancient civilizations of the world.
Throughout history, many forms of tying feathers to a projectile and hitting it around lasted throughout the last 2000 years. Many prominent sports historians believe that this ancient version of badminton was played in Ancient Greece, India, and China. The game played in ancient Greece is thought to be a form of badminton where instead of rackets, players would hit the shuttlecock around with bats. Other derivations of the game formed in parts of the world like China, where the shuttlecock where players would strike the shuttlecock with their feet like a hackeysack! In mid-evil Europe, the game was a pastime game that children would play called “Battledore and Shuttlecock” where they would keep the shuttlecock in the air with paddles for as long as possible.
However many forms this odd game involving a circular piece of wood with feathers took, it eventually made its way to throughout the world to India where their indigenous population had their own version of the game without a net. From there, the game we know today as “Badminton” started to take form.
How was badminton invented?
Around the mid-19th century, this Indian game with paddles and a feathered ball was being played regularly in India, especially in the city of Pune.
Then, around the late 1960s, the game started to catch the attention of a group of British Army Officers stationed in Pune. By 1870, these officers were playing this game that resembled battledore shuttlecock to pass the time themselves. Their enthusiasm for the game led them to take it and give it their own name, Poona, named after the city they were stationed. They made some of their own changes as well, adding a net and creating a few rules.
As they came home from abroad, they started playing it with their wives and children back in England. After a few years of British Soldiers enjoying this new game, it caught the attention of the Duke of Beaufort who also took a liking to the game.
In 1973, the Duke held a large part on his beautiful estate about 15 miles north of Bath, England.
The name of the estate? The Badminton House. And thus, the party attendees started calling this peculiar Indian game “The Badminton Game” which would eventually be stripped down to just badminton and stick to this day and become one of the world’s most popular sports.
How did Badminton spread worldwide?
After the endorsement of the Duke of Beaufort, the official history of the sport of Badminton starts to gain steam. Clubs across Southern England started to adopt the game as their own. In 1877 the sport reached such popularity that England’s first official Badminton club was formed in Bath called the Bath Badminton Club. The Club played a very influential part in the game, helping to officially rewrite many of the rules.
From there, associations and clubs started sprouting all over the country. By 1893, there were quite a few clubs and a few key individuals invited the main clubs in England to meet and discuss standards and shared rules for the game. It was there that the Badminton Association was formed.
The Badminton Association England founded helped to further popularize the sport. By the 1920s, over 300 clubs had been started worldwide. By 1936, Badminton played a role in sports on the global stage to the point that a conglomerate of Badminton leaders from the USA to India to New Zealand decided to form the International Badminton Federation (IBF). Today, Badminton stands as one of the many Olympic games, and the world’s second most popular sport.
Who takes the credit for the invention of badminton?
This is a contentious topic that involves a bit of appropriation, and a lot of cultural mixing and messiness. That comes with a lot of historical baggage when you think about the history of the colonization of India by the British.
In my mind, there are two arguments you can make here:
1) Although versions of the game were played globally at the time, the people of Pune, India & their ancestors deserve the credit since it is their version of the game that the sport of badminton was adopted originally.
2) The people of Southwest England may have appropriated the game, but if it wasn’t for the organization
I think we need to give most of the credit to the Indian people of Pune for the invention of the game wasn’t played so regularly by the indigenous people in Pune, then it wouldn’t be as popular today.
However, credit should go to South West English for promoting and growing the sport to such epic proportions, for if it wasn’t for their enthusiasm to create 100s of clubs and more structure surrounding the game, then we wouldn’t know badminton as we know it today.