Latest News & Items

Jim Thorpe: was he the Greatest Athlete in the World?

14th May 2026

Was Jim Thorpe the greatest athlete in the world? King Gustav V of Sweden certainly thought so. He described Thorpe thus as he handed him two gold medals at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Jim Thorpe was a legendary Native American sportsman, who lived from 1888 – 1953.  He was a Sac and Fox Native American, […]

Fitness and Wellbeing in Sportspages’ New Stock Catalogue

12th March 2026

Our most recent New Stock catalogue has a huge range of sports as usual. It also has quite a fine line in rare and classic fitness and wellbeing books too. Any of them should help you get ready for the summer! One of the most direct of the fitness and wellbeing books is ‘Be Fit […]

Sportspages’ New Stock catalogue

15th January 2026

This quirky, 1930s Hungarian table tennis postcard is in our newest New Stock catalogue: https://www.sportspages.com/catalogue/new-stock-58  along with over 100 other items from nearly as many sports. Our catalogues come out regularly: don’t miss them by signing up for them on the bottom of our home page!  

Croquet

Croquet

Croquet's origins are hard to pin down as with many sports. It came to England via Ireland in the 1850s where a game called crooky had been played since the 1830s. There is some suggestion that croquet has even earlier origins in 14th century Brittany & southern France.

By 1861 Routledge had published his 'Handbook of Croquet', the 1st croquet rule book, which essentially still governs the game. By the 1870s, there were American & Canadian versions of Croquet instructional & rule books too. Croquet literature & memorabilia has since burgeoned, documenting the 'killer' sport.

Items Per Page:    Sort By: