The Drysdale Cup

The man after who the Drysdale Cup is named was one of that early band of enthusiasts who injected vitality into squash during its emergence from an amusing pastime into a competitive game.

Theodore Drysdale who was educated at St Paul's School and Jesus College, Cambridge, was the first Honorary Secretary of the Squash Rackets Representative Committee of the Tennis and Rackets Association which met for the first time in 1923.

The committee was the forerunner of the Squash Rackets Association. Prior to his addiction to squash, Dr Drysdale was in the Cambridge rugby teams for 1900 and 1901.

In 1902 he concentrated on rowing and won his place in that year's Cambridge boat. He then qualified in medicine, later became a member of the RAC and there developed his skill at squash, winning the club's championships on three occasions. Soon he became one of the acknowledged top amateurs in the country and he was selected for the Great Britain representative team to tour the United States and Canada in 1924.

One of Dr Drysdale's major contributions was to suggest that the Junior Amateur Championship be initiated for which he was prepared to donate a trophy. In 1925 he was accordingly invited to chair a sub-committee with that end in view. However, a surprising and tragic occurrence intervened. In the autumn of that year he suffered a mosquito bite which turned septic and caused him to be rushed to a nursing home where he died of acute septicaemia within fourteen days; a sad example of the cobbler being the worst shod man in the village.

The idea of his Junior Championship was not lost however, as grateful friends of his at the RAC decided to press on with it as a personal memorial to a highly regarded colleague. A fine silver trophy of unique four faceted design was subscribed for and it became the Drysdale Cup.

It was first competed for in April 1926, the winner being CJ Wilson from Repton.

The original title of the Junior Championships went through several modifications over the years, including the Public Schools Squash Rackets Tournament, until finally settling down as "The Junior Amateur Squash Rackets Competition for the Drysdale Cup".

Up to and including the 1977/78 season it was held on the courts of the RAC in Pall Mall, under the administration of the Squash Rackets Committee of the RAC, ably assisted in turn by the club's two famous professionals, Oke Johnston and from 1956, Jack Giles MBE.

Now the event is the official British Boys Under 19 Junior Championships and it can truly be said therefore, that Dr Theodore Drysdale's concept has finally come to fruition, which must be a great source of satisfaction to the RAC as owners of the trophy, and to members of his family who survive him.