It is considered a "traditional striking and fielding sport"[2] and may be an ancestor of cricket[3] (a game it resembles in some respects), baseball, softball, and rounders.

The game's popularity has faded since the 1960s, but continues to be played at a local league level in Sussex, Kent, Surrey and the Midlands.

Written by William Shakespeare and the Sussex-born playwright John Fletcher, the comedy, The Two Noble Kinsmen used the phrase "playing stool ball" as a euphemism for sexual behaviour.

[14] The first inter-county stoolball match took place between the women of Sussex and Kent in 1797 at Tunbridge Wells Common on the historic border between the two counties.

[15] Sussex historian Andrew Lusted has argued that between 1866 and 1887 the Glynde Butterflies stoolball team were the first women in England to be considered sports stars.

[14][16] In 1866 the first recorded stoolball match took place between teams of named women representing villages as the Glynde Butterflies took on the Firle Blues.

[17] Other teams included the Chailey Grasshoppers, Selmeston Harvest Bugs, Waldron Bees, Eastbourne Seagulls, Danny Daisies and Westmeston.

[7] Modern stoolball is centred on Sussex where the game was revived in the early 20th century by Major William Grantham.

The National Stoolball Association was founded on 3 October 1979 at Clair Hall in Haywards Heath attended by 23 people from nine different leagues.

[8] In the early 20th century stoolball was also played outside England, including in France, Japan and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).

As it is played today, a bowler attempts to hit the wicket with the ball, and a batter defends it using a bat shaped like a frying pan.

However, although the 17th century antiquarian John Aubrey described a game called "stobball" played in this area, his description of it does not appear to be stoolball.