Competition a UK Easter tradition
McCarthy-Fox returns for World Marbles Champs
As the old saying goes “You can take the girl out of England, but you can’t take England out of the girl”. This is especially true when the person concerned is heavily steeped in the traditions of her homeland when she leaves to start a new life here in New Zealand with her new love.
This is also why, this week, Te Awamutu’s Julia McCarthy-Fox has returned to the UK for a short visit, to run The British and World Marbles Championship.
So, for those who have met McCarthy-Fox and maybe thought she has lost her marbles, the opposite is true. She does, in fact, have thousands of marbles.
Since the 16th century marbles has been played in the hamlet of Tinsley Green, now in the shadow of Gatwick Airport.
The story goes a match was played between two local lads for the hand of a fair maiden after many other sports had been played with no winner emerging.
History does not, conveniently, record who emerged victorious, but that was the beginning of a local contest.
Marbles was also traditionally one of the few games permitted to be played during the Christian Easter period of Lent, with the season ending at midday on Good Friday.
Historically Lent was also the Sussex potato planting season, but McCarthy-Fox says she will not be partaking of that particular tradition while she is visiting.
Local Sussex historical records show many old black-and-white photos of the marbles tournament in the days when it drew huge crowds of spectators to the village green by the local pub The Greyhound, with hundreds of bicycles parked along the hedgerows. Today it is quite different.
The tournament began in its current form in 1932, and in 1936 the local Meux Brewery presented a silver trophy to be played for in perpetuity and this is still the annual prize today.
The aim is to be the first team to knock out over half of the target marbles from a raised concrete ring by taking turns at shooting their own tolley from the edge of the ring.
The tournament is contested by teams of six players, and while the majority of teams appearing each Good Friday are UK-based, there are also German teams, who have played each year for over 20 years and whose members travel long distances to participate.
In the reigning German-based champion team there is a player who moved from his homeland to Colorado many years ago, but still travels every year to retain the place he has held for over 30 years and another who has now lived in France for several years, but never missed a tournament.
Having been introduced to the game by her late husband over 35 years ago, McCartney-Fox spent many years running the tournament alongside him, taking over solo responsibility in 2019.
She has one assistant on the day, and on the last three occasions has also been assisted by her wife Kathy Prater when she also travelled from Te Awamutu to the UK.
Prater has learned a lot about this tradition, and before McCarthy-Fox departed for England on Sunday they spent a lot of time together redesigning all the tournament scoresheets and other paperwork.
“Running something like this is about far more than just turning up on the day — there is a lot of preparation in advance to ensure that it all runs smoothly,” said McCarthy-Fox.
“This includes spending many hours recently resolving a dispute about the weight of some marbles.
“No great sporting event is without controversy and disgruntled losers, and this is no different.”
But McCarthy-Fox is not taking any nonsense from anyone and is confident that on the day all will run smoothly — “the players will have to play nicely or play elsewhere, and they know that”.
Tinsley Green is known worldwide as being the “home of British Marbles”, and it attracts visitors from all over the world, some wishing to take part and some just to watch the games, and all are welcome.
There has been a vast amount of media coverage of the tournament over the years and McCarthy-Fox has given countless interviews, both on television and, somewhat bizarrely, on radio.
“It never ceases to amaze me how many people want to talk about marbles on the radio, in countless countries, as it is such a visual thing,” she said.
“I have given interviews on national and local stations in so many countries — I just check at the start whether they want a serious sporting discussion or a light-hearted piece.
“I can do either, and have done, but it’s best to check the tone of the programme before making a mess of it.
“One of the funniest moments was when my live interview followed immediately from one with James Bond — and at other times a previous interviewee had asked to remain and join the discussion. Everyone has a marbles story, as well as a jar of marbles in Mum’s loft.”
Over the years her involvement with marbles has taken McCarthyFox to America several times, given her life membership of the Japan Marbles Association, made lifelong friendships and led to many other opportunities, such as hosting a delegation of Chinese government visitors to the UK who had come to find out more about two specific things — her tournament and Windsor Castle.
But she never imagined that one day she would be flying halfway around the world from a new home to still be there to greet the mayor on Good Friday and referee the final matches of the day.