Australian Word Map

British bulldog

A game played by a group of five to twenty or more boys. One in the middle of the playground, the others have to run from one side to the other and one is caught, who stays in the middle and joins the other one. Then more and more. Last one caught becomes the middle one in the next game: Let's play British Bulldog! Compare bullrush, cockylora, red rover.

Contributor's comments: As a Boy Scout in the Sydney suburb of Cheltenham we played the same game under the name of British Bulldog, but this may have been peculiar to the Scouting movement.

Contributor's comments: We played the same game at my school in Melbourne in the '50's; except we called it "British Bulldog". Have no idea why.

Contributor's comments: This game was known as British Bulldog in Melbourne. However, it was also called 'Fish' at my school after it was banned and was then played in secret at a different location.

Contributor's comments: [Sydney informant] In the 80's the primary school I attended also played British Bulldogs. The girls played too!!

Contributor's comments: When I was in primary school (30 years ago) in Toowoomba, British Bulldog and Red Rover were different games, similar in principle, but British Bulldog was the version in which one tackled the players in order to capture them. Red Rover was the 'touch' version of British Bulldog. I don't remember any objection from the school authorities about either form of the game, but for health reasons I preferred Red Rover.

Contributor's comments: British Bulldog was played on a grand scale at my school in the 1960's. The description of 5 - 20 boys should be in this case about 100. British Bulldog involved tackling the player to the ground. Red Rover was also played which involved just tagging the player. At my school I recall that Red Rover was played when girls were in the line up.

Contributor's comments: Also used in Tasmania.

Contributor's comments: we played British Bulldog (girls & boys) every lunchtime during primary school (lates 1970s) in Sydney's western suburbs.

Contributor's comments: I was in the Scouting movement, and we referred to "British Bulldog" as a toned down version of the rougher Red Rover game.

Contributor's comments: [Sydney informant] British bulldog was the tackle version, bullrush was non-tackle.

Contributor's comments: A schoolyard game played by primary school children in the 1980s: I seem to remember that it was banned by the Department of Education in 1988 or 1989: we renamed it in order to continue playing it (Scottish this/Welsh that). It involved a large number of students running from one side of the oval to the other - trying not to get caught by delegated 'it' students in the middle. If you were tackled to the ground, you had to stand in the middle and catch others. It was a game that was wildly fashionable across Melbourne primary schools, and not as violent as to warrant a ban from the Department. In the vernacular, it was always simply called 'British': "Let's play British this lunchtime."

Contributor's comments: My kids used to play this game when they were young as they were growing up in Adelaide. It was game introduced to them by their school.

Contributor's comments: Played this in the 50's and 60's in Melbourne. Our version was very violent with a lot of scragging. The brothers banned it after one broken collarbone and sundry contusions etc.

Contributor's comments: We played British Bulldog regularly in the Scouts in Ipswich in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was the tackle version of Red Rover, which was a tag game. Red Rover was played frequently at primary school, but British Bulldog was restricted to Scouts.

Contributor's comments: At my Primary School in the late 70's, the person was tackled to the ground and then swung by hand and feet by 2 other players and tossed to the count of '1,2,3, British Bulldog'- (injuries resulting from this caused it to be banned). The form of the game played where only a tag was required was played on asphalt and called 'Cat and Mouse".