Donald Butcher was an English squash player, and the first player to win the British Open men's title in open play. Butcher was a professional squash player based at the

Conservative Club The Conservative Club was a London gentlemen's club, now dissolved, which was established in 1840. In 1950 it merged with the Bath Club, and was disbanded in 1981. From 1845 until 1959, the club occupied a building at 74 St James's Street where ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

when he played in the first British Open final in December 1930. His opponent Charles Read, a former English professional champion, was designated open champion at the initiation of the event, which was a 'challenge' event without any preliminary rounds, with the final played under a best-of-three-legs format. Butcher defeated Read in the first match at the

Queen's Club The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in Barons Court, West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "HSBC Championships" for spo ...

9–6, 9–5, 9–5. He then won the second match at the

9–3, 9–5, 9–3 to claim the title and make the third match unnecessary. In 1932, Butcher successfully defended his title against Charles Arnold, winning the first match at the

9–0, 9–0, 9–0, and the second match at the

Bath Club The Bath Club was a sports-themed London gentlemen's club in the 20th century. It was established in 1894 at 34 Dover Street. Its swimming pool was a noted feature, and it is thought that the swimming pool of the fictional Drones Club (also on D ...

9–3, 9–0, 9–5. Butcher was unsuccessful in his defence of the Championship in 1933 against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian player F.D. Amr Bey and similarly unsuccessful in his challenge against Amr in 1935. Butcher also won the British Professional Championship in 1930, 1931 and 1932. Butcher was considered a very innovative player in his time. He deviated from the conventional up-and-down-the-wall style adopted by most players in his era, making full use of boasts (shots that come off a side wall before hitting the front wall), lobs, drop shots and reverse angles, as well as cultivating the serve. His lack of stamina during long matches was considered to be one of his main weaknesses, however, and this gave the athletic Amr Bey a key advantage over Butcher on the occasions they played. He was the first person to make an instructional squash video, which was filmed on the doubles court of St. John's Wood in 1938.

References

External links

Article at squashtalk.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, Don English male squash players Year of birth missing Place of birth missing Year of death missing Place of death missing