Communal baths

http://www.theguardian.com/football/gallery/2014/apr/09/memory-lane-football-communal-bath-pictures-gallery

Jumpers for goalposts, isn’t it?

I understand big communal baths existed at my old school right up to the 1990s and open plan (ie no curtains or cubicles) showers and individual baths were around until the 2000s, but now everything has been replaced by individual showers. Not a bad thing, I think.

There’s a lot of talk on that Guardian link of big communal baths being “banned” due to the fear of AIDS but I wonder if that’s true (by who? On what basis?) rather than them going out of fashion for being dirty, inefficient (can’t have been cheap to heat several hundred liters of water) and a bit creepy.

Can’t beat a hot, deep communal bath after a game of mid-winter rugby.
Great for just resting aching muscles, and having a bit of craic :-)

As far as I know, existing communal baths can stay, but new build clubs cannot install them.

(To be fair though, I always have a shower after a communal bath).

EDIT: Some of the photos in that link bare no resemblance to the communal baths I have had. Bit too much space invasion going on in some of those pictures!

…rather than them going out of fashion for being dirty…

Indeed, I read somewhere recently that someone fell in one looking for somewhere to have a pi55. Or am I getting my stories mixed up?

isn;t that the woman who fell in the remains of a roman building>? she lost her court case

I remember communial baths at my rugby club, was great once you got to the senior teams, but when you first started as a 14 year old, you went in last and the water would have a 2 inch layer of mud on the top!

Great photos :-)

Scorching hot communal bath at the rugby club was right next to the ice cold hose pipe for hosing down the changing rooms, hours of fun

I’ve not had a communal bath since about 1980 when me a my wee brother shared the bath.

Doing it as adult, nah yer aw right.

Aye communal baths at rugby when I was a teenager too.

15 lads all crammed together in one muddy bath. But then rugby isn’t exactly a game for people who like their personal space.

Funnily enough I grew up to be someone who is pretty unselfconscious about being naked, which is no bad thing.

Miss the big bath after rugby. Always a laugh and much better than showers even in filthy water.

Too few kids shower after sport these days even as communal showers have largely been replaced. All a bit odd IMO.

At school, we had bath rooms with about 10 seperate baths. Great to sit in those chatting with your mates or testing each other for test the next day.

All too prudish these days!!!

At school we had a PE teacher who would come into the communal showers just to “check the water temperature” and “make sure we washed properly”…

..but that’s a whole different thread.. ;)

I wonder if the decrease in communual showers/baths is related to the increase in people coming out of the closet.

No need for an excuse to get hot and sweaty in a room full of men now.

Were we at the same school? :wink:

Followed by lining us all up and checking compliance with the no underwear during PE rule. All seemed quite innocent at the time, but the mind boggles now!

Naked swimming in lakes during CCF, scout and OB trips……where do I claim my compensation?

At school, we had bath rooms with about 10 seperate baths. Great to sit in those chatting with your mates or testing each other for test the next day.

Swot, we smoked in the bath.

My husband often asks me to recall the days of showering after sports. All girls school and communal walk through shower you see 8O

The last time I had a communal shower was at the rugby club during ‘sleepless in the saddle’ around 2003 I think.