British Target Rounds (circa 1835)

In 1844 the first Grand National Meeting was held at York. The round shot then was called the York Round. Many of the rounds that were formalised when GNAS was formed in 1861 are named after the Clubs or Counties where they were developed. The present rounds, consisting of a fixed number of arrows shot at different distances with the longest distance first, seem to have originated with the St. George, and possibly the York Round in the 1830’s.

Before then archers mostly shot at only one distance, namely 100 yards for gentlemen and 50 yards for ladies (Thomas Waring, A Treatise On Archery, 1814, page 32).

As far as can be ascertained the order of precedence of the rounds is St. George’s 1835, York 1844, National 1846, St. Leonards 1850, American 1879, Hereford 1894, International 1931, Western 1938, St. Nicholas 1948, Windsor 1949, Albion 1950, FITA 1955, Bristol 1961 and Metric 1968.

F.I.T.A. Target Rounds (circa 1931)

The FITA (Fédération Internationale de Tir à l’Arc) was founded on 4 September 1931 in Poland. Its seven founding member states were France, former Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Poland, the United States, Hungary, and Italy. FITA began holding Target World Championships in 1931. They were held every year until 1959, when the Championships became biennial events. 1959 was also the first year that FITA held the World Field Championship.
The FITA Rounds replaced the Long International Rounds (British Archer, Vol. 7, Aug/Sep 1955, page 65).

A special thanks to Archery Historian Fred Lake for letting us publish his invaluable research