NAUTICAL SAYINGS ROUND ROBIN

ROUND ROBIN
The origin of the name given to a tournament where every competitor plays each other in turn comes from seventeenth century France. If a petition was raised and it was preferred that the first signee was not identifiable they would use a ruban rond (round ribbon) that the petitioners would sign and attach to the document. British sailors adopted a similar method when petitioning about grievances. The document would be signed in a way that resembled the spokes of a wheel radiating from the hub. That way any ringleaders would be anonymous.