Compulsory showers after PT, games, swimming etc. at school have been around for a long time. I suspect they were already ages old when I was at school, and that’s too long ago to even contemplate. There wasn’t a shower of any sort in my junior school. The plumbing there was distinctly antique. At secondary school, the Gym showers were usually at a reasonable temperature.
At the games field however, it was a different story, freezing cold in winter and boiling hot in summer. Perhaps they had a very primitive and unregulated solar water heating installation, although I seem to remember a boiler room around the back of the pavilion. Either way questions, complaints or other suspected delay or avoidance tactics could cause the Prefect or Priv supervising the changing rooms to become distinctly hostile so it was best to just get in, get wet, and get out again as quickly as possible.
