As early as the 11th century Street Football has existed in Britain, the medieval versions of the game however, are as comparable to our meekly mannered ‘Prison Rules’ game as MMA is with Pooh Sticks.
Rumoured to have originated during the Danish Invasion of England between 1018-1042, when workers discovered a DANISH SOLDIERS HEAD and decided to use it for a ‘kick about’…GRIM!!! The ‘Kick the Dane’ in the face game evolved into a riotous sport, with large crowds of men rampaging through towns and villages, thankfully for the Danes, now with an inflated Pig or Cows bladder in their stead…
With the exception of MANSLAUGHTER - players could move the ball by any means necessary with the objective of reaching the centre of the opposing team’s village…Smashing up shops, homes, biting, punching and breaking bones along the way, sometimes even losing their lives as a result of their injuries!
NO BALL GAMES
In 1314, as a result of the mob violence, King Edward II bans football on the streets of London…
“Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls in the fields of the public from which many evils might arise which God forbid: we command and forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future”
Quote Source: http://www.earlsandstaff.com/en/page/981Old King Eddy wasn’t the last monarch to have beef with the rowdy game either…Henry the VI, VIII and Elizabeth I all waged war on Mob Football, Henry VIII claiming it distracted men from practicing their archery- BEHAVE. Despite being punishable by imprisonment and forced church repentance, Mobs continued to form and the game strived on.
In 1603 King James I (LAD) legalised our beloved game, but it remained unruly and chaotic until the 1800’s during the Industrial revolution when Churches began to form football teams as a way of giving the factory workers a way to burn off steam! The formation of the world’s first official Football Club was in 1857- Sheffield FC.
In October 1857 at the club’s AGM- the first rules, regulations and laws of the game were written and agreed upon and they became known as the Sheffield rules. In 1863 the Football Association was formed and the game as we know it began to take shape…
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