Football in Ancient Times.

[Nevis]

The following information comes from an entry in the 1838 edition of 'The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England' by Joseph Strutt and William Hone, along with other relevant data collected from the web.
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Football is so called because the ball is driven about with the feet instead of hands. It was formerly much in vogue among the common people of England though of late years it seems to have fallen into disrepute, and is but little practised. I cannot pretend to determine at what period the game of football originated; it does not however, to the best of my recollection, appear among the popular exercises before the reign of Edward III., and then, in 1349, it was prohibited by a public edict; not, perhaps, from any particular objection to the sport in itself, but because it co-operated, with other favourite amusements, to impede the progress of archery.

When a match at foot-ball is made, two parties, each containing an equal number of competitors, take the field, and stand between two goals, placed at the distance of eighty or a hundred yards the one from the other. The goal is usually made with two sticks driven into the ground, about two or three feet apart. The ball, which is commonly made of a blown bladder, and cased with leather, is delivered in the midst of the ground, and the object of each party is to drive it through the goal of their antagonists, which being achieved the game is won.

The abilities of the performers are best displayed in attacking and defending the goals; and hence the pastime was more frequently called a goal at foot-ball than a game at foot-ball. When the exercise becomes exceedingly violent, the players kick each others shins without the least ceremony, and some of them are overthrown at the hazard of their limbs.

Barclay, in his fifth eclogue has these lines.
"The sturdie plowmen lustie strong and bold, overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball, forgetting labour and many a grievous fall."

And a more modern poet, Waller,
"As when a sort of lusty shepherds try
Their force at foot-ball; care of victory,
Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast,
That their encounter seems too rough for jest."
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https://elfinspell.com/ShearmanFootball.html
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