Medieval Footbal

[Patrice]

We should organise an annual LAF traditional football game.... for real! 

I wonder how many of us would survive the experience 

We have Troll Ball matches organized by LARP players near here, it is less dangerous, and it is fun to watch ...but certainly not traditional !
...although they are doing it once or twice a year, since many years now in the same village, so perhaps it will become traditional some day 

[Atheling]

We have Troll Ball matches organized by LARP players near here, it is less dangerous, and it is fun to watch ...but certainly not traditional !
...although they are doing it once or twice a year, since many years now in the same village, so perhaps it will become traditional some day 

Which one's the Troll? 

Darrell.

[Patrice]

Which one's the Troll? 

The ball. 
(which must be brought behind the opponent goal line)

[Atheling]

The ball. 
(which must be brought behind the opponent goal line)

  Bonkers! 

Darrell.

[dm]

Superb stuff Patrice and maybe it will become a lasting tradition

Here is a bit of data for English Medieval football i have managed to find.

The evidence for Anglo-Saxon football type games is very scant and a game that is supposed to have involved kicking a Danes head as a ball is now thought to be a myth.

One of the first documented accounts of football comes from London and dates back to 1170.

During the late 12TH Century every trade in London had its own team and the game was called "Ball" or "Gameball" and every part of the body was allowed to be used during the game if the players wished.

Goals in these games were sometimes miles apart and compliants of disturbance and mayhem caused by players during these games was recorded.

Women only games were also known and sometimes teams of married women played against teams of unmarried women. Games were also played between unmarried and married men in some areas.

Edward II, Edward III and Edward IV amongst other monarchs all sought bans of the sport and they often considered that football was time and energy wasted when men could be using the bow or gaining bow practice.

The game of Mob Football was frowned upon by many in the higher levels of society as they saw it as having un/non-Christian values and compliants were made that merchants and trade had been disturbed in some towns by unregulated games. Mob Football could involve hundreds of players per team/side and often had little in the way of rules or regulations.

People often broke enforced football bans and were arrested and fined for doing so.

In some parts of Norfolk a form of football was known as Camp Ball and areas of land were given by nobles to play it on and these may be considered the first known football pitches but they most likely looked nothing like the modern football pitch.

Between 1314 and 1666 over 30 bans of football games were attempted by both monarchs and local councils but these were ignored by a lot of rural populations.

Goals could be a marker at the end of a village or town or an agreed area of the town or village and to get the ball to that point or past it would mean a goal had been scored or that the game was over. Goals could also be a church in the next village or nearby town parish and the ball had to end up inside the church or be put through a window or door in order for the goal to count or bring an end to a game.

The Church was not always totally against football and grants or awards of money are recorded having been given to players. At least one of these awards is known to have been made even though the crown had banned the game at the time.

Football games of many different variations are also known to have be played in other parts of Europe during the Medieval period. Parts of Italy, Scotland and Russia are all known to have football type games during the period.

The first reference to Soccer or a football game played just using the feet comes from Cawston in Nottinghamshire and is dated to the period 1481-1500.

[Patrice]

Interesting stuff dm.

The "soule" or "sioule" game was still played in many French villages in the 19th century and is believed to be related to medieval football/rugby. And I have still heard the same name "sioule" told about unformal ball games played without much rules - some years ago.

[joroas]

...and then there is.....

The Wall Game

It is not known exactly when the Eton Wall Game was first played, but the first recorded game was in 1766. The first of the big St Andrew’s Day matches — between the Collegers and the Oppidans — was probably in 1844. The rules must obviously have been more or less agreed by then, but they were not actually printed and published until five years later.

The rules have been revised from time to time since 1849, but the game has remained essentially the same. The field of play is a fairly narrow strip, about five metres wide, running alongside a not quite straight brick wall, built in 1717 and about 110 metres from end to end. As in all forms of football, each side tries to get the ball down to the far end and then score. Players are not allowed to handle the ball, not allowed to let any part of their bodies except feet and hands touch the ground, not allowed to strike or hold their opponents, and there are also exceedingly strict ‘offside’ rules (no passing back and no playing in front); apart from that, almost anything goes.

Each phase of play starts with a ‘bully’, when about six of the ten players from each side form up against the wall and against each other, the ball is rolled in, and battle is joined. The player in possession of the ball will normally be on all fours, with the ball at his feet or under his knees. Players on his own side will attempt to support him, to establish themselves in a position where he can pass the ball to them, or to disrupt the opposition. Likewise, players on the other side will attempt to obstruct his progress, to force him down, to gain possession of the ball themselves. Occasionally the ball becomes ‘loose’ and a player may be able to kick it out of play: the next bully is then formed opposite where the ball stops or is stopped — quite unlike what happens in soccer or rugby.

At each end of the wall is a special area known as ‘calx’. When play reaches this area, the rules alter slightly (passing back becomes legal, for example) and the attacking side can score. The attackers try to raise the ball off the ground and against the wall, and having done so to touch it with the hand. They then shout “Got it!” and if the umpire is satisfied that all is correct he shouts “Shy!” and awards them a ‘shy’, worth one point. The attackers can now attempt to throw a ‘goal’ which would bring them an extra nine points (the goals are a garden door at one end and a tree at the other). Shies are relatively common, perhaps half a dozen a year, but goals are very uncommon — the last on St Andrew’s Day was in 1909.

The Eton Wall Game is exceptionally exhausting and is far more skilful than might appear to the uninitiated. The skill consists in the remorseless application of pressure and leverage as one advances inch by painful inch through a seemingly impenetrable mass of opponents. Few sports offer less to the spectator, although St Andrew’s Day has become much more spectator-friendly recently.

The College and Oppidan teams practise throughout the Michaelmas Half in preparation for St Andrew’s Day, playing against scratch teams composed mainly of Masters, Old Etonians, and other boys. Come the Lent half, the younger Oppidans get a chance to play: D Wall and E Wall play once a week, practising in the early weeks and then participating in a series of matches (the most serious of which is E Wall versus Chamber Wall, the College equivalent team), and about 40 boys in F are introduced to the game.

[dm]

and some still wonder why Eton gets poor press at times Scary stuff

[joroas]

...and no goals in 104 years!