Medieval Football: Touchdowns, Soccer Balls, or Neither?

Though it is commonly thought that the middle ages were a time of hardship and darkness, (hence the alternative name, The Dark Ages), the idea of fun and games still existed. Many of the sports and activities that were a part of medieval culture are still around today like swimming, archery, fishing and more. However, there is one activity that has become a staple of American culture, and (in a different form) a sport that consumes the whole world, especially Europe. The sport is football.

Though there are not many depictions of the game of football, the accounts that are still intact give the idea that it was a leather ball stuffed with straw or a certain type of wadding or filling (Newman, 162). The earliest mention of a football-like game is said to be in the 9th century of “a group of youths playing ball (‘pilae ludus’ in the Latin original)” (Football Origins). While this is not the same as the game of American football or European football, it is the earliest medieval form of the game. Later on in 1200, the first account that resembles the modern game of football emerges in the English language “where it says that men “driuen balles wide yeond the feldes” (‘drive balls over the fields’)” (Football Origins). The image below is of a Shrovetide football held at the derby museum. Many pictures of medieval footballs look very similar. A stuffed leather ball much like the modern football which is also made of leather, but is not stuffed.

While football in both forms is the presumably most popular sport in the world, it was not all that favored during medieval times. Both sources highlight the property damage,injury, and even death that occurred making the sport unpopular. From the Football Origins article,  “Record of deaths playing the game continued, and in 1531 Sir Thomas Elyot famously deemed it to be “utterly abiected of all men … wherin is nothinge but beastly furie and extreme violence” (Football Origins). Newman’s writing of the sport agrees with the article by saying “given the risk of injury to people and property during their games… or post game riots, it is not surprising that football was often regulated or even banned outright…” (Newman, 162). Beginning with just a game with a ball, football has existed even in the assumed darkest times in history, and has continued to be a sport of tradition.

Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Paul B. Newman. McFarland & Company. Jefferson, North Carolina. (page 162).

Middle Age Relics: Medieval football in Great Britain. The Same Old Game. Football Origins.

https://football-origins.com/15-middle-age-relics-medieval-football-in-great-britain/

top image: http://www-cs.canisius.edu/~salley/SCA/Games/football.html