The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-01-10

Football has an ancient history, yet
few have ever examined it in a de-
tailed manner as has been done with
baseball and the other important
sports of today. A history of foot
ball first appeared over fifteen years
ago in the weekly paper of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania and was writ
ten by DR.. r. Reithmueller of that in
stitution.
Few followers of the game rea;:ze
that football, in its rudiments, is a
Roman tradition. In the Roman game
of harpasium it was the aim of the
players on one side to seize the bali
and carry it over line drawn behind
the players of the opposite party. This
game presents the elementary prin-
ciples of modern football. 1t is curl
GUS to note that in this crude and I'M
developed form it is still played in
the schools of Germany today.
Football was played more frequent
ly at the beginning of the Christian
era. Records of the game are found
in England. AS early as 1914, King
Edward II of England issued an edict
which prohibited the people "to romp
for big ball in the streets of the
city of London, since mischief of ali
sorts might arise therefrom.'
The name of football" which the
game has preserved to this day, is
first officially mentioned in another
NV ir
1949. In this statute, the sheriffs were
ordered not to permit football playing
| any longer.
| Up to the time of Charles IL, foot
ball was considered as illegal which
Of course, did not prevent the lower
classes from practicing the game
| These royal edicts had very practica
ann, inasmuch as they did not wish
football, together with various othel
sports to interfere with the practice
of archery. Besides this, football wa!
very popular in rural districts, and
for this reason, not fashionable fol
gentlemen. Traces of the peasants
like for the game can be found in thu
writing of that time. In the ship o
Fools by Barclay, the following ref
erence to the game appears
The sturdie ploWman hustle, stron;
and bold,
Overcometh the winter with driving
the foote-ball,
Forgetting labour and many a griev
Gus fall
The great roughness which marke;
the game is also responsible for tn
royal interference, which the gam
experienced during the middle ages
James l., for instance, issued the fol
lowing edict: From this court I de
barred all rough and violent exercise:
as football, meeter for lameing tha
making able the users thereof"
The existence of the game, it
roughness, and the place it held in tn
thoughts of the people is not overlook
&c by Shakespeare. His references t
the game are frequent. Take the word
fof Kent in King Lear" who wa
highly provoked over the impudenc
of Oswald, the steward to Goneril, an
the following reference to the disfa
vor with which certain people loke
upon football is found
Oswald: I'll not be struck, my lort
Kent: Nor tripped neither, you bas
football player
Again in the Comedy of Errors,
the following mention is made, whe
, Dromio of Ephesus says
Am [ SO round with you as you wit
me,
: That like a football you do spurn N
=. thus?
J., You spurn me hence. and he wi
d. spurn me hither:
$ If 1 last in this service, you must cas-
S me in leather"
!. Prohibitions, edicts and statute
failed to kill football as a gener;
e sport. The substance of the ball an
l the strategy of the game are give
y by Barclay The time of the year whe
r the game was played, according to h
n writings, was in winter when the f;
swine are killed.
e 1t is then That they get the blade
e and blow it great and thin, with mar
n beans and peasors put within. 1t ra
S leth, soundeth and shineth clere al
e fayre while it is thrown and caste l
a in the ayre. Eche one contendeth ar
d hath a great delite with foote al
e handle the bladder for to smite; if
g falle to grounde, they lifte it l
agayne, and this way to labour thu
o count it no payne"
It In the sixteenth century, accordi1
n to a Chester antiquary, the guild
h snoemakers on Shrove Tuesday,
e the presence of the mayor of Cheste
e used to present the diapers with "ol
h ball of leather, called a footeball,
n the value Of three shilling and fou
l. pence or above, to play at from Ro
l. hee to the Common Hall of said Gil
lie which practice was productive
IT much inconvenience, in conseQuen
= of which from 1910 on, a runnil
a match for a price was arranged"
Football is mentioned in the W.T.
lie ings of the next century, the seve
g teenth Edmund Waller, for instant
ID saws: