10 Facts About Medieval football

Mob Medieval football is a modern term used for a wide variety of the localised informal Medieval football games which were invented and played in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Medieval football described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:.

Between 1314 and 1667, Medieval football was officially banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws.

Two references to Medieval football games come from Sussex in 1403 and 1404 at Selmeston and Chidham as part of baptisms.

Whilst other uses for the ball, such as the Italian game pallone, have been suggested, most notably by the National Museum of Scotland, due to its size, staff at the Stirling Smith Museum and researchers at the Scottish Football Museum have attributed its use to Medieval football, citing the description of the ball used in the Carlisle Castle game of 1568.

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In 1568 Sir Francis Knollys described a Medieval football game played at Carlisle Castle, Cumbria, England by the retinue of Mary Queen of Scots: "20 of her retinue played at Medieval football before her for two hours very strongly, nimbly, and skilfully".

In 1623 Edmund Waller refers in one of his poems to "Medieval football" and alludes to teamwork and passing the ball: "They ply their feet, and still the restless ball, Toss'd to and fro, is urged by them all".

Medieval football is the first to describe a law of football: "They often break one another's shins when two meet and strike both together against the ball, and therefore there is a law that they must not strike higher than the ball".

Medieval football's book includes the first diagram illustrating a football pitch.

Shrovetide Medieval football was banned in Derby in 1846 although is still played in nearby Ashbourne, and was last played in Kingston in 1866 when it was outlawed by the local authorities.