Football in the form that we recognise today didn't really begin to coalesce until the 16th and 17th centuries, but English references to games of "fote-ball", "fute-ball", "ffootballe", and so on, start in the late medieval period. At this early stage there were few, if any, regulations. There was no set number of players and no clearly …

Continue reading “This murdering play”: the violent origins of English football