First Football A Dane’s Head?
Legend'says that the first football in England was the head of a Dane, but, anyway, football is centuries old, says a writer in The Referee, Sydney. Edward 111 was not the only king troubled by'the enthusiasm with which football—a barbaric game to the twentieth century—was played. England’s foreign policy—fighting in France—demanded long bows and skilled archers, but young England much preferred kicking a football to shooting at the butts. In Elizabeth’s time, one could be imprisoned for playing the game. The Puritans of the seventeenth century disliked such an unseemly game. ’ It was “develishe” and a “friendlie sorte of fyghte” to one of them.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19390608.2.116
Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 23838, 8 June 1939, Page 11
Word Count
109First Football A Dane’s Head? Southland Times, Issue 23838, 8 June 1939, Page 11
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