The bewties of the fut-ball: Reactions and references to this boysterous sport in English writings, 1175 -1815 Patricia SHAW FAIRMAN University of Oviedo ABSTRACT It is thc object of this study te give sorne account of references and reactions to Furopes oldcst team game, football, te be found in English writings, 1175-1815, laus references te this by then reformed and regulated game effering less interest. A briefsurvey of observations concerning the oldest form of British football, camp- bali, wilI be offered as also sorne carly testimonies concerning the game frornother Furopean sources. The English seurces will be examined, and in many cases quoted. in order te emphasize ihose aspects of football which evidently areused most interest, thesc being essentially: its popularity with the peasant and urban working- class pepulation, as opposed te the more distinguished pursuits of gentlemen,and the exaltation of prowess at this sport: the extreme violence of football as played in earlier centuries; and thc possibilities it offered for figurative and metaphorical explo¡ tation. Over the last decades, we have, unfortunately, become only toe used te hearing, reading and seeing innumerable reports and debates in the media concerning the violence engendered by the playing and the watching of what is, as professor Emilio Lorenzo, te whom this study is respectfully and affectienately dedicated, observes, “nuestro primer deporte”’, tbat is te say, football. As, however, we shall try te demenstrate in this brief survey, the association of football with violence in Great Britain is centuries’ oid, being reflected in English texts dating frorn 1175 onwards, and ferming, indeed, the principal, altheugh net exclusive subject matter, of Ihe majority of those accounts concerning this sport still extant. E.s ~,tdu,x Ji,y/QA<N de la ¿Jujee rside,el (<unpI’,tense 2. 47157 E di t. (orn plutease Nladhd. 1994 48 I’atricia Shaw Fairnia,¡ Footbal! is undoubtedly “nne of Ihe most ancient of team gamcs”2. similar lo Ihe Greek arpaston and 11w Roman harpastum, Ihis Latter according to Seneca, involving mucb “pusbing and kicking in tbe bol sun”3. one of [he earliest European references [o [he roughness of [he game occurring in the Chronicon Montis Serení wbicb registeis the death of a hoy in 1137 from a kick received wliilst playing foo[ball. The ‘word FuolbaIl is firsí registered in English in 1 486~. Ihe game being a successor [o, nr version of, [he carlier team bali game, known as camp- bali or camping. from O.E. eamp. vb. campian, ‘a contest”, “tu contest” (< LI. campus. “fieL] of contesí’>: MidE. eampyngc, vh. campin. as also campar, “football player”. etc. ThaI in sorne versions of [bis game [be bali was eonveyed by ihe fuol, is proved by ihe expression “kicking camp”, ami by [he fact [bat Ihe Promptuarium Parvulorum . c. 1440, glosses campynge as ped¡piludium. The garne involved teams composed of a limi[less number of players, wbose aim was lo convey [be bali, gencraliy an inflated pig’s bladder6, to [he opponenfs goal, the goals being identified with sorne local landmark, aud as far as 200 yards apart7. The English Chaucerian, John Lydgate, like several níher pocís, Shakespeare included, saw [he me[aphorieal possibili[ies of [he game. and in e. 1430, wrote about being “Bolsteryd ou[ of Ienghth and breed 1 Lycbe a large eampynge bail~~s. [he simile being used [o suggest í1w sensation of being casI nul luto Ibe void. In 1567, Thomas Drant, in bis [ransiations of Horace’s Episíles , obviously identifies “camping” with kieking: “Lesí even younge folke secinge you drinke.../ Do make of you mere mockinge s[ocks 1 And campe you with Ibeire feeí”9, and in bis transiation of Horaee’s Ars Poetica , associated camping-hall wi[b [be sínol bali or ihe top. as ah demanding skill un tbe pací of [be player. Ca¡np-ball was particularly popular in the Eas[ern Counties ( Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex ) aud Ihe expression was síjil being used in sorne of Ihese arcas as lateas 1827’’. In [be eaíiy fourteenth ceníury, forexample. ‘a canon of [be ($ilbertine monastery of Shouldbam in Norfolk, William of Spalding, was “run against” by ano[her canon William during a garne of kicking camp, bis dagger aecideníally wounding [bis iatter lo deatb. In íhe section of [be Boke of Sr Albans, 1486. dedicated tu The Biasing of Arms. aud illustrated by erude drawings of various heraldie devices, [here exists a subsection entitied 0ff bullís ¡ir armys Itere now U sItué be shewvt a, whose [ex[ warns ah wouid-be arms-blazoners lo be careful in [beir use of latin [errns, and not [o confuse lalin pila ( i. e. ~iIa Y “a peese of tymhre [o be pu[ under [be pelor of a bryge”. with i[s olber meaning ( i.e. ~iia): “Ibis [erme pila is [ake for a certan rounde islrumU lo play with”: 0w wich tstrumét suys ulber wbile tu Ibe bande aud Iben jhs calde latyn pila manualis as bere And o[her while it is an instrumcnt fur [lic fuote and iben it is calde in latin pila pedalis a fote ha]. The hewties of thefut-halI; Reactions and references... 49 The aecompar¡ying illustralion sbows Ibree wbite spheres against a dark ground. 11w term football, [herefore, was obviously by [lien in everyday use. As was suggesled aboye, [he majori[y of referenees tu foo[bali in English lex[s wril[en prior [o [he regularization of [be game in 1843, are concerned precisely wilb its viulen[ na[ure, whicb frequeníly endangered life and 11mb of Ihuse who played it. Olber texís, however, exalí the manliness aud healthiness uf tbe sport as praetised by ihe English peasantry aud urban working-classes ( in Ihe days when fiat green fields were 5h11 [o be found in [he vicini[y of Ihe towns ), for it must be remembered Ihal, in England, as today, foo[ball was assoeialed primarily wilh Ihe Iower classes, riding, bunting, hawking aud arcbery being Ihe uutdoor recreations of gentiemen. A chroniele concerning the foundation uf tbe Iown of Ardres in Flanders wriííen in 1200, hu[ dealing wiíh affairs da[ing frum [be beginning uf tbe eleven[1-i century, men[ions a tavera where “rustid homines” met [u drink Burton, in bis and lo play fouthall in a wide, fial field4, and Robert Anatomy <>fMclancholy , 1621, points oul tba[ quuits, leaping, wreslling e[c. and foolhall are “Ihe cummon recreahions of Ihe cuuntry folk”, whilst borse- riding, hun[ing and shooting e[e are for gentlemen’5. I[ may be remembered in this con[ext that KenI, in Shakespeare’s King Lear (1. iv, 95), insults (ioneril’s steward, Oswald, by ealling him “a base foutbali player”. Tbere are, however, as we shalJ see, certain dislinguished exceptions [u [bis rule. Finally, in Iilerary [ex[s, the seman[ic ficid of football is occasionally expluited figuratively, providing [he hasis for sorne in[eres[ing melapbors and similes. Tbe carliesí reference [o English foulball is cerlainly not pejorative: [his is tu be fuund in [he well-known Descriptio Londoniae which served asan ¡n[roduclion [u William Filzs[ephen’s Vila Sancil Thomae , a latin 11k of St. Thomas Beeket, composed in approximately 1175. Tbis work was consul[ed by John Stow, and printed by blm in English as an appendix to bis Survey of London , 1603. l[ isso interes[ing [ba[ it deserves tu be quoled al Iength: un tbe day whicb is called Sbruvetide...After dinner. Ml the young men uf the ei[y gu out into tbe fields lo play al Ihe well-known game of foutball. Tbe scholars belunging tu Ihe several schuuls have each [huir bali; and ihe city tradesmen. according tu 11w respective crafis. havetheirs. Tbe more aged men. the falbers of the players, and tbe wealthy citizens, come un horseback tu see the con[esís of tbe young men, wiíli whom. afler tbeir rnanner, Ihey participale, Iheir na[ural heaí seeming tu be aruused by the .sigbl uf su mucb agili[y, and by Ibeir participation in the amusements uf unrestrained youlb’t How of[en, in modern l3ri[ain, aud elsewbere, is [here cause [u lanient INc aronsal of [he “natural hea[” of fou[balI supporters Sbrove-Tuesday 50 Patricia Sitow Fuir,nc,n was [be greal fuolbail day in England for centuries, aud ducumenís from fouríeen[b century Chester bear wilness lo [he fuolbail match frequently played un thaI day be[ween [he drapers and Ihe sboemakers of INc townk It is probable tba[ Layamon was referring lo fuolbalí in [he passage uf the Brut , e. 1200, in wbich he describes [be beal[hy recrea[ions uf Artbur’s eourl, after [be plenary session at Caerleon-on-tJsk, and wriles: “summe bco driuen bailes wide “yeond [ha feides” (1.12,328). [he verb drive being nol infrequently associated witb kieking in similar contexts8. Ar[hur’s eourtiers likewise induiged in borse-racing, foot-raeing, leaping. shoo[ing, wresíling and sbicld games. It is in[eresting lo note ibM Waee, wbo was une uf Layamon’s principal sonrees, does not mention bali games at ah in bis Roman de Brin , 1155, but ralber, jousting, horse-racing, fencing, eatapuiíing, darí Ihruwing and wrestiing’9, and nur indeed does Geoffrev of Munmouíh, su we may see iii Layamon’s une a ebaracteristically Hngiisb intcrpretatiun of enjoying oncsclf in [be upen aid Foo[baii, 1 wuuld suggesl, provides likcwise Ibe inspiration br Ibe gruesome unes in Sir Gawain and tite Green Knight , e. 1380, in wbich Arlbur’s courtiers, [he Green Knight’s bead baving been ehopped off by Sir Gawain, bit foyned wyth her fete.