Britain's Traditional Football Games: Past and Present

A new look at the way football was played in many towns and villages in Britain prior to the introduction of the Football League. This book explores the history of the game in these places, following a search of local archives that yielded valuable information on not only where but how it was played.
Included are details of other games such as bottle kicking, cnapan and hurling, all of which are descended from football. It examines the oldest surviving football, gives details of extant women's events, and takes a closer look at the game in several places including Derby, which gave us the expression a 'Derby game', where two local teams play each other.
There is also a detailed account of the game in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, the most supported and successful of the traditional games still being played, and the only one where two future kings have turned up the ball to start the game, held each year on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. The traditional games still played across the country, from Cornwall to Kirkwall in Orkney, are also described.
The author is the Historian of the Ashbourne game and has been watching it for nearly fifty years. He has previously published four books on the games in the town.