Posted on 01/11/2016 8:43:56 AM PST by Baynative
A documentary (teaser) that explores the game of Shrovetide football that has been played in the town of Ashbourne, England for the past 350 years. There are almost no rules and the object is to get the ball from the center of town to one of two goals three miles apart at the opposite sides of Ashbourne. The winner is whoever scores more goals over two days of play.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
I was absolutely fascinated.
This 'game' has literally no rules (except no murder) and the teams, chosen by birth number in the thousands. This large airless 5 lb. ball is moved over hill and dale taking any route and using any tactic to make a goal three miles away from the opposite end.
The fanaticism of the townsfolk and the kinship within the rivalry is amazing. The teaser is on the link, a longer version is .
This fascinating rivalry amazes me mostly because I've never heard of it.
I think this will offend muslims and should be canceled...
I am working on an article about the origins of American and Canadian football that will mention this and other examples of “mob football.” Basically, the old canard about soccer being “real football” has no historical basis. Neither does the idea that rugby grew out of soccer.
Looks like typical English boasting. This is tougher (and older; although not continuously “played”): http://deadspin.com/crazy-ass-italian-sport-combines-rugby-with-bare-knuckl-1612721772
With the origin of this game maybe being started with a severed head, it likely predates all of the others, except maybe that dead goat things muslims do.
>> This ‘game’ has literally no rules (except no murder)
Yeah, but we need to know the PENALTY for murder. You know, just in case it could give our side an advantage after factoring in the penalty yardage.
[channeling an NFL coach]
“I am working on an article about the origins of American and Canadian football that will mention this and other examples of “mob football.†Basically, the old canard about soccer being “real football†has no historical basis. Neither does the idea that rugby grew out of soccer.”
“I am working on an article about the origins of American and Canadian football that will mention this and other examples of “mob football.—
Have you heard of Combat Football? When I was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea in 1973/1974, MG Hank Emerson, Division Commander, required all units to play combat football as least once a week. It was “mob football” at it’s finest.
The ball(s) could be advanced by any means. The ball(s) could be kicked, thrown, or run. If someone with the ball was tackled and could no longer advance the ball, then the carrier was given a free zone of a few (5) yards to throw or kick the ball to restart play.
The game was played on any large field although a football field was preferred. Units were divided into equal numbers. Say there were 66 people present. That would be 33 on a side. There would be three balls in play, one for each 11 on a side. The balls were not specific to a group of 11 and could be advanced by any one. IOW, all 33 could try to advance one ball. Of course, they would be giving up a couple of goals. I saw games with as many as six balls in play simultaneously.
There would be one referee per ball but fouls were limited to punches, kicks, etc. Tackling and blocking was permitted. The major job of the referee was to keep the ball moving.
IIRC, a point was scored by possessing the ball in an opponent’s end zone either by running it there, catching a pass their or just recovering the ball.
Emerson invented the game as a means to get a large number of players involved.
Injuries were quite common, broken bones, dislocated shoulders, sprained ankles. IIRC, they finally required an ambulance and medics to be present at all games.
Ahhh...something else added to my bucket list.
Pre-forward pass American football is 19th Century infantry tactics - without the gunfire.
The goal is to plant your flag on the enemy’s capitol (advancing the ball to your opponent’s endzone). Tactics leading to victory are either piecing your opponent’s line in the center by massing overpowering force - or - outflanking your opponent using speed and deception.
Is it any coincidence the first college football game was played in 1869? Ever notice that band uniforms look like 19th Century army uniforms (complete with epaulets)?
No I haven’t. It sounds a lot like a playground game we called “smear the queer” back in the 1960s. Definitely a politically incorrect name.
I am looking at tackle games played as far back as the ancient Greeks and Romans. “Soccer,” or Association Football, and Rugby were codified versions of various “kicking” and “carrying” games respectively, These two sports were formalized in the mid 1800s. Gaelic football and Australian rules football are two other similar games that reflect the diversity of rules from that era.
My contention will be that three elements were needed to truly cleave “gridiron” football from Rugby. The line of scrimmage, system of downs, and the forward pass. Walter Camp created the first two changes in 1880, but opposed the forward pass, IIRC, when it was adopted in 1905. Before that time, US and Canadian versions of gridiron football were just variations of rugby. The forward pass was not legal north of the border until 1925, so the Canucks held on much longer.
No inflategate to worry about.
5.56mm
I would argue that that game in 1869 was NOT what Americans call football. It is widely understood that that game was essentially soccer. Gridiron football grew out of a Rugby game played when McGill University came to the US to play Harvard in 1873. Soon the Yanks started tinkering with the rules and the line of scrimmage and “snap back” were adopted in 1880. However, the snap was executed by the center “heeling” the ball back with his foot. So these two rules were not too much different that I think it’s Rugby Union (there are two similar games, Rugby Union and Rugby League). When the forward pass came in a new game was born.
It should be noted that WWI popularized gridiron football. What was once considered a brutal game played only by elite students suddenly seemed mild compared to the meat grinder in Europe. Every Army training camp soon had its teams, leagues, and even marching bands and cheerleaders. A decade later college teams would be playing in huge stadiums that didn’t exist in 1918, before crowds of over 100,000.
COMBAT FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!
I use to play it against the West Point Prep cadets in Ft Monmouth in 1984-1985.
That was bloody vicious. They were trying to prove they were tough enough for West Point and we were trying to prove we had not got fat and lazy from being in an MI unit.
Best game in the universe. I was always a center pusher with several guys stripping the other players off the ball and some defending us from their “strippers”. What a blast.
In Football, the object is for the Quarterback, otherwise known as the ‘Field General’, to be on target with his aerial assault riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz even if he has to use the shotgun.
With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing his aerial assault with a sustained ground attack, which punches holes in the forward wall of the enemies’ defensive line.
In Baseball, the object is to go home, and to be safe. I hope I’ll be safe at home, safe at home.
-George Carlin
Bfl
There was an article years ago in the Harvard Alumni Magazine about early football at Harvard. It was very interesting. The field they originally played on was larger than the current one but when Stanford White designed their stadium (which, BTW, looks like the coliseum) the field wouldn’t fit inside it so they changed the dimensions of the field. Apparently Harvard used to recruit kids from the local factories to play for them.
If you are interested in the early football plays check out Alonzo Stagg. He was All American at Yale and if you check out his wiki bio he was responsible for many of the plays, e.g. Statue of Liberty, fumblerooskie, lateral pass, and even the tackling dummy. He apparently also invented the batting cage but others claim they did it too.
Yes American football began with a field 110 yards long, the same as the current Canadian one. The field was shortened when end ones were adopted. Neither Rugby nor griditon football had them at first. There were more players on the field too, at one time I think it was 15 on a side.
I know all about Stagg. I interviewed an old gentlemen who played for him!
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