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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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football
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The inclination to kick a round object about is no doubt as old as the human race, but the game now played internationally resulted from developments in 19C England. Boys at the *public schools had been encouraged to join in competitive games, and different varieties of school football had developed – the main distinction being whether or not a player was allowed to handle the ball.
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In 1863 a group of London clubs, many of them formed by old boys of schools who wished to continue their sport, met to try and agree a set of rules. They called themselves the *Football Association. Their first draft rules allowed holding the ball and 'hacking' (deliberately kicking an opponent's shin) but these were both banned in the final version, provoking those who wanted to carry the ball into forming their own *Rugby Football Union in 1871.
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One very familiar feature of the modern game is the brainchild of a civil engineer in Liverpool. John Brodie was present at a riotous occasion at Everton's ground, Goodison Park, when nobody could agree on whether or not the ball had crossed the goal line. He had an idea for a solution and patented it in 1889 as the 'net pocket', which he described as 'applicable to goals used in football, lacrosse or other like games'. The net was born.
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