The Absurdity of the Parochial
At the beginning of the month an excellent report on some origins of the beautiful game was put out as a news item on television. It is neat, slick and informative and can be seen just now by clicking on:
https://www.itv.com/watch/news/birthplace-of-football-shares-its-history-in-bid-for-heritage-status/byn6sbv
But it is also disingenuous because it seeks not just to connect but also deliberately to confuse "Foot-Ball" and "Foot Ball" with what we play today, the Association Rules game. The item was on ITV, English ITV. Its source was Sheffield, from where in recent years has come laudably deep and important research on the former locally-played, Sheffield Rules version of the game and now has emerged a campaign for UNESCO recognition of it, seemingly, as the sole place of origin for football in its modern form.
Now it might seem to be dancing on a pin-head but, as the the article above on the SFA not knowing where it started, accuracy matters. So let us try to impart some. There were four stages, all in Britain, to the initial creation of what is today's football.
The first was the local, ad-hoc mass games what we in Scotland called "fitba" but existed throughout these islands. The second was the foundation of the first "Foot-Ball" clubs (note the hyphen) with codified and written rules. There is an argument that this first took place in Scotland in Edinburgh in 1824, lasted until 1841 with one copy of its hand-written rules shown as an example.
Then, third, there are the Cambridge Rules, of which there were several iterations, with the printed 1856 version illustrated. But note two things. First, the iterations did not flow on one from another. They seem to have been separate codification attempts with differing drivers. Second, they were, as illustrated, for a "Foot Ball" club, no hyphen, and again subject to change and addition, not least in 1861 by the Forest Football Club, later to be known as The Wanderers and future five-time Football Association Cup winners, including the first playing.
And finally from 1857 there is Sheffield, where a vibrant club culture developed, it is claimed from 1859 with the publication of its rules but in reality in the next decade with the foundation in 1860 of Hallam, Sheffield F.C.'s first external opponent.
But back to the pin head. "Foot-Ball" and even "Foot Ball" are not "football" as we understand it. They weren't in Edinburgh or Cambridge. And they did not become so In Sheffield either and to pretend otherwise is unhelpful. Not just are Sheffield's printed rules for a hyphenated game but the ITV piece's filming of the ledger of the founder of the first Sheffield club shows it clearly referring to "foot ball".
So where does this leave us? After digitalisation much good work by many in many places has been done not just to uncover the real origins of modern football but also to sweep aside a number of myths. The fact is that the proto -game in Britain developed in largely parallel in a number of locations in these islands before coalescing. London produced an initial set of rules that stuck. Sheffield added and considerably improved them when it in 1877 it merged with the FA. Scotland, as its results show, provided tactics and technique. That it happened should be celebrated. However, instead there is parochialism and it is absurd. Where we have been allowed by technology the opportunity for clarity and agreement attempts are being made to create new but equally tenuous myths and resentments - North England of South England, Scotland of England and vice versa, even Scotland of Scotland - are not being eliminated but instead reformulated. A halt would be good.