Early British Sport Section

The date is Tuesday the 16th of February 2006 - Shrove Tuesday. I am in Derbyshire in the town of Ashbourne at the Royal Shrovetide Football Match. An invasion sport called Mob Football is being played, where large amounts of people are gathered to participate in the sport. Mob Football originated back to the 17th Century and consists of a football being thrown into a large group of people (these people used to be from two different villages). The large group then had to do anything they could to get the ball to one of the two walls at either side of the villages. My time at the festival and the participation of the large amount of people has been very enjoyable, but I didn't like the violence involved in achieving the goals.

Similar to that of the 17th Century, after the game of Mob Football there were huge celebrations.  People involved in the game were drinking, dancing and socializing. I am enjoying these celebrations because of the fact that everyone was getting together to celebrate the Royal Shrovetide Football match. Unlike the 17th Century where other games would have been played such as skittles and bowls, this would get more people participating, giving people such as women and children a chance to take part in a sport during the festival. This wasn't seen in the modern day festival because the main reason being that the people came to recreate and be part of the game of Mob Football.

This is very different to the modern day game of football we see today. Huge developments have occurred, making the game 11 people per side and a space confined to 100-130 yards long etc. Through the school systems and working-class participation in the sport, many rules have evolved and been applied since the official rules were set by the football association back in December 8th 1863. Far from the days where thousands of people would gather to represent their villages, the villages now the villages gather to support 11 players representing villages and towns.
Other than the fact that new rules were introduced, making the game Football it is today. Other things affected the development of the game itself, things such has:
Money
Due to money being scarce back in early Britain, people lived off the land, most people being farmers. Because of this the people used the things they had on there land and what they owned to make the sports they played. For example cock fighting, farmers used there own chickens to enter them to fight against other chickens usaully owned by another farmer. The chickens have knives attached to the back of there legs and then are put into a pen, in front of a crowd. The crowd then cheer on the chicken they have put money on, in an effort to spur the chicken to kill the other. This sport was a chance to bet the little bit of money they had earnt from there jobs  to bet on there chosen chicken with hope that they would double there money. Even though it was good for the people who won, people were losing the little money they had. Other than cock fighting, most of the sports were spectator sports, were people either placed bets on the out come, meaning that the money the people earnt was being spent on betting on an outcome.

TechnologyThe introduction to certain types of technology and the development of this technology has developed the sport and helped to make it the sport it is today. A big use of technology is the televising of football, since the first game of English Association Football being screened for the nation to watch back in 1937. This was when the early inventions of new equipment was introduced, using electronic transmissions to supply people with a black and white picture of the match. Since 1937 the televising of the sport developed into better picture, sound quality and finally in 1989 the introduction of colour television made the quality of screening to the nation, even the world made even better. Televised football a big part of everyday life for most people, with thousands of channels devoted to football and screening to millions of people around the world. All of this has developed the sport, at first giving people with enough money to afford a television to watch football and support there team right from there own living room. And now in modern day society, with cheaper television sets, giving the chance for people to at least witness matches broadcast on terrestrial television making the game of football more popular in spectating and participation.
Acceptance of women
The Football Association for men was formed in 1863, but it took several years for the womens football association to form, this shocked a lot of people because it was the first time they had seen women playing football or even a sport. From here it became more accepted and the peoples opinions of women started to change. Even though this was a big part in introducing an opportunity for all women/girls to take part in sporting activities. In this day and age there is a womens game/association for nearly every sport.
Acceptance of disability
Throughout the years disability has become more excepted, nowadays you see people with disabilities in education, access to public attractions, transport options and now acceptance in sport. More and more sports are being adapted to include individuals/teams with disabilities, normal sports such as Football, Basketball and Rugby have all been adapted to include individuals with disabilities. But other sports have been adapted, all the way from Athletics all the way to Blind Golf.