Was football created in Scotland? English mock new theory

Since the mid -19th century, England has been widely accepted as the cradle of modern football. The sport line is commonly tracked to the “Mob Football” [futebol da ralé, numa tradução literal]a violent and popular chaotic game in the British islands during the Middle Ages.

Hundreds of neighboring villages players separated into two teams, divided into a huge scrum [formação] And they blindly fought for the control of a circular object, often an inflated pork bladder. The push, kicks and blows, often under the influence of alcohol, could last hours, until days, and there was no time limit. The only established rule: weapons were prohibited.

In a 1583 pamphlet, “The Anatomy of Abuses,” Puritan pamphletary Philip Stubbs was outraged against the brutality of the hobby, which he called “bloody and murderer practice.” In 1863, to reduce chaos and regulate the game, a young English lawyer wrote the first comprehensive rules book, which was adopted in London by the newly graduated Football Association, established by former students from boarding schools such as Eton and Harrow. Thus, England claims to have been a pioneer in the game we know today.

First “Arena”

“Unfortunately, this narrative has no merit,” said Ged O’Brien, a retired teacher and founder of the Glasgow Scottish Football Museum. “The fact is that, for centuries, football has been thrown in all the cities and villages of Scotland. Not the” Mob Football “, but the real football.”

Last month, O’Brien and a team of archaeologists identified what they believe to be the oldest known football field in the world, or “Pitch”, in an ancient 17th -century farm in the city of Anwoth, in Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland.

The discovery offers a rare physical proof of an organized playing field, at a time when reports written about working class recreations were scarce. “Our discovery has serious implications for sports historians,” said O’Brien. “They will have to rewrite everything they think they know about the origins of the so -called beautiful game.”

The first tracks came up in a letter written by Reverend Samuel Rutherford, a Presbyterian cleric who was a pastor at Anwoth Old Kirk from 1627 to 1638 and, later, Professor of Theology at St. Andrews University. In the document, he expressed discontent about the parishioners who played “Foot-Ball” on Sunday afternoons in a place called Mossrobin Farm.

“As Anwoth’s minister, Rutherford was dedicated to ensuring that the places came to services,” said O’Brien. “Any time spent on leisure was time not dedicated to the service of God.” To end this sacrilege, Rutherford instructed the members of his congregation to erect a stone barrier along the field. “It was basically a primitive ‘forbidden to play ball’ sign, designed to make the game difficult,” said O’Brien.

He and his archaeologists inspected the agricultural area in the hills – now a deer pasture – which once understood Mossrobin and discovered a line of 14 large stones crossing a flat extension that was 280 feet long and 147 feet wide, slightly smaller than a regular American soccer field.

Kieran Manchip, a project officer at Archaeology Scotland, a non-profit organization that worked in the effort, said the stone row does not have the shape or nature of a medieval or post-medieval agricultural feature, nor appears in historical maps with these characteristics.

To determine the stratigraphy [estudo das camadas de terra] From the site, Archaeology Scotland opened two test trenches. “These small interventions showed that the stones were loose on an older soil surface rather than cuts,” said Manchip. The researchers concluded that the rocks were not intended to mark a limit, or cultivable lands, or help surround the cattle.

Soil analysis suggested that the arrangement dated about 400 years, approximately when Rutherford expressed his objections. “The traditions and reports of Rutherford’s interaction with soccer players and the local community in Mossrobin fit into what is visible in the landscape,” said Manchip. “We have no reason to doubt the validity of these traditions and the history of regular organized football being thrown there.”

Contestation

This interpretation is strongly contested, not just by fans of English football. Steve Wood, a curator of the English charity Sheffield Home of Football, said there is no way to know what kind of foot-ball was thrown in Mossrobin.

(Founded in 1857, Sheffield FC is recognized by FIFA, the global body that rules football, as the oldest football club in the world.)

“Whether GED clarifies what may or may not have happened in terms of a game with a ball, and then explain that the game has no known connection with modern football, then we will probably come closer to an agreement on any real historical significance that the field has,” he said.

O’Brien does not need theories. “As football games were held every Sunday, the game could not be very violent, because participants had to work on Monday,” he said. “No work? You went hungry.”

In O’Brien’s opinion, Wood’s contempt is another example of English chauvinism. “If you are trying to manipulate an entire nation to believe that your people are very poor, very small and very stupid, you need these people to know anything about the great achievements of their ancestors,” he said firmly. “The game played in Mossrobin was the grandfather of modern football. And it was Scottish.”

This article was originally published in The New York Times.

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