Mob Football is the name given to some varieties of Mediæval football, which emerged in Europe during the Middle Ages. These early codes of football were forerunners of modern codes of football such as rugby union and association football.

Each town or village would have played a slightly different game with rules that weren't written down. Games were played on public holidays such as Shrove Tuesday when men would have been given the day off work.

The game would have more resembled a riot than any of its descendants. Mob football usually involved groups from two connecting villages (or two groups from either end of a singular village) fighting to move a ball from one side to the other. The games were so unruly that royal bans were often placed on the playing of such sport.

Some parts of the United Kingdom continue to play these traditional forms of football.

See also

Present day towns with Mob Football

• Ashbourne in Derbyshire hold the Shrovetide Football.
• Sedgefield in County Durham hold the Ball Game
• Atherstone in Warwickshire has held an annual Ball Game on Shrove Tuesday since the 12th century

Links

• BBC video of the 2006 Royal Shrovetide Football Match
• Royal Shrovetide Football
• Football