We Missed Football's 850th Anniversary!

I guess we all missed it. We missed football's 850th anniversary!

As every football fan knows, gridiron football evolved from rugby, and rugby descended from the stew of folk kicking games played in England. Rumor has it that the lads played those kicking games back in the Dark Ages when religious holidays provided the opportunity to work remotely or not work at all.

Often, they inflated a pig's bladder, tied it off like a balloon, and spent an afternoon trying to kick the inflated bladder into the center of the next village. The boys from the neighboring village took offense to the idea of tens or hundreds of men kicking that bladder into their village center, so they kicked back until one or the other's goal line defense failed and village A or B claimed the win.

(Wiki)

It turns out, or at least based on my reading of Tony Collins' How Football Began, the first written mention of these English kicking games came in William Fitzstephen's biography of Thomas Becket, Vita Sancti Thomae (Life of St. Thomas), which mentions the game being played during Shrovetide in 1174. Shrovetide, also known as Carnival, ends on Shrove Tuesday or what folks in New Orleans call Mardi Gras.

So, all observant football fans should repent for failing to observe football's 850th anniversary about two weeks ago. As penance, you can use this handy Wiki page to add a reminder in your calendar for all Shrove Tuesdays from 2025 to 2100.

Even better, if the College Football Playoffs keep expanding, they'll soon play the National Championship game on Shrove Tuesday, so we can watch a real football game with teams kicking, carrying, and throwing that pigskin down the field.

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