Games In Popular Recreation.

1. Games In Popular Recreation. • Aims: • Awareness of emergence of popular recreation games in the U.K. • Investigate the contrasting examples of mob football & real tennis. • Make links with changes that have occurred in modern football and tennis.

2. Mob Football • A variety of games involving kicking and throwing a ball were regular features of pre – industrial society. • A rowdy, violent, locally coded, occasional encounter between neighbouring villages. • In the above quote can you identify any characteristics of popular recreation Louise? • “…abominable enough, and, in my judgement at least, more common, undignified and worthless than any other kind of game, rarely ending but with some loss, accident or disadvantage to the player themselves.”

3. Early Mob Football Games • Were played in restricted city streets as well as in the countryside. • They were little more than massive brawls involving brute force between hoards of young men. • They caused uproar and damage to property. • Which day became a traditional one for these mob games Lucy? • Names & examples of these festivals Josh?

4. Attitudes To These Mob Games. • They were frowned upon because: • Damaged property • Injury to young men (making them unfit for army training) • Disrespect for the Sabbath • Social unrest (which might lead to riots or even rebellion) • Although authorities declared them illegal it still survived – laws were quite easy to ignore.

5. Links with Modern Football?

6. Real Tennis • Originated in France and became popular in Britain in the 14th Century. • It was an exclusive game for kings, nobles and merchants who played on purpose built highly sophisticated courts which varied in size and shape. • Compare real tennis with mob football: • Who played it? • Where was it played? • How was it structured, with rules, dress, levels of skill and regularity of play?

7. How Was It Played? What Did Lower Classes Do? • Side passage for spectators • The game had complex rules and requires high levels of skill • Lower classes copied their superiors with their own versions such as fives or racquets. They also played field tennis of handball in the street and countryside. • Game called racquets also existed. • This “Rags to Riches” game originated in Fleet Prison and ended up being played by upper-class public school and university men.

8. Summary and Homework • Awareness how mob football emerged as a game in popular recreation. • Its links with modern football and changes that have occurred. • Comparison with real tennis and how both activites fit in with characteristics of popular recreation. • Exam question June 2003 • (1) describe 3 characteristics of mob football and explain how each characteristic was a reflection of pre-industrial society. (3) • (2) Why was rear tennis exclusive to those who enjoyed a priveleged lifestyle in Pre-Industrial Britain?