THE GEOGRAPHY OF GAMES 



129 



Photograph by Paul Thompson 

 THESE LATTER-DAY APOLEOS ARE FIT SUBJECTS FOR THE CHISEL OE A RODIN 



games played by kicking a ball. Greeks 

 played it, and the Roman game, harpas- 

 tum, derived its name from the Greek 

 "I seize," which is evidence that carrying 

 the ball was practiced then. With shoes 

 of hide, the medieval Italians played a 

 game which seems the direct ancestor 

 of the Anglo-Saxon college sport. Gae- 

 lic scholars point to a football game in 

 Ireland before the time of Christ, and 

 until comparatively recent times Shrove 

 Tuesday was distinctively an occasion 

 for football as is our Thanksgiving 

 today. 



In old England football was even 



rougher than most sports of those hardy 

 times. James I thought it was "meeter 

 for lameing than making able the users 

 thereof." Henry VIII and Elizabeth 

 ruled against it. Edward II frowned 

 upon it for its interference with archery 

 and also because of the commotion it 

 aroused. In those times it was played in 

 the city streets. A writer of the sixteenth 

 century called it a "devilish pastime" and 

 charged it with inciting "envy and some- 

 times brawling, murther, and homicide." 

 Nevertheless, by the time of Charles II 

 football had become firmly established at 

 Cambridge. It was ever held in high 



