Welcome
Where did football come from? How did it get to be so popular? And why can’t we all agree on what the word ‘football’ means?
A Devilish Pastime (the title’s origin can be found in this snippet) is an ebook that tells the story of football – in its widest sense. It begins by looking at ball games of the distant past, before tracing football's evolution through the Middle Ages and beyond.
It explains how the sporting revolution of the 19th century gave birth to the mass-audience sports that have become such a big part of modern life: soccer, rugby union, rugby league, American and Canadian football, Gaelic football and Australian Rules. It also looks at some football-type sports that you might never have heard of before.
It follows the development of the rules, tactics, playing styles and cultures of these sports, while looking at how they have become popular in various parts of the world and different sections of society, and the people who have helped to make all this happen. As well as being a sporting history, it touches on the social, cultural and political histories of the lands where these sports have evolved.
A Devilish Pastime is available in Kindle format from Amazon, and in various formats from Smashwords, Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. On this site, you can see a short video about the book (see below), read the introduction and some extracts, and learn a bit about me and how the book came about.
If you would like to know more about A Devilish Pastime, or to say anything about it, please email me. All queries and feedback are welcome. For some further reading, please see the Links page. The book also has a Twitter account, @DevilishPastime, and a page on Goodreads. I hope you enjoy this site, and, should you decide to take the plunge, the book itself.
Graham Hughes, Chester, UK
A Devilish Pastime (the title’s origin can be found in this snippet) is an ebook that tells the story of football – in its widest sense. It begins by looking at ball games of the distant past, before tracing football's evolution through the Middle Ages and beyond.
It explains how the sporting revolution of the 19th century gave birth to the mass-audience sports that have become such a big part of modern life: soccer, rugby union, rugby league, American and Canadian football, Gaelic football and Australian Rules. It also looks at some football-type sports that you might never have heard of before.
It follows the development of the rules, tactics, playing styles and cultures of these sports, while looking at how they have become popular in various parts of the world and different sections of society, and the people who have helped to make all this happen. As well as being a sporting history, it touches on the social, cultural and political histories of the lands where these sports have evolved.
A Devilish Pastime is available in Kindle format from Amazon, and in various formats from Smashwords, Apple, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. On this site, you can see a short video about the book (see below), read the introduction and some extracts, and learn a bit about me and how the book came about.
If you would like to know more about A Devilish Pastime, or to say anything about it, please email me. All queries and feedback are welcome. For some further reading, please see the Links page. The book also has a Twitter account, @DevilishPastime, and a page on Goodreads. I hope you enjoy this site, and, should you decide to take the plunge, the book itself.
Graham Hughes, Chester, UK