Reviews
“Painstaking detail and research was undertaken for this book as nothing is left uncovered. Fans of a particular type of game will find little-known gems about it, and will be left impressed with the wide range of topics covered. Even if the reader is not a fan of a particular type of game, just some of the historical context will be worth the time it takes to read.”
– Lance Smith, sports book reviewer
You can also find ratings and reviews on Goodreads.
– Lance Smith, sports book reviewer
You can also find ratings and reviews on Goodreads.
Reviews of the earlier print edition: A Develyshe Pastime (Sportsbooks Ltd, 2009)
“... the real thrust of Hughes’s excellent book is to take the ‘mob’ football that gave 16th century English peasants their recreation, and then trace the path that this eventually took as an organised game through the English public school system and into the universities, thereafter to be taken up by a wider public and spread around the world in various forms.
... After some scene setting, each chapter of Hughes’s meticulously researched book effectively serves as a primer for anyone wanting to know more about a particular version of football, how the rules (occasionally, of course, the ‘laws’) have developed and how the structure of the game has changed.”
– Anton Rippon, Sports Journalists’ Association (UK)
“A massive undertaking that, but Hughes has pulled it off in some style and this is a fine read.”
– Peter Smith, Yorkshire Evening Post
... After some scene setting, each chapter of Hughes’s meticulously researched book effectively serves as a primer for anyone wanting to know more about a particular version of football, how the rules (occasionally, of course, the ‘laws’) have developed and how the structure of the game has changed.”
– Anton Rippon, Sports Journalists’ Association (UK)
“A massive undertaking that, but Hughes has pulled it off in some style and this is a fine read.”
– Peter Smith, Yorkshire Evening Post