[MR] Medieval Football

[Sarah Toich]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/7486118.stm


The Black Book of Carmarthen dates back to the 13th Century

Football has been written about for a century but there are claims the
beautiful game was mentioned in Welsh literature nearly 1,000 years ago.

A programme on Wednesday night on S4C details references to early forms of
the game dating to the 10th Century.

The 13th Century Black Book of Carmarthen, the earliest manuscript written
in Welsh, also referred to versions of the sport.

The programme is partly based on research by journalist Lowri Roberts.

Ms Roberts, from Cardiff, made her discoveries while studying for a
doctorate at Aberystwyth University.

She told S4C's Sioe Gelf (The Arts Show) there was evidence that Welsh poets
and authors had written about football long before the advent of back page
journalism.

    
There are surprisingly quite a few references to ball games in early Welsh
poetry
Lowri Roberts

In the programme, former Newcastle United and Wales footballer Malcolm Allen
travels from Deiniolen near Caernarfon, via Old Trafford and Ninian Park, to
Salzburg in Austria, to learn more about the influence of football on the
arts.

Ms Roberts said references to early forms of the game were made between 942
and 950AD in the Book of Taliesin, where soldiers kicked the heads of
defeated soldiers.

But it was not until 1575 that the term "football" was used, added Ms
Roberts.

This appeared in work by Denbighshire poet William Midleton, at least 350
years before the sport developed into a global phenomenon.

'Welsh poetry'

"The references here (by Midleton) were not positive", said Ms Roberts.

"Midleton was complaining about the negative effects of football, the
physical injuries resulting from the sport".

"Similar references appear in the works of Edmwnd Prys and Gruffydd
Hiraethog from the same period.

"There are surprisingly quite a few references to ball games in early Welsh
poetry."