I am researching evidence of football prior to 1860 and it has become clear to me that it is likely that there is far more than hitherto believed.
The British Newspaper Archive has already unearthed a multitude of references from c 1740 that have upset the orthodox account of football’s origins. I am convinced that the game’s origins date back even further.
Having discovered a number of pre-modern references to football in Suffolk, I am interested to know of all and any further references to football in the Wickhambrook area.
Whereas it may be that such instances of football occur readily to you or your Society associates, it may also be the case that some delving and digging might be necessary. I am prepared to pay for any time and trouble taken or to make a donation.
My research thus far has taught me that references to football are often found in:
- Plans and maps (place and road names)
- Land ownership, tenancy and transfer of property documents
- Ecclesiastical and civil hearings
- Diaries
- Accounts of local events
Please be aware that in the eastern counties of England, including Suffolk, football was often referred to as ‘camping’ (i.e. a ‘great camp’ would refer to a football match and a ‘camping close’ a football field).
Your help would be much appreciated. My aim is to uncover what evidence there may be supporting the possibility that organised football, with rules, was commonplace in the British Isles several hundred years before its accepted birth in the mid-nineteenth century. Each individual fragment adds weight to the possibility.
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Stephen Barker