On Facebook, I’ve just reposted an article by EE Carter about medieval football. Great article, and I love the video clip (an ad starring David Beckham and friends) that she’s used to illustrate her piece.

I came across a description of mob football when I was researching village Whitsunweek activities for Farewell to Kindness, and I loved the idea. So a football match duly made its way into the novel, giving the villain an opportunity to attempt to kill my hero. (Yes, I know that would be a breach of mob football’s one rule, but he’s a villain, okay?)

Mob football is still played today in several parts of Britain, as shown in the following clip.