113. Was Soccer ‘Football’?, or The Football Historian’s Fallacy

Is soccer the original form of football that was played in pre-industrial times? But modern soccer looks nothing like the ancient forms of folk football – and for its first few years it was barely distinguishable from rugby. So how did it become the most popular type of football?

This week’s episode examines whether it was soccer’s rules that made it popular or something much more fundamental in late-Victorian Britain.

For more on the history of rugby and the other football codes, take a look at www.rugbyreloaded.com (which also has show notes and links for this episode) and follow me on Twitter at @collinstony.