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England banned football for archery
England was often at war, and the government was desperate for soldiers. Archery was the skill it wanted in every boy, and ballgames were in the way.
So the Crown issued decrees, again and again, banning dishonest and useless games like football. Boys over the age of seven were required to practice archery instead.
The decrees had no hope of working. English boys could not be stopped from playing football, and the orders were widely ignored.
Why did archery take years to learn?
The English longbow was drawn by hand against a force that modern estimates, based on bows recovered from the Mary Rose shipwreck, place between roughly 100 and 180 pounds. Drawing it again and again took muscles that developed only through years of practice from boyhood. Skeletons of archers found on the Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, show enlarged left arms and bony changes in the spine and shoulders.
Why did archers matter so much in war?
At Crécy in 1346 and Agincourt in 1415, English and Welsh longbowmen shot volleys that broke French cavalry charges against much larger armies. A trained archer could loose around ten arrows a minute. English armies in the Hundred Years' War were built around large bodies of archers recruited from common men, alongside the knights.
Why did football bother English kings?
Edward II banned football in London in 1314, citing the noise of crowds hustling over large balls in the streets. Medieval football could involve large numbers of players from neighboring villages across fields and streets, and games sometimes turned violent. In 1363 Edward III ordered archery practice on holidays and prohibited games including handball, football, and cockfighting.
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