In Lear (i. 4. 95), Oswald says to Kent, "I'll not be struck, my lord!" and Kent replies, "Nor tripped neither, you base foot-ball player."
The game was popular with the common people of England at least as early as the reign of Edward III., for in 1349 it was prohibited by royal edict—not, apparently, from any particular objection to the game in itself, but because it was believed to interfere with the popular interest in archery.
The sport was, however, a rough one then as now. Alexander Barclay, who died in 1552, in one of his Eclogues, tells how
"The sturdie plowman, lustie, strong, and bold,
Overcometh the winter with driving the foote-ball,
Forgetting labour and many a grievous fall."
Edmund Waller, in the next century, writes:—
"As when a sort [company] of lusty shepherds try
Their force at foot-ball; care of victory
Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast,