According to the accepted wisdom, in the 1860s the football games created by public schoolboys were transplanted from these elite foundations, rapidly becoming the sports of the masses. But has this history ever been challenged or explored? Football, The First Hundred Years , provides a revisionist history of the game, challenging previously widely-accepted belief. The book argues that established football histories do not correspond with the facts. Football, as played by the 'masses' previous to the public school codes is almost always portrayed as wild and quite barbaric but Harvey shows evidence suggesting this view to be a serious over-simplification. Football's First One Hundred Years provides a very detailed picture of the football played outside the confines of the public schools, revealing a culture that was every bit as sophisticated as that found within their prestigious walls. Indeed, the administrative body created by public schoolboys, the FA, rapidly collapsed and by 1867, it was the intervention of working class representatives from Sheffield who saved soccer.
Football, The First Hundred Years sets forth a completely revisionist thesis, offering a different perspective on almost every aspect of the established history of the formative years of the game. The book will be of great interest to sports historians and football enthusiasts alike.