This is a time traveler's guide to the history of soccer tracing its origins from a humble
beginning to an established sport beloved worldwide. It is a story that spans five thousand
years from ancient Egypt to MesoAmerica from the Greek Empire to Chinese Dynasties and from
the Roman Empire to medieval Britain. From the Middle Ages onwards Britain and Ireland
unfurl their lineage from the lesser-known trapball and stoolball to the lamentably extinct
camping and knappan. All forms find a voice in this book as do hockey and hurling baseball
and bowling tennis and golf. Primarily a narrative of British and Irish ball games esteemed
foreigners are welcomed: baggataway knattleikur soule kolven calcio. Many games come to
life revealing their motivations and their complex inner world. Still soccer is firmly center
stage. This is after all its picaresque journey. As the games sweep across history the
social religious and political contexts are threaded throughout and this book is peppered
with news snippets anecdotes comedy and intrigue which give the centuries life. Crammed
with eccentric sports ephemera untold tales and unearthed facts The Game That Would Be King
is the most comprehensive work on the early history of ball games ever written.
