The Origins of Football Debate: Comments on Adrian Harvey's Historiography

Abstract

This article is intended as a reply to Adrian Harvey's recent historiography of football in which he continues to distort the story of the initial development of the game. It not only refutes the revisionist hypothesis of an influential football sub-culture based around public houses but also offers an alternative explanation of the game's past, largely based on the influence of ex-public schoolboys and former university undergraduates. It seeks to push the debate a step further by robustly re-asserting the meagre nature of the revisionist evidence in addition to Adrian Harvey's poor scholarship.

Este artigo é proposto como uma resposta à recente historiografia do futebol de Adrian Harvey, na qual ele continua a distorcer a história do desenvolvimento original do jogo. Ele não só refuta a hipótese revisionista de uma subcultura do futebol influente, com base nos bares, mas também oferece uma explicação alternativa do passado do jogo, em grande parte baseada na influência de ex-alunos de public schools e de graduação universitária. O artigo busca contribuir para o avanço do debate ao reafirmar de forma robusta a natureza esparsa das evidências revisionistas, além da fraca erudição de Adrian Harvey.

Este artículo es una réplica a la reciente historiografía del fútbol de Adrian Harvey, en la que este continúa distorsionando la historia del desarrollo inicial de este deporte. No solo rechazamos las hipótesis revisionistas sobre la existencia de una importante subcultura articulada alrededor de algunas tabernas, sino que también ofrecemos una explicación alternativa sobre los orígenes del fútbol, basada sobre todo en la influencia de exalumnos de las public schools y de las universidades. Nuestra intención es hacer avanzar el debate reafirmando sólidamente la pobreza de las evidencias presentadas por los revisionistas, así como el bajo nivel de la erudición de Harvey.

本文旨在作为对艾德里安·哈维在其近期足球史学研究中曲解足球初期发展事实的一个回应。作者不仅反驳一个有影响力的基于酒馆的足球亚文化修正主义假说，而且还提供了一个主要受前公立学校男生和前大学生影响的有关足球历史的替代性解释。本文希望能通过指出德里安·哈维学术水平欠佳和重申修正主义证据不足将该辩论引入更深层面。

Cet article est publié pour répondre à la récente historiographie du football d'Adrian Harvey, dans laquelle il continue de déformer l'histoire du développement initial du sport. Non seulement notre texte réfute l'hypothèse révisionniste de l'influence d'une sous-culture du football issue de l'environnement des cafés, mais aussi il offre une explication alternative de l'histoire du jeu, largement basée sur l'influence des anciens élèves des ‘public schools’ et des anciens étudiants. Il cherche ainsi à élever le débat en réaffirmant fermement la fragilité des sources révisionnistes, en plus des connaissances lacunaires d'Adrian Harvey.

本稿は、エイドリアン・ハーヴェイが最近出したフットボールの起源に関する歴史叙述への返答を企図している。この中で彼は、フットボールの初期の発展の歴史を歪め続けている。本稿は、パブ周りに根付いたフットボールのサブカルチャーの影響を重視する修正主義的仮説に対して反駁を行うとともに、パブリックスクールや大学の卒業生たちの影響力に基礎をおいた、フットボールの歴史に関する異なる説明を行う。本稿は、修正主義者の論拠の貧弱さと、エイドリアン・ハーベイの学識の欠如を厳しく主張することで、この論争を一歩前に進めようとするものである。

Dieser Artikel ist als eine Antwort auf Adrian Harveys jüngste Geschichtsschreibung des Fußballs gedacht, in der er die Geschichte der anfänglichen Entwicklung des Spiels weiterhin verfälscht. Es wird nicht nur die revisionistische These einer einflussreichen Fußball-Subkultur widerlegt, sondern auch eine alternative Erklärung der Vergangenheit des Spiels angeboten, die vor allem auf dem Einfluss der ehemaligen öffentlichen Schuljungen und damaligen Universitätsstudenten basiert. Es wird versucht, die Debatte einen Schritt weiter voranzutreiben, indem die magere Natur des revisionistischen Beweises nebst Adrian Harveys schwacher Wissenschaftlichkeit erneut deutlich erklärt wird.

Keywords::

• football
• public school
• revisionism
• status rivalry
• Eton and Rugby

Notes

^1.Harvey, “The Emergence of Football.”

^2. John Goulstone has never really entered the debate and it has been left to Adrian Harvey, recently assisted by Peter Swain, who have been at the forefront of revisionist texts.

^3.Strutt, Sports and Pastimes; Hone, Every-Day Book.

^4.Harvey, “An Epoch”; Curry, Goodman and Hutton, Sheffield Football Club; Curry,Early Sheffield Football.

^5.Shearman, Football; Marples, A History of Football; Young, The History of British Football; Magoun, History of Football; Green, The History of the Football Association; Dunning and Sheard, Barbarians; Harvey, “An Epoch”; Dunning, “Something of a Curate's Egg”; Harvey, “The Curate's Egg Put”; Dunning and Curry, “The Curate's Egg”; Harvey, “Curate's Egg Pursued”; Goulstone, Football's Secret History; Harvey, Football: The First Hundred Years; Swain, “Cultural Continuity and Football”; Mason, Association Football;Walvin, The People's Game; Collins, Rugby's Great Split; Collins, A Social History; Taylor, The Association Game; Kitching, “‘Old’ Football”; Swain and Harvey, “On Bosworth Field”; Curry and Dunning, “The Problem with Revisionism”; Harvey, “The Emergence of Football.”

^6. A good beginning would have been to read Elias and Dunning, Quest for Excitement.

^7.Harvey, Football: The First Hundred Years, 220.

^8.Dunning and Sheard, Barbarians: 35.

^9.Taylor, The Association Game. For the excellent summation of the origins debate see pages 20–31.

^10.Kitching, “‘Old’ Football.”

^11. Ibid., note 24, 1748.

^12. For examples of over-hasty recognition see Chapter One of Lanfranchi, Eisenberg, Mason and Wahl, The FIFA Centennial Book, Hay, “A Tale of Two Footballs,” 954–5, Sanders, Beastly Fury; Hornby, Uppies and Downies.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Graham Curry

Graham Curry completed his PhD on the diffusion of football in 2001 at the University of Leicester. He has since published many books and articles on the sociology and history of the game.