‘Infected with the Football Fever’

: The Emergence of Soccer as a Popular Recreation in Winchester, c.1850-c.1914

Abstract

Recent research into the early development of association football (‘soccer’) has emphasised the contribution of local studies in constructing a more complete understanding of the game’s national progression. However, studies of soccer’s emergence in the little-industrialised settlements of southern England are noticeably absent. The current study addresses this omission by examining the game’s growth in the city of Winchester in the years between 1850 and 1914. Winchester provides a particularly interesting case study due to the combined influences that its academic, military and ecclesiastical institutions had on its cultural life. Using contemporary local newspaper reports, the research locates soccer within the context of the broader sporting culture of Victorian Winchester, before analysing the processes by which the game’s popularity increased through the decades before the First World War. Social class is identified as the principal determinant of local participation, affecting to varying degrees the access that individuals enjoyed to the time, money and space needed to play the game. In the 1880s, soccer was played by members of Winchester’s middle class, before its large-scale adoption by the city’s working-class players during the 1890s and 1900s. The local game survived on paternalism rather than commercialism with Winchester’s soccer clubs largely dependent on patrons, the church and the public for support rather than exploiting their own potential for profit generation. The research also reveals that Winchester’s academic institutions, especially the private schools, had only a minor influence on the city’s emerging soccer culture due to their social and cultural remoteness from the wider city. This contrasts with the city’s military which, owing to the social and class background shared between soldiers and civilians, made a significant impact on the game’s local development. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of soccer’s emergence in a previously overlooked context, enriching the understanding of the game’s diverse popular origins.

Date of Award	10 Aug 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Simon Sandall (Supervisor) & Colin Haydon (Supervisor)