Attempts to ban football games

There have been many attempts to ban football, from the Middle Ages through to the modern days. The first such law was passed in England in 1314; it was followed by more than 30 in England alone between 1314 and 1667. Football faced armed opposition in the 18th century when used as a cover for violent protest against attempts to enclose common land. Women were banned from playing at English and Scottish Football League grounds in 1921, a ban that was only lifted in the 1970s. Female footballers still face similar problems in some parts of the world.

Mass or mob football was popular in medieval and early modern Europe. It involved an unlimited number of players and very few rules; the game often caused damage to people and property and was seen as a distraction from more desirable work which led to many attempts at banning the game in Britain and France.

James I of Scotland decreed that Na man play at the fut ball, in the Football Act of 1424; a further act of parliament was passed under the rule of James II in 1457 which banned both football and golf.

The French game La soule is another mass participation ball game similar to the English and Scottish mob football. It was banned by Phillippe V in 1319, and again by Charles V in 1369. In 1440 the bishop of Tréguier threatened players with excommunication and a fine of 100 sol, saying that "these dangerous and pernicious games must be prohibited because of hatred, grudges and enmities which, under the veil of recreational fun, accumulate in many hearts".

The Enclosure Acts placed common land into individual ownership and removed the rights of local people to use the land as they had previously. Football was used as a means to protest this enclosure, and the supposed football game was often a pretext to organise a riot. One such event in Deeping Level, north of Peterborough, led to the sheriff of Lincolnshire raising the posse comitatus to quell the riots. In 1740, "a match of futtball was cried at Kettering, of 500 men a side, but the design was to, 'Pull Down Lady Betey Jesmaine's Mill's'." In 1765, of land was enclosed at West Haddon, Northamptonshire. A game of football was advertised in a local newspaper and after the kick off the mob set about tearing down and burning the fences amounting to £1,500 worth of damage.

The British Highway Act 1835 banned the playing of football on public highways, and gave a maximum penalty of forty shillings to anyone who "shall play at Football or any other Game on any Part of the said Highways, to the Annoyance of any Passenger or Passengers."

English women's football matches began in 1895 but following the first international match in 1920, women were banned from all affiliated FA grounds from 1921 to 1971 on the grounds that, "the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged." The Scottish Football Association did not formally recognise women's football until 1973 after pressure from UEFA. In July 2013 Libya's women's football team was banned from playing in an international tournament in Berlin, despite initially being given permission to attend. The Libyan Football Association gave concerns about the need for fasting during Ramadan as the reason for this ban.