Anyone who thinks that things get pretty rough on today's football pitches probably shouldn't look too closely at how the game was played in the Middle Ages. In terms of physical brutality, the game was easily the equal of those other highly popular sports: stone throwing and fist fighting. There was no need for a pitch and the town gates acted as the goals. Historical sources prove that football has in fact been played for hundreds of years. The sport was widespread in both England and Italy as early as the twelfth century. In the renaissance, the Medici grand dukes elevated the game to a national sport.
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