At the beginning of the 20th century soccer was widely accepted as the most popular game in the western world. In the space of a few decades it had become the most widely-supported team game in Britain, watched and played by more boys and men than any other sport. This book takes a look at the game with a history stretching back to the late Middle Ages, with strong traditional folk-roots, that became the codified and disciplined game of urban working men in the late 19th century Britain, later spreading to Europe, South America and elsewhere. It also looks into the broader social changes which made the game so attractive over the last century.