Knock-Off at 2:00, Kick-Off at 3:00 - The Legacy of Enclosure
I studied A Level Geography at school. Occasionally, my teacher would arrive at the start of the lesson, give us a chapter to
read from the course text, and then leave us to it. This may not pass for great teaching these days
but I loved it. I remember those lessons fondly, and more to the
point I remember what I learnt.
The textbook was ‘The Making of the English Landscape’ by W.G.
Hoskins. I learnt that the layout of the land both restricts and enables,
that hedgerows are symbols of power, and that
Acts of Parliament have consequences that are far-reaching and unintended.

Wide scale enclosure, occurring at the same time as huge
advances in farming technology, set the conditions for the agricultural
revolution. Farming became much more intensive, enabling a massive surplus of
production. This food surplus fuelled the subsequent industrial revolution, in
which millions relocated to towns and cities to work in the new factories. It
also had an immeasurable and lasting impact on Sport and Leisure in England.
One of the first and earliest impacts of enclosure was a
direct result of restriction of admittance to previously accessible fields. The
folk games of earlier centuries could no longer take place. Many town-wide
games required participants to traipse across vast swathes of the countryside
between ‘goals’ sometimes many miles apart. Enclosure put a stop to much of
this, though some vestiges of these early sport forms have endured (e.g. Royal Shrovetide Football in
Ashbourne, Derbyshire). It is also worth noting that for a while numerous mob football
matches were played with the express purpose of flouting the law by way of
protest against the enclosures.
The lack of available common land pushed many of those who had previously supported themselves through small scale agriculture into the burgeoning towns and cities. Life was suddenly very different. Production in factories was, by and large, no longer ruled by the seasons. Gone was the traditional annual schedule of long, lazy summer days sandwiched between hectic sowing and reaping seasons. Industrial workers toiled long days all year round, and there was certainly little chance of enjoying a two-day-long game of football!
Since Sundays were still considered sacred by the majority of the populace, it was the introduction of the Saturday half-day (in the Factory Act of 1850) that enabled working folk in cities to have just enough time to enjoy some recreation. Many did not have the wherewithal to participate in active recreation, but many could afford to watch it. These social conditions (knock-off at 2:00, kick-off at 3:00) produced the structures of spectator sport which have persisted into the present.
Every time you turn on the big match at 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, you are sharing in the legacy of Enclosure.
Every time you turn on the big match at 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, you are sharing in the legacy of Enclosure.