Camping (game)
Encyclopedia
Camping, also known as campyon, campan, or campball was a Medieval football game played in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It appears to have been popular in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

 and other parts of East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

. Of all the traditional forms of football played in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, it appears to have been one of the toughest and most dangerous. This probably explains why it died out during the early 19th century.

The first ever English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

-Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 dictionary, Promptorium Parvulorum (1440), offers the following definition of camp ball: "Campan, or playar at foott balle, pediluson; campyon, or champion" http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/spe/spe10.htm

The game was originally played in the middle of town where the objective was to take the ball to the opposing side of town. It was later played in the county often in a special field set aside for the purpose known as a camping-place, camping close or camping pightle. A reminder of this old game can be found in Swaffham
Swaffham
Swaffham is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,935 in 3,130 households...

 where, behind the market place lies the Camping land where the game was played. The custom in Medieval times was to play games after Church services and often camping fields were sited near the Church.

Although this game was rough, it was not without rules. In fact there is evidence from Moore (1823) that there were teams, goals, rules and even ball passing between team members (a development often attributed to much later):

"Each party has two goals, ten or fifteen yards apart. The parties, ten or fifteen on a side, stand in line, facing each other at about ten yards’ distance midway between their goals and that of their adversaries. An indifferent spectator [“indifferent” is the very word used by Carew also] throws up a ball the size of a cricket ball midway between the confronted players and makes his escape. The rush is to catch the falling ball [no doubt the “indifferent” person under the circumstances is no longer indifferent to “making his escape“]. He who first can catch or seize it speeds home, making his way through his opponents and aided by his own sidesmen. If caught and held or rather in danger of being held, for if caught with the ball in possession he loses a snotch, he throws the ball [he must in no case give it] to some less beleaguered friend more free and more in breath than himself, who if it be not arrested in its course or be jostled away by the eager and watchful adversaries, catches it; and he in like manner hastens homeward, in like manner pursued, annoyed and aided, winning the notch or snotch if he contrive to carry or throw it within the goals. At a loss and gain of a snotch a recommencement takes place. When the game is decided by snotches seven or nine are the game, and these if the parties be well matched take two or three hours to win. Sometimes a large football was used; the game was then called “kicking camp”; and if played with the shoes on “savage camp.”

Matches were often between rival parishes and stirred local passions. According to the historian Moore, writing in 1823, "amid shouting and roaring of the population the players were not disposed to treat one another gently." Some games even turned so nasty that there was serious injury and loss of life.

It was recorded that a match at Diss
Diss
Diss is a town in Norfolk, England close to the border with the neighbouring East Anglian county of Suffolk.The town lies in the valley of the River Waveney, around a mere that covers . The mere is up to deep, although there is another of mud, making it one of the deepest natural inland lakes...

Common in the early nineteenth century was so brutal that nine men were killed or died of their injuries. While some people thought that camping was a combination of all athletic excellence others saw it as little more than a stand up fight. The contest for the ball 'never ends without black eyes and bloody noses, broken heads or shins, and some serious mischief,' a writer said in 1830 when camping popularity was at its height.

A modified game called "civil play" banned boxing as a component of the game. The game was played by passing the ball from hand to hand. To score, a player had to carry the ball through his own goal. Matches were usually for the best of seven or nine goals or snotches which normally took two or three hours, but a game of fourteen hours had been recorded in a county match.

A feature of so called friendly matches were prizes for those who played well. These consisted of money, hats, gloves or shoes. Incidents of violence seem in the end to have turned public opinion against camping and it was gradually replaces by a gentler kicking game. This game had roused great scorn amongst camping enthusiasts when it first began to make its influence felt in the 1830s.
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