Mob Football

I did my first event of the year today. At Moorside Community College. It was great. Lots of Newcastle fans taking penalties at the school librarian, Miss Horth. She was very good, saving quite a few. She also looked after me really well.

It was useful in more ways than one to meet the pupils at Moorside. I told them about an idea I have for a book that is coming out next year. One of the girls said that she liked books with stories that have something of today and something from history in them. So I think I'm going to include something about mob football in the book.

I'm a bit obsessed with mob football. I read about it while writing a book for Franklin Watts last year. The book is about football, with lots of facts. It's called Go Turbo: Football and comes out in August.

Mob football was played in medieval times in England. A whole village would take on another village. The aim was to get the ball to the next town's market square. You could break legs, whatever... there were no rules.

I live in a small town on the Yorkshire/Lancashire border. I think it'd be a good laugh to play the Lancashire town at mob football. Maybe one day. But without the leg breaking.