A GREAT EARLY BALL
By Louise Hancock
The world’s oldest football has been discovered in a vault under layers of dust. It would have Premiership players in stitches, but it was good enough for Mary Queen of Scots. Experts believe she used to kick the crudely made ball around with her favourite courtiers about 400 years ago. The grey leather ball, which has an inflatable pig’s bladder inside, is not much bigger than a modern lawn bowl. It vanished from Mary’s Stirling Castle bedroom in 1570. And last century it went missing again during renovation work at the Scottish landmark. But staff at Stirling’s Smith Art Gallery found it while rummaging through boxes in a vault last week. Gallery official Michael Mc Ginnes said yesterday: “This is a scoop for us. We never realised we had the ball. We had it checked by historical experts. They said it was extremely rare and was used by Mary.”
It is thought that Mary used to throw the ball from her balcony to start games between staff or soldiers. In those days players could pick up a ball and run with it. “In fact,” said Mr Mc Ginnes, “it was probably more of a handball than a football.” Today the ball goes on display for the first time in a glass cabinet at the gallery.
From The Mirror April 24, 1999
(Thanks to Heather for passing this along!)
