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Soccer Played As Early As The 15th Century

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne with evidence soccer was being played in Scotland centuries before it emerged in England. Historians have found documents from 1497 showing King James IV paid two shillings for a bag of fut ballis. Seventy years later, Mary Queen of Scots watched a match. The curator of the Scottish Football Museum says the early game was for the royals but did include heated arguments between players, with at least one ending in a demand for a duel to the death. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.