Golf & Football (soccer) are not a crime!

RCTID = Rose City - Til I Die!

On my last article about Gearhart, the birthplace of golf in Oregon, I discovered that both golf and soccor were banned by Scottish Parliment in 1497. the concern of the country's leaders were that able bodied citizens where devoting all thier time to playing games - instead of practicing ways to kill one another. For shame, if they only knew the great battles of Rory and Sergio or Manchester United and Real Madrid to come!

​The attorney in me wants to go right to the legislative text. Here's what we found:

Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland

Extract from the Act of 6 March 1457

Transcription

'Item it is ordanyt and decretyt that Wapinschawing be haldin be ye lordis and baronys spirituale and temporale four tymes in ye yeir. And [th]at ye futebawe and ye golf be uterly cryt done and not usyt And [th]at ye bowe markes be maid at all parochkirks a pair of butts And schuting be usyt ilk Sunday ... And touchand ye futebaw and ye golf We ordane it to be punyst be ye baronys unlaw. And if he tak it not to be tain be ye kings officars.'

Translation
​
'Item, it is ordained and the decreed that the lords and barons both spiritual and temporal should organise archery displays four times in the year. And that football and golf should be utterly condemned and stopped. And that a pair of targets should be made up at all parish churches and shooting should be practised each Sunday ... And concerning football and golf, we ordain that [those found playing these games] be punished by the local barons and, failing them, by the King's officers.'

On the very same day I met one of the owners Chris Underwood of a great local company OPB Oregon Blue Print - an avid golfer and Timber Army fanatic. He has a custom "McKenzie Bag" made here in Portland, OR (more on them in the future). Let's let this post be short and bask in the honor of doing battle in these colors on the pitch on or the green.

maybe a Timbers Army + Eastmoreland Wolves tournament is in our future.