CENTURIES before the modern game emerged from the English public-school system, medieval football was a game that could never be banned. Its raw and rebellious character worried the state, with these sporadic games providing spaces of autonomy from the crown and church.

Today, as a vehicle for social movement, there’s no stronger cultural engine than the world’s most dominant sport.

These last couple of years have reawakened the role that sports plays in society: that the cultural landscape is a site of social struggle, and provides stable spaces to foster activism and tackle hegemony.