‘Cambridge is the (modern-day) birthplace of the laws of football’ according to FIFA ( - the international governing body of football). This, and many other significant sporting achievements, for example in tennis, women's collegiate sport, horse racing, boxing, cricket and the Olympic games have been eclipsed by Cambridge’s world-famous triumphs in science, medicine and literature. This talk therefore raises the profile of Cambridge as the cradle of a leisure revolution during the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Nigel Fenner, a University Football 'Blue' is related to Francis Fenner, a local tobacconist, who established Fenner's Cricket Ground in 1848. Nigel studied Sports Science as an undergraduate and came to Cambridge to train as a teacher in 1981 and has been in education ever since. He now runs Cambridge Sports Tours and is writing a 'History of Cambridge Sport' due to be published Autumn 2019.