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Cambridge: birthplace of the laws of football.
Welcome to Cambridge Sports Tours
Tour Guide
Experience. Nigel Fenner established Cambridge Sports Tours in 2017 and since then has provided tours and sporting experiences to corporate businesses, language schools, schools and the general public. He is also a regular speaker to local history societies, and at festivals and fund-raising events.
Recognition includes being a winner of a 'Local History Book Award 2024' with Cambridgeshire Association for Local History, and being featured in Susan Calman's 'Great British Cities - Cambridge' on Channel 5.
Nigel is a qualified teacher, who has lived and worked locally for over 40 years mostly for local charities - with young offenders, people with disabilities, and more recently with young people excluded from mainstream education.
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Safety. Nigel is DBS checked (criminal record check provided by the government) and can provide tailored risk assessments for schools and other groups. Cambridge Sports Tours holds Public Liability Insurance for up to £1 million for guided walking tours.
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Sport. Nigel Fenner was a student at the University of Cambridge where he played football against Oxford University at Wembley stadium, so securing his 'Blue'.
Nigel is also related to Francis P. Fenner, who as a local tobacconist and talented cricketer, created Fenner's Cricket Ground in the mid 19th Century.
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Tours / Talks
Book your own sports walking tour / talk
Date and time to suit
Prices start at £135 for 1.5 hours walking tour - maximum size 15 people. Use contact form to request date, time and topic(s) - see tours / talks listed on this page for suggestions.
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Talks to Local History Societies (LHS) / community groups etc: prices from £0 to £45 + travel. Scheduled talks in 2026 for Ely Walking Football Club, Chesterton LHS, Sick Children's Trust, Fulbourn LHS, Fen Drayton.
Walking tours / talks in 2026
Cambridge’s early football sub-culture – talk
2 - 3.30pm Thurs 19 March - repeated 2 - 3.30pm Tues 24 March at Fenner's Cricket Ground Pavilion. Part of Cambridge Festival
The history of football in Cambridge has understandably been dominated by the achievements of University students creating the modern-day laws of the game in the middle of the 19th century, and contributing towards it becoming the ‘global game’. What is also significant and yet largely unknown is the football sub-culture that existed in the 18th century across East Anglia making it the ‘major stronghold for football in Britain’. Nigel Fenner (Cambridge University Football Blue) will talk about the large number of football pitches lost as a result of land enclosure, many close to Cambridge, and focus on the game’s Anglo-Saxon origins, gentry and church support, the impact of European enlightenment, and University involvement.
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If you want to attend this talk use the contact form (click here)​​​
Cambridge Sport: in Fenner's Hands - walking tour series
11-12.30pm Wed 15 April 2026, and weekly thereafter ( x 5 sessions)
Cambridge was involved in shaping the British sporting revolution that went global in the second half of the 19th century, beyond just creating the modern-day laws of football and boxing, and sporting philosophies such as Muscular Christianity. Across the 5 sessions we will be visiting key sites across Cambridge to explore the individuals and sports that made up this revolution and the challenges they faced, such as the tensions between Town and Gown. Whilst Frank Fenner, a local tobacconist, and talented sportsman was initially able to bring Town and Gown together to play in the same teams, he later became a casualty of the revolution he helped to create.
The course is led by Nigel Fenner, following the chapters in his book Cambridge Sport: in Fenner’s Hands that are also structured as a walking tour. The course is administered by U3AC and spread over 5 x 1.5 hour sessions.​​
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To book a place contact U3AC
The 'Noble Art' (boxing) and the 'Global Game' (football)
A talk to explore Cambridge’s impact on both boxing, as the 'Noble Art', and football, as the 'Global Game'. The modern-day rules of both boxing and football were created in Cambridge by University students in the mid 19th century. Is this just a coincidence or was there be a link between these two sports, that despite being banned for many centuries, have today grown into the most popular global sports? This talk explores the early local history of both sports, including the version of local football that sometimes allowed boxing, on the 50 or so local venues, many only recently discovered. Thanks in part to Lord Byron, boxing became known as ‘the Noble Art’, which coincided with sport being used increasingly in the English Public Schools, and Oxford and Cambridge Universities to promote manliness and chivalry in young men, preparing them for Britain’s growing Empire.
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If you would be interested in attending this talk use the contact form (click here)
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Probable tours / talks for 2026: yet to book date(s)
Sport: Romanticism with boots on - walking tour
Through walking the hills of Somerset and the Lake District, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth developed a ‘real language of men’ that prompted FD Maurice and Charles Kingsley (also products of Cambridge) to create a sporting ethos taken up by the Public Schools and both Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
This 1.5 hour walking tour starts on Midsummer Common to explore the earlier history of leisure at Cambridge’s Fairs (using Bunyan and Thackeray etc), before walking into Town to discover how Byron, Darwin and other Cambridge ‘greats’, also impacted on this sporting revolution.
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If you would be interested in attending this walking tour use the contact form (click here)​​​
History of Cambridge Football – walking tour
Many consider Cambridge as the birthplace of the modern-day laws of football, thanks to University students who played together on Parker’s Piece, across the middle of the 19th century. As extraordinary as this is, there is much more to explore:
* Cambridge and East Anglia as the ‘major stronghold for football in England’ in the 18th century,
* The impact on Real Madrid, AND Barcelona,
* Oliver Cromwell’s local football,
* A 16th century football fight between the Town and University, and
* The history of Cambridge’s best football teams today.
Tour led by Nigel Fenner and Neil Harvey (Local football historian).
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If you would want to attend this walking tour use the contact form (click here)
Contact
If you would like to book a walking tour or just want more information please fill out the form below and SEND it - thank you.