Dressed in a full soccer strip, with the manufacturer’s swoosh logo in white on the black shirt and the black shorts, he ran up and struck the Ball with force. It flew far wide of the right-hand goalpost. The goalkeeper, standing between the pristine white posts and with a goalnet behind him, stood still and watched the ball pass.

It all seemed very grand for a village playing field, and a very far remove from the days forty years ago when boys played football with a heavy leather ball in …