The Unlawful Games Act 1541 (33 Hen. 8. c. 9), sometimes referred to as the Suppression of Unlawful Games Act 1541,[3] was an Act of the Parliament of England, designed to prohibit "Several new devised Games" that caused "the Decay of Archery".[4] All Men under the Age of sixty Years "shall have Bows and Arrows for shooting". Men-Children between Seven "Years and Seventeen shall have a Bow and 2 Shafts". Men about Seventeen "Years of Age shall keep a Bow and 4 Arrows". The penalty for nonobservance was set at 6s.8d.
Section 1 of the Gaming Act 1845 repealed much of the Unlawful Games Act 1541.
The Statute Law Revision Act 1948 repealed Sections 11 to 13, part of Section 8, and the preambulatory words "by reason therof Archerie ys sore decayed, and dayly is lyke to be more mynished..."[6] Archery could not compete with the nefarious pursuits of cricket, dicing, and carding.[7]
The Act forbade all sport on Christmas Day with the exception of archery practice, meaning that footballers who played on Christmas Day before 1960, when the Football League routinely scheduled fixtures for 25 December, had technically broken the law.[11]