Most people don’t realize that the official teams were created to give the working class a controlled “battle” to fight and a “hometown army” to belong to, both controlled by the wealthy, so the working class wouldn’t form one on their own.

You know what the ruling class definitely doesn’t want? A bunch of tough stickball players and the crowd at the game, storming the governor’s house after a match because they spent the whole night before talking about how low wages are and how they should do something. Then, got drunk on the empowerment of their sunday winning game and decided to actually do something while everyone was together, well fed, feeling strong and important.