Recreational or sporting activities in towns are usually evidenced through authorities' prohibitions of those considered undesirable. Prohibitions were, however, no more effective than their enforcement, which relied largely upon charges being brought by private individuals or presented by the leet jury. It was a not uncommon complaint from owners of estates surrounding towns that townsmen would trespass and poach thereon. In 1480, for example, the Prior of Coventry was complaining to the mayor that (among other things) townspeople: were hunting and hawking on his lands within and outside the city bounds; had damaged his hedges and crops by a reckless sport called "roving" which involved shooting arrows at movable targets; were surreptitiously, during the day and at night, fishing in his ponds; had made a "sporting place" on his land where they practised archery and played "other games". The mayor's response was basically that all these were offences committed by individuals and it was incumbent upon the Prior to prosecute any guilty party; the mayor noted that roving was a problem commonly encountered in large cities and prohibited in Coventry by ordinance.

Archery was one of the few sports sanctioned by authority, since it built skills useful in times of war or local defence. In the passage above, the concern was not with archery per se, but with it being practiced in a location where it was not likely to prove a danger to bystanders.