It's lovely to see how this has not changed so much even today, especially with people in England crazy for sports like soccer/football and rugby.

Humans have always had the tendency to find ways to kickback and relaxed, and from this phrase we can see the author's view of what the ideal urban society is: serious and practical at times, while recreational at other times. If I were to compare it to modern day society I feel like the desire to seek constant recreation and fun can be seen especially when it comes to overwork and stress found in the expectations of modern society, which seems like an unhealthy balance and maybe, I think, people of the past would have found this type of living quite depressing and scary.