in his opinion , if football has existed in romans times , and there had been a tournament with teams from every conquered territory meeting in the coliseum , with east playing west , ( un ) friendly games against carthage , slaves skilled in dribbling freed , referees thrown to the lions every week , incoherent debates in the senate between patricians , apollo and augustus represented wearing football boots , the temple columns serving as goal posts , the baths invaded by footballers , the empire would in theory not have lasted half the time , the barbarians would have found nothing but the ruins of rome and the christian religion would have been extinguished .