The History of Football

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Football
Football (or soccer as the game is called in some parts of the world) has a long history. Football in its current form arose in England in the middle of the 19th Century. But alternative versions of the game existed much earlier and are a part of the football history. The game dates back to the Mesoamerican culture played with a rock some 3000 years ago followed with Cuju where a ball was used for kicking in China. Various forms of the game were played in various countries but the present form of the game developed in England in the 12 th century.
. In this century games that resembled football were played on meadows and roads in England. Besides from kicks, the game involved also punches of the ball with the fist. This early form of football was also much rougher and more violent than the modern way of playing. An important feature of the forerunners to football was that the games involved plenty of people and took place over large areas in towns (an equivalent was played in Florence from the 16th Century where it was called Calcio). The rampage of these games would cause damage on the town and even death. These would be among the reasons for the proclamations against the game that finally was forbidden for several centuries.
It took, however, long time until the features of today’s football had been taken into practice. For a long time there was no clear distinction between football and rugby. There were also many variations concerning the size of the ball, the number of players and the length of a match.
The game was often played in schools and two of the predominant schools were Rugby and Eton. At Rugby the rules included the possibility to take up the ball with the hands and the game we today know as rugby has its origin from here. At Eton on the other hand the ball was played exclusively with the feet and this game can be seen as a close predecessor to the modern football. The game in Rugby was called “the running game” while the game in Eton was called “the dribbling game”.
Proper rules for the game were decided at a meeting in Cambridge in 1848 the first Football association was formed in 1863. This also led to a standardization of the size and weight of the ball, and also divided the game into two codes: association football and rugby.
The game would, continue to develop for a long time and there was still much flexibility concerning the rules. For one thing, the number of players on the pitch could vary. Neither was uniforms used to distinguish the appearance of the teams. It was also common with players wearing caps - the header was yet to be a part of the game.
Another important difference at this stage could be noticed between English and Scottish teams. Whereas the English teams preferred to run forward with the ball in a more rugby fashion, the Scottish chose to pass the ball between their players. It would be the Scottish approach that soon became predominant
The sport was at first an entertainment for the British working class. Unprecedented number of spectators, up to 30 000, could be seen in some of the matches in the late 19th century. The game was soon expanded by British peoples that traveled to other parts of the world. Especially in South America and India the interest in football became big.
Football clubs have existed since the 15th century, but unorganized and without official status. It is therefore hard to decide when the first football club started.. Some historians suggest that it was the Foot-Ball Club formed in 1824 in Edinburgh. Earlier clubs were often formed by former school students and the first of this kind was formed in Sheffield in 1855. The oldest among professional football clubs is the English club Notts County was formed in 1862 and still exists today.
An important step for the emergence of teams was the industrialization that led to larger groups of people meeting at places such as factories, pubs and churches. In bigger cities football teams were established and the new railroads could bring them to other cities.
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in 1904 and a foundation act was signed by representatives from France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. England and the other British countries did not join FIFA from the start; they had invented the game and saw no reason to subordinate to an association. Still, they joined in the following year, but would not partake in the World cup until 1950.
The Americans had their own version of football and hence they have a distinction between football and soccer. Today the latest addition to the game of football is futsal as it is called. This game is slowly gaining in popularity but can be no match as yet to the original game of football.