FootballHistory.

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FOOTBALL HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY AND THE PRECURSORS OF FOOTBALL

The first known examples of a team game involving a ball, which was made out of a
rock, occurred in old Mesoamerican cultures for over 3,000 years ago. It was by the
Aztecs called Tchatali, although various versions of the game were spread over large
regions. In some ritual occasions, the ball would symbolize the sun and the captain of
the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods. A unique feature of the Mesoamerican
ball game versions was a bouncing ball made of rubber – no other early culture had
access to rubber.

The first known ball game which also involved kicking took place In China in the 3rd and
2nd century BC under the name cuju. Cuju was played with a round ball (stitched leather
with fur or feathers inside) on an area of a square. A modified form of this game later
spread to Japan and was by the name of kemari practiced under ceremonial forms.

Other variety of ball games had been known from Ancient Greece. The ball was made
by shreds of leather filled with hair (the first documents of balls filled with air are from the
7th century). Ball games had, however, a low status and was not included at the
Panhellenic Games. It was the Roman culture that would bring football to the British
island (Britannica). It is, however, uncertain in which degree the British people were
influenced by this variety and in which degree they had developed their own variants.

THE GAME OF FOOTBALL TAKES ITS FORM

The most admitted story tells that the game was developed in England in the 12th
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
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the fist. This early form of football was also much more rough and 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 sometimes death to the participants.
These would be among the reasons for the
proclamations against the game that finally
was forbidden for several centuries. But the
football-like games would return to the
streets of London in the 17th century. It would be forbidden again in 1835, but at this
stage the game had been established in the public schools.

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 FIRST FOOTBALL CLUBS

Football clubs have existed since the 15th century, but unorganized and without official
status. It is therefore hard to decide which the first football club was. Some historians
suggest that it was the Foot-Ball Club formed 1824 in Edinburgh. Early 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 that
was formed in 1862 and still exists today.
In the beginning, football was dominated by public school teams, but later, teams
consisting by workers would make up the majority. Another change was successively
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taking place when some clubs became willing to pay the best players to join their team.
This would be the start of a long period of transition, not without friction, in which the
game would develop to a professional level.

For a long time, the British teams would be dominant. After some decades, clubs from
Prague, Budapest and Sienna would be the primarily contenders to the British
dominance.

As with many things in history, women were for a long time excluded from participating
in games. It was not before the late 19th century that women started to play football. The
first official women's game took place in Inverness in 1888.

THE FIRST COMPETITIONS

Other milestones were now to follow. Football Association Challenge Cup (FA
Cup) became the first important competition when it was run in 1871. The following year,
a match between two national teams was played for the first time. The match that
involved England and Scotland ended 0-0 and was followed by 4,000 people at Hamilton
Crescent (the picture shows illustrations from this occasion).

Twelve years later, in 1883, the first international tournament took place and included
four national teams:

England Ireland Scotland Wales

Football was for a long time a British phenomenon, but it gradually spread to other
European countries. The first game that took place outside Europe occurred in Argentina
in 1867, but it was foreign British workers who were involved and not Argentinean
citizens.

BLACK PLAYERS

As in many other sports the white male was

predominant for a long time. In football black players
started being present relatively early and in
comparison with, for example, tennis, football has
traditionally been known as a sport with a mix of
black and white players.

In Britain, Andrew Watson is known to be the first

black player, and he played in the Scottish club Queen’s Park in the 1880s.

A GAME OF PASSION

Few other sports show examples of arenas are flocked by shearing people;
passion to that extent as football. The and in front of television even more are
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watching carefully and sometimes with of that capacity built to host its games.
great enthusiasm.
There have been two different traditions of
Already in the late 19th century, Goodison fan culture on the arenas: the British and
Park was built in England in purpose of the South American. The British fans
hosting football games. In 1894, the FA adopted the tradition of singing, the
Cup final between Notts County and repertoire was inspired from pub and
Bolton Wanderers was attended by working songs among other areas. The
37,000 people. A milestone in the South Americans on the other hand would
development of football stadiums is the adopt the carnival style which included
construction of Maracanã Stadium. In the firecrackers and fireworks, and also the
year of 1950 the imposing stadium in Rio modern phenomena of Bengali fires. Fans
de Janeiro was ready for almost 200,000 in other countries have later adopted a
people. No other sport has seen stadiums mixture of these traditions.