Football is also known as soccer. It is one of the oldest known sports in the world. This has become the most popular and most watched sport in the world. It is played in over 210 countries around the world and dominated by Europe. For your amazement, we would like to share that the most popular sport of the world was invented in South Asian country, China. At that time it was not called football and had a different domestic name.
As we told you earlier, football is also known as soccer but the fact is that only two countries call it soccer – America and Canada. Even though football is known as soccer in America and Canada they are not the one to invent this term. England called football soccer for the first time in the 1800s but stopped calling it with this name over 35 years ago.
Football is a game in which two teams of 11 members play against each other. They have to throw the ball into the opposing team’s goal by using their body parts except one hand and arms. And just like other Sports whoever scores more goals emerge victorious. It is played at every level from international football fields to local fields, school playground, gymnasium, parks, beaches, etc. Federation internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is the football governing body which organises the FIFA World Cup once every four years. This is watched by over 25 billion people every time.
When the present of football is so much jaw dropping what mystery and facts could be hidden in its history. So get ready and let’s take a look at the history of Football.
History of Football
Football was first introduced in the 19th century but it was played in various different forms before. Some alternative versions were in existence earlier.
Early History of Football
The first ever game involving a ball was played in old Mesoamerican culture over 3000 years ago. The ball was made by cutting a piece of rock. In some religious and ritual occasions the ball would symbolize the sun and the captain of the defeated team would be sacrificed to God. It was also in the Meso American culture when ball game involved the balls made of rubber. No other contemporary culture had access to rubber.
It was in China in the second and third centuries when kicking was first introduced in ball games. It was called Cuju. It was the invention of football. Day by day this game became modified and one of its modified forms spread to Japan where it was known as kemari.
Various other forms and variants of ball games are known from ancient Greece and ancient Rome. The balls were made out of very strange and different materials the world was not even familiar with. In ancient Rome the ball games were not considered or proved very much entertaining and that’s why they acquired a lower status. But it became an occurrence in the exercises by the name of Harpastum. This form of football was introduced to the British by Roman culture. They were the first to bring this amazing game to a British Island called Britannica. After that Britain developed its own alternatives of football.
How did football take its present form?
As we read above, there were games resembling football. It is believed that the actual football game was developed in 12 century in England. But it was different from what it is now. Besides kicks, the players used their first to punch the ball and many other ways. It was kind of a violent game which would cause damage to the city and its citizens. This is why these football-like games were forbidden for the centuries. But it returned to the streets of London in the 17th century. In 1835 football was forbidden again but at that time it had secured its place in public schools.
However it took a very long time to transform the features of football. Features of present day football are far more distinct and safer than the previous ones. Now football has become the most popular and played sport in the world. Its history made it better as nobody would repeat the same mistakes.
The oldest football clubs
Football clubs came into existence in the 15th century but they were unorganised and unofficial. This is why it is hard to say which football club is the oldest or first. Historians suggest that the football club formed in 1824 in edinburg is the first football club. Previously, clubs were often formed by school students and the first of them was formed in Sheffield in 1855. The first professional football club is the English Notts County which was opened in 1862 and exists till now.
As you can see all of these noted football clubs were formed after 1800. The most significant factor of the development of football teams and these clubs was industrialization. Industrialization did not just establish industries but also provided new opportunities. Football teams were established in larger cities and railway construction helped them move from one place to the other.
For a very long time Britain continued to dominate football and British teams played dominant. The professional football clubs of Britain had a dominating power. But as time passed clubs from Budapest, Prague and Siena would be the primary competitors to the British teams and marked the real competition in the sports world.
When it comes to participation in sports , women were excluded from participating in games for a very long period of time. Women got the opportunity to play sports only in the 19th century. The first official women’s game took place in 1888 in Inverness.
