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Football History
There is documentary evidence that a a game or skill
building exercise, involving kicking a ball into a small net, was used by
the Chinese military during the Han Dynasty - around the 2nd and 3rd
centuries BC. Earlier evidence - of a field marked out to play a
ball-kicking game has been found at Kyoto, in Japan.
Both the Greeks and ancient Romans played a soccer-type game which resembled
modern soccer - although in this early version, teams could consist of up to
27 players!
It is impossible to say accurately where and when soccer started - but it is
reasonable to assume that some type of ball game - from which the organised
sport we know today developed - has been played somewhere on the planet for
over 3000 years.
Britain is the undisputed birthplace of modern soccer/association football.
Scotland and England being co-founders of the organised game.
Football - as soccer is called in Britain - was a popular sport of the
masses from the 8th century onwards.But the game at that time was a war
game!
In medieval times, towns and villages played against rival towns and
villages - and kicking, punching, biting and gouging were allowed.
The object of the game was to move the ball to an agreed spot which had been
marked out before play commenced.
In 1815, the famous English School, Eton College, established a set of rules
which other schools, colleges and Universities began to use. Later, these
were standardised and a version, known as the Cambridge Rules, was adopted
by most of England's Universities and Colleges in 1848.
But now, football was divided into two separate camps. Some colleges and
schools preferred to follow rules drawn up by Rugby School - rules which
permitted tripping, shin-kicking and carrying the ball - all forbidden by
the Cambridge rules.
On 26 October 1863, eleven London clubs and schools sent their
representatives to a meeting in the Freemason's Tavern to establish a single
set of fundamental rules to govern the matches played amongst them. This
meeting created The Football Association.
The supporters of the Rugby School rules walked out - and On 8 December
1863, Association Football and Rugby Football finally split.
In 1869 The Football Association included in their rules a provision which
forbade any handling of the ball - so establishing the foundation on which
the modern game stands.
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