A form of football, or soccer as it is sometimes called, can be traced back to China and Japan in 1004 BC, where a ball was kicked around a defined field of play. There is evidence of a match between China and Japan, in Kyoto, the then capital of Japan, in 611 AD.

There is also evidence of a form of football being played by the Ancient Greeks, Italians, Native American Indians, Persians, Central Americans, Scottish Clans, Vikings and Assyrians. The early Roman Olympic Games had an event that resembles modern day Football. The game was so taxing that two thirds of the players required hospitalization by the end of the contest.

However, the origin of football, or soccer, as we know it today can be clearly traced to England. The best evidence of the game’s history in England are the laws enacted in the early 1300’s by the reigning monarch to outlaw the game. A prison term was the punishment for playing. A succession of reigning monarchs also enacted laws to stop the practice of what was seen to be a very unseemly pastime. Queen Elizabeth 1st not only ordered a week in prison for players, but prison was to be followed by penance in the church.

Official sanction was finally given to the game in England in 1681. It was not until 1815 that rules were finally applied by a group of five English schools. As the sport spread, rules varied from school to school, region to region, country to country. The first united set of rules was drawn up by the world’s first football federation in England in 1886.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) was founded in England in 1888. FIFA, (The Federation Internationale de Football) is the governing body of international football and was founded in Paris in 1904. The rules of the English football association were adopted as standard for the international soccer community.

The game of football as we know it today was established in, and exported from England. For example, football was introduced to Brazil, by an Englishman, in 1885. English teachers and their students held matches in Tokyo, Japan, in 1871. British soldiers, sailors and settlers took the game with them to the four corners of the world

The first football club to be established outside England was in Boston in 1862. The first international game of football was held in 1872 with a match between Scotland and England. The first international match held outside Great Britain was between the USA and Canada in 1885.

According to a 2001 FIFA survey, football is now played by more than 240 million people in more than 200 countries worldwide. Billions watch both local and international matches live and on television. The estimated television audience for the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany and won by Italy, is up to 60 million viewers for some matches.

Records of the movement and development of individual sports were not a focus for historians in days gone by, so there is no definitive proof of the ancient origin of our current sport of football. It is just possible that the English simply recognized what many other cultures had experienced; it is fun to kick a football around a paddock!

Posted by leaddog50 in Soccer