Origins of Soccer

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Well, since it's football time, I was wondering if anyone knew some of the origins of football and all. Feel free to discuss.

[Rodion Romanovich]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football, especially the "ancient games" part was interesting:

"Documented evidence of what is possibly the oldest organized activity resembling football can be found in a Chinese military manual written during the Han Dynasty in about 2nd century BC.

It describes a practice known as cuju (Traditional Chinese:蹴鞠 or 蹴踘 ; Pinyin: cù jū) which involved kicking a leather ball through a hole in a piece of silk cloth strung between two 30 foot poles."

[Sjakihata]

here is a link

http://library.thinkquest.org/6314/history.html#China

[English assassin]

I don't know, but I do know anyone interested in the origins of football will be interested in the ba' game still played in Kirkwall to this day:

http://www.bagame.com/main.html

[ShadesWolf]

The game is football not soccer

[Mikeus Caesar]

The game is football not soccer

I was just about to say that. This thread should be renamed Origins of Football, not soccer.

[Reverend Joe]

Football:

Emerged during the use of the Guillotine. After the head was severed, lifted to the crowd and the declaration was made ("Vive la roi/Republique!") the head would be thrown to the crowd. When it came back, not only was it unrecognisable, but it was also checkered white and black from the combination of remaining makeup and boot marks. Hence, football.

[Red Peasant]

Many cultures developed ball games and sports, but 'football' or specifically 'association football', as queried here, was invented here in Britain and its most basic rules devised in the 19th century. I know this without looking up Wiki or some other source.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

I believe that "Football" in the 16-17th Century could refer to a game played between the men of two towns where they had to get a wooden ball back to their own town. The game was actually banned in Wales because of the number of injuries caused.

I think that is a later off shoot, it seems like a very Celtic thing, as opposed to Saxon.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Sorry, I'm a huge fan in the United States.

Mods thange it please.

[Papewaio]

Association Football isn't the oldest modern game of Football around.

Association Football

Sheffield FA formed in 1867

England is also home to the world's first football league, which was founded in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor

Untrue...

Australian Rules

Melbourne Football Club (1858), other early clubs still in existence in the AFL include: Geelong (1859), Carlton (1864), North Melbourne (aka Hotham, now Kangaroos) (1869), Port Adelaide (1870), Essendon and St Kilda (1873), South Melbourne (now Sydney Swans) (1874) and Footscray (now the Western Bulldogs) (1877).

Other historic clubs, such as the Castlemaine Football Club (1859), Melbourne University Football Club (1859) also continue to exist in lesser leagues.

In 1877, the Victorian Football Association (VFA), the game's first league, was formed by 14 clubs: Albert Park, Ballarat, Barwon, Beechworth, Carlton, Castlemaine, East Melbourne, Essendon, Geelong, Hotham (later North Melbourne, now Kangaroos), Inglewood, Melbourne, Rochester and St Kilda. Six of these clubs were from the Victorian country

The game played by the Chinese has a lot in common with Football (soccer), Football (Australia), Volleyball and Netball.

[ShadesWolf]

Football was recorded in English history in the thirteeth century but at that time it was a lawless affair with town against town chasing the ball through streets, across fields and rivers and was really a good excuse for drunkeness and a riot ( a bit like it is today ! )

In the middle of the nineteenth century the game was taken up by the Public Schools of that time, Eton, Harrow, Winchester etc with the emphasis on order, fair play, disipline and team spirit, but each school had their own rules and it was not until 1863 when a housemaster, Mr Thring at Uppingham school, published "Thrings Simplest Rules of Football" which along with the formation of several London clubs meant that it became imperative to standardise the rules.

On October 26 1863 the representatives of these London clubs met at the Freemasons Tavern in Lincoln's Inn Field, the teams represented were :- No Names of Kilburn, The War Office, Crusaders, Forest (Leytonstone), Barnes, Percival House (Blackheath), Crystal Palace, Blackheath, Kensington School, Surbiton, Charterhouse, and Blackheath Proprietary School. They decided to standardise the rules and at the same time the formation of the Football Association was carried by Eleven votes to One, the rules being published in November of that year and became known as the "London Rules."

Just for info

[Papewaio]

Which is not the same rules as a eleven man football (aka soccer) match... unless you want to admit hooliganism is what the english do best?

It is as much Rugby as any other modern codified game...