The History of Football (Soccer): How It Started and Evolved

There is only one place and only one person who has no beginning, every other thing has.

Can you guess correctly what the place is called and who that person is?

The name of the place is called ‘Heaven,’ the official abode of God, while the person mentioned in the question is God Himself, whose holy name is Jehovah.

Cross-check your guesses with my answer to see whether you got them right or not.

Truly, truly, neither Heaven nor Jehovah has a beginning, but every other thing, place, and person, including football, has.

Football, the world’s most popular sport, has a long history, as you would soon discover.

This brings us to my topic for today: The History of Football (Soccer): How It Started and Evolved!

Why Still Talk About the History of Football at this Time and Age When the Game Has Gone Hi-tech?

“Why did you decide to write about the history of football when several other people and Websites have done so in the past?” you might ask.

Of a truth, hundreds of other individuals and Websites have already written about the history of football.

The reason I decided to touch on it again, here, even when some people think it is not necessary is that it won’t be nice to just jump into today’s soccer news, soccer matches, soccer scores, soccer match results, and players’ transfer, among other current issues in football without reminding soccer fans how the came they love and follow with passion started and evolved to become the world’s most popular sport.

In other words, it won’t any type of sense if football fans should know everything about today’s soccer without knowing or having an idea of how the beautiful game started, in the first place.

It this that great history of football that I want to share with you in this article.

I’m not going to bore you with too many details while doing that.  I’ll be as brief as possible.

At the end of the history lesson, I’ll leave you with a few links where you can go and get more information about the history of football, later, whenever necessary.

That said, let’s get started.

THE HUMBLE BEGINNING OF FOOTBALL: WHEN, WHERE, HOW IT STARTED AND GREW!

Have you ever wondered how the interesting and beautiful game of soccer was discovered and developed to become the most popular sport in the world?

I have done so, and it was that action that triggered my interest to dig into the history of the round leather game.

There is no definite or exact information as to the real beginning of football, the world’s most popular sport.

However, most historians agree that some type of a ball game has been played for at least over 3000 years in different parts of the world, including China, Australia, Greece, Italy, Egypt, Mexico, and Central America before England developed it into what it is today

Football, in those dark ages, was characterized by the following ugly features:

1. It involved kicking and punching the ball with the fist, which was considered very rough and violent, compared with its present-day way of playing it.  Because of the rough and violent nature of the game and the harm, it caused to the town and sometimes death to the participants, it was banned and unbanned for several centuries.
2. It also involved plenty of people; and two, it took place over large areas in towns.
3. There was no clear distinction between it and rugby.
4. There were also many variations, especially in the areas of the size of the ball, the number of players, and the length of a match.
5. There were no uniforms or jerseys to distinguish the appearance of one team from another.
6. It was also common to see players wearing caps, especially as the header was yet to be a part of the game, among other features.

 MODERN FOOTBALL

The proper development of football, as we know it today, started in England in the middle of the 19th century.

England is reputed to be the place where much of the development of modern football started because the following landmark events took place for the first time.

1. That was where and when efforts to standardize and create proper rules for the game were made at a meeting in Cambridge in 1848.
2. First Football Association was formed in 1863.
3. The first football club, Sheffield United, was formed in 1855.
4. First Football Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup) was held in 1871.
5. The first international match between two national teams, England and Scotland was played.
6. The First international football tournament involving four national teams: England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales took place in England.
7. The first domes soccer league, the English Football League, was established in 1888.
8. The first-ever black soccer player, Andrew Watson, played in Britain in the Scottish club Queen’s Park in the 1880s.

Football was simply a British phenomenon, for a long time, until it gradually spread to other parts of Europe and to the rest of the world.

No wonder England has the strongest and one of the most viable football leagues in the world, today.

“What an interesting history that has led to the spread of football to all parts of the world?” you would say.

FURTHER READING

I promised, at the beginning of this article, to give you some links concerning the history of football.

If you’re interested in discovering and learning more about the history of the beautiful and round leather game called football or soccer, please, check out the following links.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_association_football
• https://www.topendsports.com/sport/soccer/history.htm
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_association_football

The History of Football (Soccer): How It Started and Evolved. THE END.

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By Rosemary Duncan (Ms.)