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Foot Ball or Soccer

Football is the name given to a number ofteams, who would clash in a heaving mass of
different, but related, team sports. The mostpeople struggling to drag an inflated pig's
popular of these world-wide is associationbladder by any means possible to markers at
football (also known as soccer). The Englisheach end of a town (sometimes instead of
word "football" is also applied to Americanmarkers, the teams would attempt to kick the
football, Australian rules football, Canadianbladder into the balcony of the opponents'
football, Gaelic football, rugby footballchurch). There is no evidence to support the
(rugby union and rugby league), and relatedlegend that these games in England evolved
games. Each of these codes (specific sets offrom a more ancient and bloody ritual of
rules) is to a greater or lesser extentkicking the "Dane's head". Shrovetide games
referred to as "football" and sometimeshave survived into the modern era in a number
"footy"  by  its  followers.of  English  towns  (see  below).
These games involve:a large spherical orThe first detailed description of football in
prolate spheroid ball, which is itself calledEngland was given by William FitzStephen in
a football.a team scoring goals and/orabout 1174-1183. He described the activities
points, by moving the ball to an opposingof London youths during the annual festival
team's end of the field and either into aof  Shrove  Tuesday:
goal area, or over a line.the goal and/or
line being defended by the opposingAfter lunch all the youth of the city go out
team.players being required to move the ballinto the fields to take part in a ball game.
mostly by kicking and - in some codes -The students of each school have their own
carrying and/or passing the ball byball; the workers from each city craft are
hand.goals and/or points resulting fromalso carrying their balls. Older citizens,
players putting the ball between twofathers, and wealthy citizens come on
goalposts.offside rules, in most codes,horseback to watch their juniors competing,
restricting the movement of players.in someand to relive their own youth vicariously:
codes, points are mostly scored by playersyou can see their inner passions aroused as
carrying the ball across the goal line.inthey watch the action and get caught up in
most codes players scoring a goal must putthe fun being had by the carefree
the ball either under or over a crossbaradolescents.[3]
between the goalposts.players in some codes
receiving a free kick after they take a markMost of the very early references to the game
make  a  fair  catch.speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at
ball". This reinforces the idea that the
Many of the modern games have their originsgames played at the time did not necessarily
in England, but many peoples around the worldinvolve  a  ball  being  kicked.
have played games which involved kicking and
or carrying a ball since ancient timesWhileIn 1314 , Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of
it is widely believed that the wordLondon issued a decree banning football (in
"football" (or "foot ball") originated inthe French used by the English upper classes
reference to the action of a foot kicking aat the time. A translation reads:
ball, there is a rival explanation, which has"[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the
it that football originally referred to acity caused by hustling over large foot balls
variety of games in medieval Europe, which[rageries de grosses pelotes de pee] in the
were played on foot.[1] These games werefields of the public from which many evils
usually played by peasants, as opposed to themight arise which God forbid: we command and
horse-riding sports often played byforbid on behalf of the king, on pain of
aristocrats. While there is no conclusiveimprisonment, such game to be used in the
evidence for this explanation, the wordcity in the future." This is the earliest
football has always implied a variety ofreference  to  football.
games played on foot, not just those that
involved kicking a ball. In some cases, theThe earliest mention of a ball game that
word football has even been applied to gamesinvolves kicking was in 1321, in Shouldham,
which have specifically outlawed kicking theNorfolk: "[d]uring the game at ball as he
ballkicked the ball, a lay friend of his... ran
against  him  and  wounded  himself".[4].
Throughout the history of mankind, the urge
to kick at stones and other such objects isIn 1363, King Edward III of England issued a
thought to have led to many early activitiesproclamation banning "...handball, football,
involving kicking and/or running with a ball.or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or
Football-like games predate recorded historyother such idle games", showing that
in all parts of the world, and thus the"football" - whatever its exact form in this
earliest forms of football are notcase - was being differentiated from games
knownDocumented evidence of what is possiblyinvolving other parts of the body, such as
the oldest activity resembling football canhandball.
be found in a Chinese military manual written
during the Warring States Period in about theKing Henry IV of England gives the earliest
476 BC-221 BC. It describes a practice knowndocumented use of the English word
as cuju, which involved kicking a leather"football", in 1409, when he issued a
ball through a hole in a piece of silk clothproclamation forbidding the levying of money
strung  between  two  30  foot  poles.for  "foteball".[5]
Kemari being played at the Tanzan Shrine,There is also an account in Latin from the
Sakurai, Japan.Another Asian ball-kickingend of the 15th century of football being
game, which was influenced by cuju, isplayed at Cawston, Nottinghamshire. This is
kemari. This is known to have been playedthe first description of a "kicking game" and
within the Japanese imperial court in Kyotothe first description of dribbling: "[t]he
from about 600 AD. In kemari several peoplegame at which they had met for common
stand in a circle and kick a ball to eachrecreation is called by some the foot-ball
other, trying not to let the ball drop to thegame. It is one in which young men, in
ground (much like keepie uppie). The gamecountry sport, propel a huge ball not by
appears to have died out sometime before thethrowing it into the air but by striking it
mid-19th century. (It was revived in 1903,and rolling it along the ground, and that not
and it can now be seen played for the benefitwith their hands but with their feet...
of  tourists  at  a  number  of  festivals.)kicking in opposite directions" The
chronicler gives the earliest reference to a
Mesoamerican ballgames played with rubberfootball field, stating that: "[t]he
balls are also well-documented as existingboundaries have been marked and the game had
since before this time, but these had morestarted.[6]
similarities to basketball or volleyball, and
since their influence on modern footballOther firsts in the mediæval and early
games is minimal, most do not class them asmodern  eras:
football.
"a football", in the sense of a ball rather
The Ancient Greeks and Romans are known tothan a game, was first mentioned in 1486.[7]
have played many ball games some of whichThis reference is in Dame Juliana Berners'
involved the use of the feet. The RomanBook of St Albans. It states: "a certain
writer Cicero describes the case of a man whorounde instrument to play with ...it is an
was killed whilst having a shave when a ballinstrument for the foote and then it is calde
was kicked into a barber's shop. The Romanin Latyn 'pila pedalis', a fotebal." [8]a
game harpastum is believed to have beenpair of football boots was ordered by King
adapted from a team game known asHenry VIII of England in 1526. [9]women
"επισκÏ...ρος"playing a form of football was in 1580, when
(episkyros) or pheninda that is mentioned bySir Philip Sidney described it in one of his
Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388-311BC) andpoems: "[a] tyme there is for all, my mother
later referred to by Clement of Alexandria.often sayes, When she, with skirts tuckt very
These  games appears to have resembled rugby.hy, with girles at football playes."[10]the
first references to goals are in the late
There are a number of references to16th and early 17th centuries. In 1584 and
traditional, ancient, and/or prehistoric ball1602 respectively, John Norden and Richard
games, played by indigenous peoples in manyCarew referred to "goals" in Cornish hurling.
different parts of the world. For example, inCarew described how goals were made: "they
1586, men from a ship commanded by an Englishpitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or
explorer named John Davis, went ashore toten foote asunder; and directly against them,
play a form of football with Inuit (Eskimo)ten or twelue [twelve] score off, other
people in Greenland.[2] There are latertwayne in like distance, which they terme
accounts of an Inuit game played on ice,their Goales".[11] He is also the first to
called Aqsaqtuk. Each match began with twodescribe goalkeepers and passing of the ball
teams facing each other in parallel lines,between players.the first direct reference to
before attempting to kick the ball throughscoring a goal is in John Day's play The
each other team's line and then at a goal. InBlind Beggar of Bethnal Green (performed
1610, William Strachey of the Jamestowncirca 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a
settlement, Virginia recorded a game playedgole at camp-ball" (an extremely violent
by Native Americans, called Pahsaheman. Invariety of football, which was popular in
Victoria, Australia, indigenous people playedEast Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613,
a game called Marn Grook ("ball game"). AnMichael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to
1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, Thethrow, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons
Aborigines of Victoria, quotes a man calledforth they goe". The word "football", when
Richard Thomas as saying, in about 1841, thatused in reference to a specific game can mean
he had witnessed Aboriginal people playingany one of those described above. Because of
the game: "Mr Thomas describes how thethis, much friendly controversy has occurred
foremost player will drop kick a ball madeover the term football, primarily because it
from the skin of a possum and how otheris used in different ways in different parts
players leap into the air in order to catchof the English-speaking world. Most often,
it." It is widely believed that Marn Grookthe word "football" is used to refer to the
had an influence on the development ofcode of football that is considered dominant
Australian  rules  football  (see  below).within  a  particular  region.
These games and others may well go far backGlobally, and not necessarily in native
into antiquity and may have influenced laterEnglish speaking countries, the word
football games. However, the main sources of"football" usually refers to association
modern football codes appear to lie infootball as this is the most widely played
western  Europe,  especially  England.code of football. The name "soccer" (or
"soccer football") was originally a slang
The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularityabbreviation of association football and is
of annual Shrovetide football matchesnow the prevailing term in the United States,
throughout Europe, particularly in England.Canada, Australia and New Zealand where other
The game played in England at this time maycodes  of  football  are  dominant.
have arrived with the Roman occupation, but
there is little evidence to indicate this.Of the 45 national FIFA affiliates in which
Reports of a game played in Brittany,English is an official or primary language,
Normandy, and Picardy, known as La Soule oronly three (Canada, Samoa and the United
Choule, suggest that some of these footballStates) actually use "soccer" in their
games could have arrived in England as aorganizations' official names, while the rest
result  of  the  Norman  Conquest.use football (although the Samoan Federation
actually uses both). However, in some
An illustration of mob football.These archaiccountries, such as Australia and New Zealand,
forms of football, typically classified asuse of the word "football" by soccer bodies
"mob football", would be played betweenis a recent change and has been
neighbouring towns and villages, involving ancontroversial.
unlimited number of players on opposing



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