Introduction
Soccer, or association football in many countries around the world, is a ball game played by teams consisting of eleven players each. The game itself is played on a rectangular field with goals at either end. The objective of the game is to score a point by making the ball enter the opposing player’s goal. Each team has a goalkeeper, a player who guards their respective team’s goalposts and prevents the ball from entering it. Except for the goalkeeper, players are only allowed to use either their head, torso, or feet to kick and touch the ball. Wins in soccer are determined by who has the most points by the end of the match. The official rules of soccer are codified by the Football Association in 1863. International football is handled by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) which also hosts world cups for the sports for both genders once every four years (Marshall, 1996).
Soccer has had a quite an extensive history since its inception of the standardized form in 1863. In this report, medieval football, the collective term for all the variants of the game before the rules were standardized, will be discussed. Next, the inception of football and its rules as it is known today will be tackled in depth, as well as the history of the first major association of the sport, the Football Association. After that, the history of football in the United States will be briefly expounded upon and lastly, the history of the governing body of international football will be touched upon.
Medieval Football
While it is generally agreed upon that soccer as it is known today was created in 1860s in England, the history of the game as a whole goes back into ancient times. Studies, traditions and relics show that derivations of the game have been played in countries such as Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome, among others. For example, there is a game called Harpastum by the Romans. The name of the game literally means ‘small ball game’ and it involves players striving possession of the ball in question. While there are other games in ancient Greek and Roman history that involve grabbing of the ball (episkyro and harpastron), Harpastum is considered one of the primary forerunners of soccer as it is the only one in these games that involves the use of feet (Thayer, n.d.).
China has its own variation of a football game forerunner termed as cuju. This sport was recognized by the FIFA is one of the origins of soccer as it known today. In cuju, players have to kick the ball through a goalposts, barring the use of hands. Cuju became popular in China during the Warring States Period (476 – 221 BC), and it flourished and developed during the Han, Tan, and Song Dynasties. During this period, the laws of the game were standardized and the game became popular for the court members and the lower classes alike. There were two main styles of cuju: zhuqiu, performed at court feasts and is consisted of 12 – 16 players on both sides, and baida, in which players would kick the ball to other team members, and merits and demerits will be given on how the ball was kicked. However, the game faded in popularity during the Ming Dynasty due to lack of interest and neglect and it eventually became obscure and subsequently forgotten (Dunmore, 2011).
There are also variations of soccer played throughout the Middle Ages. One such game is called la soule or chule, and it consists of two teams attempting to bring the ball to the goal posts of the opposing team, usually the parish church. There were no fixed locations for this game; it can continue in any terrain. There were great potentials of and danger in this game and so it was banned every now and then to largely unsuccessful results. Eventually, a variant called “Kickball” was introduced, wherein the ball could only be kicked but not picked up or carried. This is the precursor of soccer as it is known today (“Game of the Month: Football”, n.d.).
The Early Foundations of Modern Soccer
During the 17th century, many of the leading schools in England have been practicing soccer in their own schools. It was believed that having a form of physical activity builds character and authority on young men. Eton has been playing football as early as 1747, followed by Westminster in 1949 and Harrow, Shrewsbury, Winchester and Charterhouse in 1750. These schools follow their respective set of rules; for example, Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham allowed the use of both hands and feet, while Shrewsbury and Winchester had rules that focused on dribbling. Eton’s and Harrow’s rules involve primarily kicking the ball due to their large playing fields that are available.
Because there are so many convoluted rules in playing the game, there was a need for an official rule in which these schools could all agree upon on. As a result, a meeting in Cambridge University took place in 1848, with representatives from Shrewsbury, Eton, Harrow and Rugby participating. These rules were soon spread around over England’s public schools. However, some schools still refused to accept these rules and still followed their own.
In 1862, John Charles Thring, a teacher at Uppingham, devised a new set of rules that he referred to as “The Simplest Game” and more commonly referred to as Uppingham Rules. Thring’s rules seemingly encourage less violence and thus it was adopted many times (Lennox, 2008).
In 1857, the oldest football club was founded by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prestin Sheffield and is now known as the Sheffield Football Club. This club has its own set of rules in football, known as the Sheffield Rules. These rules were important as they introduced some concepts in modern football such as free kicks, throw-ins, and the like (Rowley, 2015).
In 1863, the head of the Barnes Football Club, Ebenezer Morley, wrote a letter to the newspaper Bell’s Life saying that there is a need for a governing body for soccer that will draft the official rules of the game and will oversee major issues regarding the game. Thus, the Football Association was established in October of that year. Morley himself became the first secretary and the second president of that club. Because of this act, Morley became known as not only the Father of the Football Association, but also the Father of Association Football as well (Lennox).
History of the Football Association
The Football Association is the oldest football association in the world, and governs matters related to football in England. It has a major influential role in the history of soccer itself.
First, the first official rules of the game were established by the organization itself. The association held many meetings and underwent several revisions of the rules before finally releasing the first ever comprehensive rules for the game on December 8 of that year, which is dubbed “The Laws of Football”. At around this time, the game was also known as soccer, a shortened term for association football.
In 1871 the first ever cup of the association, aptly dubbed the FA cup, was introduced at the suggestion of Charles W. Alcock, the FA secretary during that time. During its inception, only 15 clubs took part in the cup. Today, the FA Cup remains to be one of the oldest knockout association football competition in the world (Lennox).
History of Football in the United States
While it is generally agreed upon that football has its origins in England, the game was adopted as well by other countries, the United States being one of them. Association football was more popularly known in the USA as soccer, because it is liable to be confused with a game of a similar name, which is American football.
The first soccer association in the United States is the American Football Association, which was founded in 1884 and was in league with England’s Football Association. It also is the governing body for the first American cup on the sport, the American Cup.
However, the main flaw of the organization is that it refused to expand its territories outside of the New England region. Soon enough, it found itself being outclassed by the American Amateur Football Association, which later renamed itself as the United States Soccer Federation. The USFA became a FIFA affiliate in 1914 and is the governing body of the oldest knockout cup in the United States, the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup (Reck & Dick, 2014).
History of the FIFA
FIFA, the world’s largest international governing body regarding football, was founded in May 21, 1904. At that time, other football associations other than England’s Football Association were quickly being established, and so there arose a need for a governing body that controls all these football associations. The governing bodies of many European countries except for England were subsequently united by the FIFA, which was established in Paris. The first president was Robert Guérin, and they aimed to organize an international cup without much success due to the absence of the British Football association. England itself did not join FIFA until 1905. South Africa joined in 1909, followed by Argentina and Chile in 1912. American countries Canada and the United States subsequently joined in 1913. FIFA continued to expand to the extent that they have 84 members by the time of its 50th anniversary (Rousseau, 2014).
Today, FIFA remains as the largest football association in the world. It conducts the FIFA World Cup once every four years, with many countries from all over the world participating.
Conclusion
Soccer is a ball game played by two teams who attempt to score points by making the ball pass through the other team’s goal. It is a popular sport whose origins can be traced back to the ancient times, when its variants like Harpastum, cuju, and la soule were popular and formed the foundations of soccer. The rules of soccer differed among schools in England during the 17th century, which were eventually polished and unified by the first soccer association, the Football Association. In the United States, the first American football team, the American Football Association was established at around the same time but was eventually overshadowed by the American Amateur Football Association which later renamed itself the United States Football Association. The largest football association in the world, FIFA, also has an extensive history as well.
References
Dick, B., & Reck, G. (2014). American Soccer: History, Culture, Class. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
Dunmore, T. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Soccer. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Game of the Month: Football. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www-cs.canisius.edu/~salley/SCA/Games/football.html
Lennox, D. (2008). Now You Know Soccer. Ontario: Dundurn Press.
Marshall, D. (1997). Soccer (Successful Sports). London: Heinemann Library.
Rousseau, C. (2014). FIFA World Cup: History (Soccer, Football Soccer, Coaching, Team, Players, Championship). Amazon.com.
Rowley, C. (2015). The Shared Origins of Football, Rugby and Soccer. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
