The Origins of Football

Sepp Blatter, President of Fifa

“We honor the Chinese people for their country’s role as the cradle of one of the earliest forms of football, having firmly planted the roots of our sport”

[Speaking the Bejing Football Expo in 2004]

Football’s Beginnings

• The origin of Football can be found in every corner of geography and history.

• The Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greek, Persian, Viking, and many more played a ball game long before our era.

• The Chinese played "football"  games date as far back as 3000 years ago.

• The Ancient Greeks and the Roman used football  games to sharpen warriors for battle. In South and Central America a game called "Thlatchi" once flourished.

CHINA

• China- as created and ruled by the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-221 C.E.) widely played a game called cuju (trans. kick ball).

• This invention should come as no surprise since the emergence of settled societies, cities and social hierarchies (in a word CIVILIZATIONS) provided a framework in which the spontaneous play could be organized in rule-bound contests

CUJU• A competitive game that involved kicking a ball through

the openings into a net. The use of hands was not allowed. (VIDEO MESSI)

• The game was played with a stitched leather ball stuffed with fur or feathers. There were two teams on a marked pitch. Rough tackling was allowed but kicking was the mainform of propulsion.

• The popularity of cuju spread from the army to the royal courts and upper classes. It is said that the Han emperor Wu Di enjoyed the sport. (VIDEO)

• It was an element of recreation and training (some suggest it could help to ward off the leg numbness suffered after a long horse-ride.

• Cuju matches were often held inside the imperial palace. A type of court called ju chang was built especially for cuju matches, which had six crescent.

• The game changed across centuries: the ball itself was transformed and made easier to control. But the new ball (hollow ball) was accessible only to rich causing the separation between the common game (Bai Da) and the courtly game (Zhu Qin).

• The former was closer to the original Han version of cujo.

Emperor Taizu of Song playing cuju with Prime Minister Zhao Pu, by the Yuan-era painter Qian Xuan (1235–1305)

• Although the rules of the game are not certain, in Zhu Qiu physical context and direct confrontation was lost and a more stylized format adopted.

• Two goals merged into one. The ball was first passed among players of one team until it was received by a designated player who alone can attempt to shoot at target.

• Whether they scored or not, if the shooting side could keep the ball in air afterwards they would retain possession and have another try. If the ball touched the ground the other team gained possession.

• Cujo was exported along trading routes and courtesy of imperial expansion: in Malasya a cross of football and volleyball called Sepak Raga was played; the ancestor of modern Sepak takraw.

Sepak takraw

• Sepak takraw ( a compromise between the Malay word for kick and the Thai word for ball) differs from the similar sport of volleyball in its use of a rattan ball and only allowing players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball.

• It is a popular sport in Southeast Asia (VIDEO)

MEDIEVAL JAPAN

• In Japan Kamaraki was played, first documented in the 12th century). Also this form of the game is related to the courtly version of cuju although it was more stylized.

• Kamari means “standing among trees”.

• The playing space was a 6-7 metre dirt square demarcated by four pine trees placed at the corners.

• Eight players were then standing in pairs: one pair per corner.

• The ball was hollow, light and made of deerskin, often coated with albumen.

• The players would tried to keep the ball in the air as long as possible and used the trees to bounce it off, the branches pruned in a way to provide a path back to the court for the ball.

• A formal count of the kicks was held and extra points was given by the officials responsible for impressive or stylish plays.

• Kamari became an important pastime among the Japanese elite in the 12th and 13th centuries. Important players were admired for their skills but also for their attention to tradition and etiquette.

• The first masters appeared and wrote down the rules and emperors started playing the game.

• Distinct schools or houses of kamari started emerging with their own take on training, techniques and rules. (VIDEO)

• Kamari was lost in a modernizing society and became a minority pastime for aristocrats.

CONCLUSIONS (?)• What really marks these sports (cuju, kemari) out in the

ancient history of ball games was that they were PRIMARILY BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY KICKING GAMES.

• But they were not unique in this.

• Among the Aborigenal Australians, Marn Grook has been played for millennia. In Polinesia indigenous kicking games were played with balls made of wrapped Pandanus leaves

• Native Americans played many large-scale team ball games although they showed a general disinclination to use their hands and preferred bats or feet,

• What has ultimately determined which game modernity plays was not who played the earliest version of a kicking ball and not even who kept the ball on the ground the longest, but WHO PLAYED THE GAME AT THE MOMENT OF MODERNIZATION (INDUSTRIALIZATION).

Mesoamerican Football

The Mesoamerican ballgame or Tlatchtli in Náhuatl was a sport with ritual associations played since 1,400 B.C. by the pre-Columbian peoples of Ancient Mexico and Central America. The sport had different versions in different places during the millennia, and a modern version of the game, ulama, is still played in a few places by the local indigenous population.

ROMAN FOOTBALL• HARPASTUM, also known as Harpustum, was a form of ball game

played in the Roman Empire. The Romans also referred to it as the small ball game. The ball used was small (not as large as a follis, paganica, or soccer-sized ball) and hard, probably about the size and solidity of a softball.

• The word harpastum is the latinisation of the Greek ἁρπαστόν (harpaston), the neuter of ἁρπαστός (harpastos), "carried away”, from the verb ἁρπάζω (harpazo), "to seize, to snatch”.

• This game was apparently a romanized version of a Greek game called phainind (Greek: φαινίνδα), or of another Greek game called ἐπίσκυρος (episkuros). It involved considerable speed, agility, and physical exertion.

• Little is known about the exact rules of the game, but sources indicate the game was a violent one with players often ending up on the ground. In Greece, a spectator (of the Greek form of the game) once had his leg broken when he got caught in the middle of play.

• The rules of the ballgame are not known, but judging from its descendant, ulama, they were probably similar to racquetball. where the aim is to keep the ball in play. The stone ballcourt goals (see photo to right) are a late addition to the game. This later addition of the game changed the game entirely though, since an immediate win could be attained from them by tossing the balls in the ring, or points could be scored by simply tossing the ball so that it touched the ring.In the most widespread version of the game, the players struck the ball with their hips, although some versions allowed the use of forearms, rackets, bats, or handstones. The ball was made of solid rubber and weighed as much as 4 kg (9 lbs), and sizes differed greatly over time or according to the version played.The game had important ritual aspects, and major formal ballgames were held as ritual events, often featuring human sacrifice. The sport was also played casually for recreation by children and perhaps even women.

Football in Europe

• As we go forward on the history of Football timeline, we notice that the game has gradually entered European territory, Europe being the place where modern day Football will start in several centuries.

• Middle age Football is covered in a combination of myth and historical facts.

• One popular form of the game (Mob Football) involved entire villages or towns and was rather chaotic.

Football in Europe (cont.)

• The teams could have unlimited players, as long as they were from the same village or town. Both teams had to kick the ball towards specific landmarks, and defend their own.

• To add more chaos, the ball was made out of inflated pigs' bladders, or leather skins stuffed with all sorts of materials.

• Picture two masses of people running towards a poor pig bladder ball, kicking, stomping, punching and pushing each other in the attempt to kick the object to some area.

Football in Europe (cont.)• In medieval France, a game called "La Choule"

was usually played in town gatherings, such as just after Sunday church, or on special occasions or holidays.

• The game itself looked like a combination of Football, handball, hockey, baseball and kickboxing, since the players of each team had to strike the ball into the opponent's goal, using whatever means necessary and whatever accessories necessary.

• For example, one record shows that players were allowed to use sticks or clubs to hit the ball around, although it wasn't always the ball that got hit.

History Continued

• The game was violent in nature and I assume there were plenty occasions where the after-church Choule match ended up with another trip to the church to confess some violent sins.

• In England, the game was surrounded by an aura of violence and was considered a dangerous and sinful game. As such, it was banned in 1314 by Nicholas de Farndone, the Mayor of London.

Calcio Fiorentino• Calcio Fiorentino was an early form of football that originated in

16th century Italy. The Piazza Santa Croce of Florence is the cradle of this sport, that became known as giuoco del calcio fiorentino ("Florentine kick game") or simply calcio ("kick").The official rules of calcio were published for the first time in 1580 by Giovanni de' Bardi,a Florentine count.

• Just like Roman harpastum, it was played in teams of 27, using both feet and hands. Goals could be scored by throwing the ball over a designated spot on the perimeter of the field. The playing field is a giant sand pit with a goal running the width of each end. There is a main referee, six linesmen and a field master. Each game is played out for 50 minutes with the winner being the team with the most points or 'cacce'.Originally, calcio was reserved for rich aristocrats,who played every night between Epiphany and Lent. In the Vatican, even Popes, such as Clement VII, Leo XI and Urban VIII were known to play.

BRITAIN AND THE INVENTION OF MODERN

FOOTBALL• Football was marginalized by sporting aristocracy that preferred

racing, fighting and cricket and it was squeezed from below by the traditional sports and pastimes.

• Indeed, with the beginning of industrialization the new class of industrialists and business people looked down upon football as having a bad impact on property and labour discipline.

• The new aristocracy of the industrial era attempted to put a considerable distance between itself and the new urban proletariat.

• This led to the abandonment of the traditional forms of football.

Football – the Public Schools

Football was played in the Public Schools. Each school had their own rules.

This is ‘prince’ Harry playing Eton football.

!!!!!!!!!

British Public Schools of the early 19th century existed to educate the sons of the country old landed and new commercial families standing at the apex of the social and economic hierarchy. Curriculum dominated by Greek,Latin and theology .Discipline was harsh but classes were turbulent and anarchist as the social superiority of most of the pupils over the staff, combined with the basic disposition of the young male aristocrats meant that indiscipline could led to open rebellions (the army was called to Rugby in 1797 to put down a pupils’ revolt)

Games as central component of boy’s culture. Thus all the leading Public Schools (Eton, Winchester and Harrow among the others) had developed some kind of football tradition in the late 18th or early 19th century.

Harrow, whose pitches were poorly drained and heavy developed a game using a large flat-bottomed ball that could scud across clay mud and puddles.

In Eaton they played a form of wall game ( VIDEO)[played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long (The Furrow) next to a slightly curved brick wall (The Wall) erected in 1717.]

Winchester football was played on a long narrow pitch with emphasis on kicking and chasing the ball.

Westminster enclosed space seemed to favor a short dribbling style of game.

Shrewsbury and Rugby appeared to put more emphasis on carrying the ball with their hands.

Scrums, hot, rouges and squashes were synonymous with Public Schools Football. The violence and danger saw the Eaton field Game banned

between 1827 and 1836.

THOMAS ARNOLDHeadmaster at Rugby Public School between 1828 and 1848. Planning to discipline the students. He introduced ball games as part of the curriculum Games and Athleticism were not initially part of his plan but he soon realized that engaging the turbulent students in team games allowed him and his staff to insert themselves into the pre-existing hierarchy of power with themselves at the top, senior boys below and new arrivals at the bottom and then to delegate some power down to the seniors.

The importance games assumed could be measured by the size of playing fields and by the fact that urban grammar schools (design to provide secondary education) started emulating the games played in Public Schools.

While Cricket remained immensely popular as the unchallenged summer game, and boxing rowing and athletics all had their niches FOOTBALL CAPTIVATED THE ENERGIES AND IMAGINATION OF STAFF AND PUPILS.

Although the rules of each schools’ game were not yet fixed, they had began to assumed a reasonably settled form. The first written set of rules was produced in Rugby in 1845.

But Public Schools were not alone in disseminating football across the country. In the provinces among cricket clubs, minor schools, artisans, traders and military units started playing informal football games. Chaos and disorganization were still a problem, as different rules were used by different teams like Sheffield Football Club (founded in 1857) drawing pupils from Sheffield Collegiate Schools, middle class manufacturing and professional families. In London there was the Blackheath club formed by solicitors.

ATTEMPTS TO GENERATE A SINGLE CODE FROM THE

MANY COMPETING VERSIONS OF FOOTBALL STARTED IN 1861AMONG

MANY TEAMS AT THE FREEMASON’S TAVERN, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS

LONDON -Catch and run game vs. dribbling and kicking game-Hacking (deliberately targeting the opponent vs. no hackling

Cobb Morley and the Origins of British Football

• In 1862, a solicitor by the name of Cobb Morley, formed a semi-professional Football club in Barnes, called the Barnes Club.

• Cobb Morley is rightfully considered the father of Football, but that's not just because he was the one to spark the idea of the Football Association.

• He also drew up the Laws of the Game, probably the most important document in the history of Football, since it held all the official rules around which the game would be played.

Football Becomes Official

• Cobb Morley's rules were accepted by the Football Association on the 8th of December, 1863 and have since stood as the game's constitution, although they were slightly modified throughout time to meet the needs of modern Football.

• It only took around 3 decades after the first official rules of Football were laid down by Cobb Morley and the English Football Association and the game was already wide spread throughout Europe, Australia and the Americas.

Modern Football

Football was taken to the masses by ex-public school boys, as they went off to own

and manage factories and mines. These ‘gentlemen’ wanted the game kept amateur

– but this meant working men could not play as they couldn’t afford to miss work.

The World’s First Football Club

The oldest club in the world is Sheffield FC.

This was followed by Notts. County FC.

In 1862 a group of Nottingham business men and cricketers met in the Lion Hotel, Nottingham, to form the Notts. County Football Club.. All the players were amateurs, reasonably well-off, and usually added up to 11 or 12 players with nine forwards and two backs, or behinds. Hacking of shins, tripping and elbowing were allowed and the goalkeeper could be charged out of the way of a shot even if he was nowhere near the ball.

The Football Association - 1863

The F.A. was founded to draft a common set of rules for ‘Association Football’ (‘Football’)

Eleven players on each side became football law in 1870 and a year later the F.A. Cup was introduced.

In 1875 crossbars were introduced instead of tape

1878 saw the first floodlit match at Sheffield and a referee's whistle sounded for the first time in a match between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield.

Football’s rise in popularity

“The attendances at the association games showed that the English working class had at last found a cheap and amusing way of spending a Saturday afternoon” – L.Woodward ‘Age of Reform’

Reasons for football’s growth

• the growth of the railways from the 1840s allowed people to travel around England

• football was cheap – it required very little equipment, could be played almost anywhere and in almost any weather

As football spread…Inter-county and inter-city competitions became popular. The FA Cup was first played for in 1871, and the Football League founded in 1888.

The Original FA Cup.

This was stolen and never found in 1895!

The Original Twelve League Clubs

• Accrington Stanley• Aston Villa• Blackburn Rovers• Bolton Wanderers• Burnley• Derby County

• Everton• Notts. County• Preston North End• Stoke City• West Bromwich

Albion• Wolverhampton

Wanderers

An Industrial Game

The original twelve league clubs.

A different world….

When Blackburn supporters visited London for the FA Cup Final in 1883, the Pall Mall Gazette reported

“a northern horde of uncouth garb and strange oaths – like a tribe of Sudanese

Arabs let loose.”Uncouth – scruffy

Garb - clothes

For an Industrial People

As acts were passed limiting the length of the working week, the factories and mines shut at mid-day on Saturdays. This allowed workers to go and play, and watch the 3pm matches.

Not for them the luxury of the middle classes to play and watch cricket and golf – which last a lot longer than 90 minutes!

3pm Saturday

The Growth of Professionalism

As crowds grew, special stadiums needed to be built. The owners charged admission fees, and tried to attract the best players.

“Broken-time” payments were made to players to compensate their loss of wages. Many ‘gentlemen’ were horrified at this erosion of the ‘amateur spirit’.

Amateur vs. Professional

One ‘gentlemen’s’ club, The Corinthians completely refused to play for money, refused to play in cup competitions and even refused to take penalty kicks when awarded them – because they didn’t believe that any person would commit a foul!

Football was already mainly a working class sport and payments were common. This prevented the split which divided Rugby Union and League in 1895.

Growing participationIn the 1930s municipal (council) playing fields and parks increased. A new generation of footballers was being given ground to bloom.

The Thirties was the boom decade for sport in England. Crowds of 60,000 were the norm for many clubs. The electric telegraph and radio allowed results to be spread quickly. Sports papers were sold on Saturday evenings with the same day’s results in them.

Football takes on the World

English sailors took football with them to the ports of Italy, Spain, Brazil and Argentina.

Friendly games with the locals were played, and football fever spread. Juventus, Bologna, Fiorentina and many other clubs were set up by English exiles.

The World Cup was first played in 1930, but it wasn’t until cheap flights that world competitions took off, in the 1950s and 1960s.