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The Origins of Football: A Journey Through History

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Football FORZA

The most popular sport in the world, football is a profession for thousands of players and a passion for billions of fans across the globe. Football enjoys a disproportionate level of media coverage, fanatical support, and financial backing, with the sport being more of a lifestyle and a way of life for many.

A cultural phenomenon with many quirks including astronomical wages for the elite level players, football is often tied to national identity, politics, and has even been used as a platform for social change.

In this blog post, we’ll take a look at the history of the beautiful game, and establish how it became the massive sport, industry and hobby that it is today.

Who Invented Football?

Whilst England is recognised as the country and origin of formalised Association Football, the questions of “who invented football?” and “when and where did football start?” can be answered in different ways – depending on your definition of “football”. 

It is documented for example, that many ancient civilisations had some form of sport, or games, that involved kicking a ball. In ancient Chinese Imperial courts, “cuju” involved kicking a leather ball towards one of your opponent’s six goals, and in ancient Greece the sport of “episkyros” was a ball game of territory, played between two teams of equal size. Historical accounts also state that Turkic people played a game called “tepuk”, with participants kicking a ball made of sheep leather.

In the UK, the first records of a ball game that resembled football in some way, were recorded by the English eighth-Century historian Saint Bede, who refers to people “playing ball” in his book/scribe entitled “De temporum ratione” – which translates to “The Reckoning of Time”. 

Moving on to the late middle ages, during the 12th Century, under the reign of Henry II, records detail a game known as “shrovetide football”. Played in Derbyshire, the game took place just twice a year, on Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. The goals were approximately 3 miles apart and each team had hundreds of players.

More like a mass game of rugby than football, various forms of the game took roots across the UK through the late mediaeval period. Whilst the game didn’t involve too much kicking of the ball, mob football is thought to have inspired the early forms of football, which allowed outfield players to use their hands and wasn’t distinguished from rugby until 1863.

It was the educational institutions of England that took football from a chaotic mass game, to a formalised sport with unified rules. Most of the early English universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews played their own form of football, with each having slightly different rules. 

When was Football Invented?

In the format that we know it today, most historians point back to 1848 as the ‘beginning’ of modern football. It was in 1848, that students and representatives from the various established universities of the time, met at Cambridge University to create a unified set of rules.

The collective agreed on 11 rules and it was the first recorded time that “foot ball clubs” were created – with Cambridge stating that “this club shall be called the University Foot Ball Club”; according to the rules which were nailed to the trees near the football field at Parker’s Piece, Cambridge.

Historic Sports Similar to Association Football
Ball GameDate/PeriodCountry/AreaCulture/SocietyBall materialRules Overview
Pok-ta-Tok / Tlachli 1600 BC – 16th Century ADMesoamericaAztecsRubber2 teams hit the ball through stone hoops using hips, elbows, and knees. Losers sometimes sacrificed
Episkyros7th – 2nd Century BCAncient GreeceAncient GreeksLeather stuffed with hair or rags2 teams pass the ball across a field using hands and feet
Harpastum2nd Century BC – 5th Century ADRoman EmpireAncient RomansLeather stuffed with feathersTeams throw the ball across a field, winning by catching it in a designated area
Tsu’ Chu2nd Century BC – 10th Century ADChinaHan DynastyLeather stuffed with hair or feathersPlayers kick the ball through nine strategically placed goals
Kemari7th Century AD – PresentJapanJapanese court nobilityLeather or deer skin stuffed with branNon-competitive game. Players skillfully kick & dribble the ball for artistic expression
Cuju2nd Century BC – Qing DynastyChinaHan DynastyLeather stuffed with hair or feathersPlayers use the feet and body to move the ball into nets/goals
Epistemon3rd Century BC – 2nd Century ADAncient EgyptAncient EgyptiansCloth or leather stuffed with sand or rags2 teams kick, and carry the ball towards opponent’s goal area
Mob Football14th – 19th CenturyEnglandAnglo-SaxonsInflated pig’s bladderPlayed in the streets by rival villages. Objective was to move the ball to a designated area

1863 Football Rules

From the 19th century onwards, the sport became a lot more organised and formal. Whilst the meeting at Cambridge in 1848 established the first “11 principles” and unified rules of the sport of football, it was not until 1863 in London that the Football Association was formed, and additional rules covering all aspects of the sport were created. 

Before 1863, although 11 principle rules were defined, other rules regarding goalposts, handball and free kicks were not universal and different universities played under slightly different rules. The 1863 ruleset, finally split Association Football from Rugby Football.

Amongst the new regulations, the 1863 document stated that the maximum dimensions of the playing field/ground was 200 yards long with a maximum breadth of 100 yards. Goal posts were also mandatory from this point onwards, taking the form of “two upright posts 8 yards apart” and handball, or carrying the ball, became a foul. The 1863 rules also established the kick off at the start of the game and after a goal is scored, the definition of a goal being scored when the ball passes through the goalposts and throw-ins to restart play when the ball goes out of bounds. 

The infamously difficult to enforce offside rule was also introduced in 1863! The original rule stated that a player was offside, if there was an attacking player stood in a position with 3 or less players (including the goalkeeper) in front of him and the opposing goalposts. This was updated in 1925 so that an attacking player would be onside, if only two players were between him and the opposition’s goal.

Despite the updated guidelines, there was still some interpretation and lack of unification regarding the rules of football throughout the 19th Century and some of the rules have changed quite significantly since 1863.

In 1863 some of the interesting rules and aspects of the field of play included:

During the late 19th Century, as the sport was taken up across the country, it became one of the most popular forms of entertainment for the British working class. It was common for tens of thousands of spectators to watch a football match, even if there were only a few stands offering a good view from the back!

Incidentally, it was also at the prestigious Oxford University, not in the United States, that the term “soccer” was first used instead of the word “football”. Students were fond of various forms of playful slang, and would often shorten certain words and add “-er” to the end of them.

For example, “breakfast” was often referred to as “brekk-er”, “rugby football” was shortened to “rugg-er” and “association football” became “ssoc-er”. The term soccer is now used in several countries to distinguish Association Football from other sports like Aussie Rules Football and American Football/The NFL in the United States.

The World’s Oldest Football Clubs

Whilst Sheffield FC is often recognised as the world’s oldest football club, The Cambridge University Association Football Club (CUAFC) was established a year earlier, in 1856. This is disputed by some historians, who point to evidence suggesting that the team did not have a president and a committee until 1866. Nevertheless, the English FA recorded 1856 as the date the club was formed, awarding them a plaque in 2006 to honour its 150th anniversary.

One key difference between the two historical clubs, is that Cambridge continued to play football under its own rule set for decades after it was established, whilst Sheffield FC adopted the FA’s ruleset in 1877 and CUAFC is not recognised by any international football organisations such as FIFA.

The World’s Oldest Football Clubs
ClubYear FoundedCountryCurrent League
Cambridge University A.F.C. (disputed*)1856EnglandBritish Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS)
Sheffield FC1857EnglandNorthern Premier League Division One South
Cray Wanderers FC1860EnglandIsthmian League Premier Division
Hallam FC1860EnglandNorthern Premier League Division One East
Notts County FC1862EnglandEFL League Two
Civil Service FC1863EnglandBritish Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS)
Wrexham AFC1864WalesEFL League One
Oxford University A.F.C.1872EnglandBritish Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS)
Brigg Town FC1874EnglandNorthern Counties East League Division One

*Some historians claim that Cambridge University A.F.C was founded in 1866, not 1856.

As British people travelled across the world, often establishing British communities overseas, the game of football travelled with them. Some of the oldest football clubs outside of the UK include:

Oldest Football Clubs Outside of the UK
ClubFoundation YearCountryCurrent League
Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata1887ArgentinaPrimera División
Club Sportivo Peñarol1891UruguayPrimera División
Club Universidad de Chile1897ChilePrimera División
Associazione Calcio Milan1899ItalySerie A
Club Nacional de Football1899UruguayPrimera División

Another club – Lima Cricket and Football Club, was founded in 1859. Originally named “Lima Cricket Club”, it wasn’t until 1906 that the name was changed to “Lima Cricket and Football Club” as the sport gained popularity amongst its members.

Football History Timeline

From violent ancient ball games that have united communities and served as ritualistic ceremonies, to the ultra commercialised, global sport of football we know today, the evolution of the sport has completely changed the gameplay and the culture that it operates within. 

As technology evolves, so do the rules, the training methods and the standard of play seen at the top level. Only time will tell in which direction the sport will go next!

Just as the rules of football have changed over the years, the equipment has also come a long way since the pig-bladder footballs and rickety goalposts. FORZA continues to push the boundaries when it comes to safer and more effective equipment.

Take a look at our range of FORZA football goals and football training equipment to see for yourself!

 By: Andrew Griffiths

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