The colourful history of a fascinating game
More than 2000 Years of Football
By Dr. Wilfried Gerhardt
Press Officer for the German Football Association, Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
The contemporary history of football spans more than 100 years. It all
began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football
branched off on their different courses and the world's first football
association was founded - The Football Association in England. Both
forms of football stemmed from a common root and both have a long and
intricately branched ancestral tree. Their early history reveals at
least half a dozen different games, varying to different degrees and to
which the historical development of football is related and has
actually been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some
instances is disputable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that playing a
ball with the feet has been going on for thousands of years and there
is absolutely no reason to believe that it is an aberration of the more
"natural" form of playing a ball with the hands.
On the
contrary, apart from the absolute necessity to employ the legs and feet
in such a tough bodily tussle for the ball, often without any laws for
protection, it was no doubt recognised right at the outset that the art
of controlling the ball with the feet was extremely difficult and, as
such, it required special technique and talent. The very earliest form
of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise of
precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd
centuries B.C. in China. A military manual dating from the period of
the Han Dynasty includes among the physical education exercises, the
"Tsu'Chu". This consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with
feathers and hair through an opening, measuring only 30 - 40 cm in
width, into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes - a feat which
obviously demanded great skill and excellent technique. A variation of
this exercise also existed, whereby the player was not permitted to aim
at his target unimpeded, but had to use his feet, chest, back and
shoulders whilst trying to withstand the attacks of his opponents. Use
of the hands was not permitted. The ball artistry of today's top
players is therefore not quite as new as some people may assume.
Another
form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese
Kemari, which dates from about 500 to 600 years later and is still
played today. This is a type of circular football game, far less
spectacular, but, for that reason, a 'more dignified and ceremonious
experience, requiring certain skills, but not competitive ' in the way
the Chinese game was, nor is there the slightest sign of struggle for
possession of the ball. The players had to pass the ball to each other,
in a relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground.
The Greek game "episkyros", relatively little of which has been handed
down, was much livelier, as was the Roman game "Harpastum". The latter
was played with a smaller ball with two teams contesting the game on a
rectangular field marked by boundary lines and a centre-line. The
object was to get the ball over the opponents' boundary lines. The ball
was passed between players and trickery was the order of the day. Each
team member had his own specific tactical assignment and the spectators
took a vociferous interest in the proceedings and the score. The role
of the feet in this game was so small as scarcely to be of consequence.
This game remained popular for 700 or 800 years, but, although the
Romans took it to England with them, it is doubtful whether it can be
considered as a forerunner of contemporary football. The same applies
for hurling, a popular game with the Celtic population, which is played
to this very day in Cornwall and Ireland. lt is possible that
influences were asserted, but it is certain that the decisive
development of the game of football with which we are now familiar took
place in England and Scotland.
The game that flourished in the
British Isles from the 8th to the 19th centuries had a considerable
variety of local and regional versions - which were subsequently
smoothed down and smartened up to form the present day sports of
association football and rugby football. - They were substantially
different from all the previously known forms - more disorganised, more
violent, more spontaneous and usually played by an indefinite number of
players. Frequently, the games took the form of a heated contest
between whole village communities or townships - through streets,
village squares, across fields, hedges, fences and streams. Kicking was
allowed, as in fact was almost everything else. However, in some of
these games kicking was out of the question due to the size and weight
of the ball being used. In such cases, kicking was instead employed to
fell opponents. Incidentally, it was not until nine years after the
football rules had been established for the first time in 1863 that the
size and weight of the ball were finally standardised. Up to that time,
agreement on this point had usually been reached by the parties
concerned when they were arranging the match, as was the case for the
game between London and Sheffield in 1866. This match was also the
first where the duration of the game was prearranged for one and a half
hours.
Shrovetide football, as it was called, belonged in the
"mob football" category, where the number of players was unlimited and
the rules were fairly vague (for example, according to an ancient
handbook from Workington in England, any means could be employed to get
the ball to its target with the exception of murder and manslaughter).
Shrovetide football is still played today on Shrove Tuesday in some
areas, for example, Ashbourne in Derbyshire. Needless to say, it is no
longer so riotous as it used to be, nor are such extensive casualties
suffered as was probably the case centuries ago.
This game is
reputedly Anglo-Saxon in origin and there are many legends concerning
its first appearance. For example, in both Kingston-on-Thames and
Chester, the story goes that the game was played for the very first
time with the severed head of a vanquished Danish prince. In Derby, it
is said to have originated far earlier, in the 3rd century, during the
victory celebrations that followed a battle against the Romans.
Despite
the legends of Kingston and Chester, certain facts appear to contradict
the Anglo-Saxon theory. Namely that there is no evidence of it having
been played at this time in Saxon areas or on the continent, nor is the
game mentioned in early Anglo-Saxon literature. Prior to the Norman
Conquest, the only trace found of any such ball game comes from a
Celtic source.
One other possible theory regarding its origin is
that when the aforementioned "mob football" was being played in the
British Isles in the early centuries A.D., a very similar game was
thriving in France, particularly in Normandy and Brittany. So it is
quite feasible that the Normans brought this form of the game to
England with them.
All these theories produce a picture quite
bewildering in its complexity - far more complex than the simple rules
that governed this form of the game, if we dare even to call them rules.
Quite apart from man's natural impulse to demonstrate his strength and
skill, even in this chaotic and turbulent fashion, it is certain that
in many cases, pagan customs, especially fertility rites, played a
major role. The ball symbolised the sun, which had to be conquered in
order to secure a bountiful harvest. The ball had to be propelled
around, or across, a field so that the crops would flourish and the
attacks of the opponents had to be warded off.
A similar
significance was attached to the games between married men and
bachelors that prevailed for centuries in some parts of England, and,
likewise, to the famous game between married and unmarried women in the
Scottish town of Inveresk at the end of the 17th century which, perhaps
by design, was regularly won by the married women. Women's football is
obviously not so new as some people think.
Scholars might have
conflicting views on the origins of the game and the influences that
certain cults may have had on its evolution, but one thing is
incontestable: football has flourished for over a thousand years in
diverse rudimentary forms, in the very region which we describe as its
home, England and the British Isles. The chain of prohibitions and
censures, sometimes harsh, sometimes mild, proves beyond a shadow of a
doubt what tremendous enthusiasm there was for football, even though it
was so often frowned upon by the authorities. The repeated unsuccessful
intervention of the authorities and high offices of the land shows how
powerless they were to restrict it, in spite of their condemnation and
threats of severe punishment.
As long ago as 1314 the Lord Mayor
of London saw fit to issue a proclamation forbidding football within
the city due to the rumpus it usually caused. Infringement of this law
meant imprisonment. King Edward III passed extremely harsh measures in
1331 to suppress football, which was regarded as a public nuisance. At
the same time, similar measures were also introduced in France.
During the 100 years' war between England and France from 1338 to 1453
the court was also unfavourably disposed towards football, albeit for
different reasons. Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V made
football punishable by law because the well-loved recreation prevented
their subjects from practising more useful military disciplines,
particularly archery, which played an important and valuable role in
the English army at that time.
Subject: History Of The World's Spoken Language (FOOTBALL) 
Mon May 28, 2007 9:18 am
