The history of football can be dated even earlier than the Biblical era when humans have the urge to kick at stones and objects they find on their way. This urge lead to the development of the game even though there were no records kept at that time. However, the first documentation of a football match was done in the Second century BC in the era of the Han Dynasty of the Chinese military. Those military men were fond of kick a round leather through a hole that was created in a piece of silk clothes hung between some poles. The game was called “Tsu chu” and was being played to the delight of the Chinese emperor some 3,000 years ago.
The Chinese imperial court in Kyoto later accepted this game and some bits of modifications were made on it in the year 600 AD. One of the major changes made by the Japanese to the game was that; players will form a circle and kick the ball to each other and trying to prevent the ball from touching the ground. The game was given a Japanese name “Kemari”.
There were other unclarrified records of the history of football within 388-311 BC in the Roman Empire, as well as some native Americans that settled in Australian in the year 1610 who loved to play football to the delight of native Australians.
The beginning of a modernized or organized football started in the ancient Great Britain at the unset of the 11th century. Some youths in London –the capital city of Great Britain were fond of going to the field during the annual “ Shrove Tuesday” festivals to take part in the ball game. The older citizens of the city would come on horses to watch each school representatives and workers around the city play ball. The game was disorganized and chaotic then but the competitiveness was very much alive. Most of the kids around the city then have learnt to make a leather ball, hence there were several colorful and attractive balls then.
The Normans who lived in Great Britain at this period of time were the ones who took the game to Northern Ireland around the year 1526. Some Irish enthusiasts adopted and accepted football for the first time in a place called the “Statutes of Galway” in 1527, and this was the beginning of the spread of the modern game of football.
The Shrovetide football matches were the first modernized football competitions in Europe. This annual competition gave way to the rise of the game at the Middle age era. This competition allows neighboring villages and cities to compete against each other with unlimited number of players. Balls were not used in these games, rather an inflated pig’s bladder served as the ball. The game venue could be as wide as the two ends of each town while there were no officials or referees to officiate matches. The game was so chaotic because of the mass of the people involved. Each of these people try to kick and drag the inflated pig’s bladder to the opponent’s end of the town. This annual football game is still being played in a number of British cities such as the Derbyshire.
Some 16th century development of football records in the city of Florence shows that, the some Italian natives were involved in an annual ritual of Costume football, which was known as “o calsio storico”. Fine silk costumes were made for some young aristocrats in the city before they get themselves involve in some football and wrestling competitions. All forms of physical attacks were allowed during the competition which was probably coined from some military exercises. One of the most notable matches during this era was between the soldiers of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V which was a ceremonial match, on the 17th of February 1530.
The first developmental breakthrough among the blacks was first noticed during the colonial and slave trade era, when some slaves were organized into teams and pitched against each other in order to entertain their masters. It was then seen as a form of punishment on the slaves but it was later accepted in some parts of Northern and sub-Saharan African countries.
The first world cup was hosted in Uruguay in 1914, and was intended to foster unity among member countries as well as made the sport very popular. Uruguay won the tournament and they were the first to win any modern organized football tournament in the world.
Football is now the most popular sport in the world. It is played in more than 150 countries of the world. Worldwide people are betting on the outcome of football matches with odds set by the bookmakers.
FIFA is the world football governing organization while there are several other continental football organizations including Europe’s UEFA, Africa’s CAF, and many more.
