Saga of world soccer
DHARMALINGAM VENUGOPAL
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Football has driven people crazy in the past weeks. But what is the history of the game?
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PHOTO: REUTERS
FAVOURITE SPORT: A long way since Harpastum.
As with most other games — cricket, tennis, golf and rugby, it was British who "taught the world to play" football or soccer as we know it today. But there is a long history behind that. The Greeks and Romans used to play a game called Harpastum by passing a small hard ball by hand on a rectangular field to be grounded behind the opponent's line. In 1066, when the Normans invaded Britain they brought with them a game called Lasoule, possibly derived from Harpastum. In medieval Britain what was called mob football became popular. On public holidays youth in teams of sometimes 500 engaged in day long struggle to force the ball across boundaries miles apart. King Richard II, in 1388, replaced it with archery as the Sunday sport for the "servants and labourers". By 17th century, the puritans having failed to suppress it, the middle class once again revived the game, which spread to Scotland. With the dawn of the 19th century and the age of organised sport, soccer too became a game with rules. In 1823, 16-year-old William Webb Ellis made his historic run, carrying the ball in hand, which ended not only in a "goal" for Rugby, it also founded a new game of Rugby.
Between 1855 and 1857, the first ever soccer club was founded in Sheffield. In 1862, the game left the hard enclosures of monasteries and came to be played on open grass fields. In 1863, members of eleven clubs formed the first football association. Association Football soon followed when they drew up a set of national rules which included the size of the field and goal posts and the mode of starting the game. The style of outfit began with jerseys and knickerbockers and by 1865 the number of players making up a team was reduced to 11.
In 1878, the first flood light match was played at Sheffield.
Football tournaments began in 1872 when the coveted FA cup was inaugurated. Professionalism entered the game soon and the FA committee decided to admit professionals in 1885. Clubs began to charge admission fees and paid players compensation for lost wages and expenses. In 1888 the football league was born with 12 teams to start with. Meanwhile the outfit went through further changes. From knickerbockers it changed to shorts, first cut at below the knees and later above it. And umpires off the field were replaced by a referee on it with a set of powers in 1891.
The first international game was played in 1870 between England and Scotland at the Oval which the former won 1-0. Around this time overseas Britons in Germany started the game there.
In 1875, Oxford University team made the first overseas tour of Germany. British soldiers first played football in Brazil in 1884 during shore leave. The Brazilians took up the game with flair almost natural. Seven years later, in 1901, the first football club was founded in Rio. Italy was taught the game in 1892 when the local Britons there founded a club which also played cricket. By the end of the 19th century Britain had spread the game round the world. Wherever their trade spread the game also spread.
Modern soccer began in the beginning of the 20th century when in 1904 six countries — Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland — formed the Federation International Football Association , popularly called FIFA. The first tournament by FIFA was staged in 1908 at the Olympic games.
The rest is recent history.
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