History

It is impossible to say when, where or by whom football was invented. In its present organised form it is a relatively modern sport dating from the mid nineteenth century. Before then ball games were not new, in fact some date back over 2000 years.

In ancient times the Egyptians and the Assyrians played a game which involved kicking or carrying a ball into the opponent’s territory; but it is the Chinese and the Japanese who can claim some of the earliest references to football.

600 BC

The Japanese played a game on a small field with trees at each corner. This was probably the forerunner of Kemari. This was played by eight men kicking a ball to one another on a ground about 14 metres square. At each corner of the ground was a pine tree, a willow tree, a cherry tree and a maple.

206 BC-25AD

During this period in Chinese history mention was made of ‘tsu chu’; tsu meaning ‘to kick with the foot’, chu meaning ‘a ball made of leather and stuffed’.

50 BC

Records in the Munich Ethnological Museum show that the Ancient Greeks played a ball game called Episkyros, which the Romans adopted calling it Harpastum. It was a vigorous game in which the ball had to be won from ALL opponents.Roman soldiers probably brought this game to Britain.

In the centuries that followed ball games were rough and ready and rowdy. They were informal sports of little importance with virtually no organisation. However, in spite of several attempts to ban them they never died out.

200 AD

Inuit (Eskimo) legend tells of a game that was played on ice with goals up to 10 miles apart

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1195

A friend of Thomas à Becket described a tradition which took place in London on Shrove Tuesday.

"all the youths of London go to a flat patch of ground just outside the city for the famous game of ball. These games are more like battles than sport. Players chase through the streets with little regard for people or property."

Not surprisingly the game became known as ‘mob football’. Throughout the Middle Ages It continued to be played in the streets of London and other cities especially on Bank Holidays.The game took the form of a rampage through the streets kicking a blown-up pig’s bladder. The object was to force the ball’ across boundaries usually miles apart and in the process often breaking windows and players’ legs and filling peaceful folk with fear.

The early forerunners of modern-day matches were timeless brawls between neighbouring parishes or villages.

The term 'local derby' comes from a match played in Derby every year between the parishes of St Peter's and All Saints. It was last contested on Shrove Tuesday 1846.

An artist's impression of mob football around the 15th Century.

1314

Popular though ‘mob football’ may have been with many people, it was not well thought of by others. Merchants in London, who were prevented from going about their business by football being played in the streets, asked King Edward II (1307-1327) to ban it. Consequently on 13 April 1314 came the first of many Acts designed to repress football.The Act stated that:

“For as much as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large footballs …..we command and forbid on behalf of the King, on pain of punishment, such game to be used in the city in future”.

Three kings in succession

1327-1377 Edward III

1377-1399 Richard II

1399-1413 Henry IV

All worried by military threat from France each banned football on the grounds that it was not good for military training because it interfered too much with archery practice.

None of these bans had any lasting effect. The game survived in various forms although there were no rules.

17th Century

Universities and colleges started to play undergraduate matches. Among the keenest players was Oliver Cromwell.

18th Century

References to football increased either as an organised game still played only at Universities or the more violent ‘mob football’ which lingered on mainly in rural areas.

Early 19th Century

A new and more humane attitude to animals gained strength, culminating in the formation of the R.S.P.C.A. and other animal protection societies. This resulted in the virtual end of arena blood sports such as cock fighting and dog fighting.

About the same time huge numbers of people were moving from the farms and the countryside to the factories and the towns as the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION grew. These two trends combined to create a vacuum in the ‘entertainment’ of ordinary, wage earning town-dwellers.

An artist’s impression of football as it was played before the laws of the games were formulated. This cartoon, published in about 1830, is the property of Arsenal Football Club.

Public schools such as Rugby and Eton took up football and developed their own versions, each with their own rules, which were determined by local conditions and the space available.

London Charterhouse schoolboys played football in an old monastery cloister 70 yards long forcing the ball through doors at each end to score goals. Because of the stone floors, they preferred to dribble the ball rather than indulge in fierce tackles.

Winchester schoolboys played a different brand of football based on gaining the ball from a scrimmage and kicking it down a field.

Older Public Schools such as Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse and Westminster all adopted the kick and dribble type of game.

Newer Public Schools such as Cheltenham, Marlborough, Wellington and Rugby adopted the throw-catch-and-run ?Rugby? football.

An illustration from the mid 19th century showing a player running with the ball - according to legend a player running with the ball led to rugby evolving from football.

1848

The first steps of changing football into an organised game with rules came when, after great debates, the Cambridge (University) Rules were drawn up but they were not widely accepted. Without a clear set of rules It was still impossible for schools and colleges to play each other.

1857

Sheffield old boys and young graduates formed the first football club.

They adopted a set of rules calling them the Sheffield Club Rules based largely on the Cambridge University game.

Sheffield FC is the oldest football club in the world still in existence. Today the team plays in the Northern Counties East League. Their home ground is Hillsborough Park and their kit colours are red/black shirts, black shorts and socks. Sheffield FC should not be confused with Sheffield Wednesday or Sheffield United. An extract from the original rules of Sheffield FC drawn up on 24th October 1857. It starts:

Somebody had to take the lead so in 1862 Cambridge tried again. After great debates the dribblers of the ball as opposed to the throw-catch-and-run supporters won. The ball was allowed to be stopped by hand but not carried. This time their rules were more widely accepted but they were never made law. The split - into rugby football and socker (old spelling) - and the start of the game as we know it today originates from this time.