Ancient English Soccer History
Soccer is known as football outside the United States and Australia. Its history is rich and filled with documented evidence that kicking a ball as a sport came before Jesus Christ was born. Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, Chinese, Japanese, even Iroquois and other civilizations worldwide have played different games which would require the skill to control a ball using the players' feet since thousands of years ago.
Soccer in England as we currently know began in 1863 when rugby football and association football (soccer) branched off to become what they presently are. Before soccer evolved to its current rules, there had been a lawless ancient sport played in England throughout medieval times perceived by many as very violent; forbidden at times for causing its players severe injuries and, not uncommonly, even death.
Other People Are Reading
-
History
-
Playing with a ball is common to many ancient civilizations. A form of soccer/football would be played by Greeks and Romans in order to sharpen warriors for battle. Long before that, Chinese aristocrats would play t'su chu, another game involving a ball and a goal. Even the Persians, Aztecs, Vikings and ancient Japanese are cited in history for having their own ball games. However, the English peasants were the ones that carried out a broader deployment to a game that is likely to have started during the ninth century.
Types
-
During the medieval era, football was often referred to as mob-football, shrovetide, folk football, la soule, caid and others. Caid was played in medieval Ireland and is believed to be the source from which derives Gaelic football. La soule is a French game akin to British football, but there's no documented evidence this game derives or is derived from soccer. Mob-football, folk football and shrovetide are all different names for a tumultuous struggle for scoring a ball into a goal involving opposing villagers divided in two teams.
-
Shrovetide
-
Shrovetide--meaning Shriven Tuesday--is the day preceding Ash Wednesday. In some medieval English cities, it involved playing football and eating pancakes. Pancakes are made with eggs and fat, ingredients easily found at the other end of Lent. Hence, this was a day of over feasting and overeating, as well as a day for play. A typical shrovetide match would last for eight hours. The game would end when one team scored. Villages would divide into Up'Ards and Down'Ards and would use any possible means to make the ball get into the goal. The only rule: No killing allowed.
Significance
-
Undoubtedly the game was violent. Michel Bouet in "Signification du sport" describes these folk football matches as "veritable combats for possession of the ball," in which the players struggled "like dogs fighting over a bone." Eric Dunning and Kenneth Sheard, in "Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players," describe football in its medieval form as "a pleasurable form...of excitement akin to that aroused in battle." Accidental deaths were reported in the few existing contemporary documents. Therefore, the need for rules and referees grew over time.
Theories/Speculation
-
One of the known theories for football origins is that the game is indeed Anglo-Saxon. In both Kingston-on-Thames and Chester, local legend notes that the game was first played with the amputated head of a defeated Danish prince. In the city of Derby, it is believed to have originated in the third century during the victory celebrations that followed a battle against the Romans. However, there is little evidence of the sport having been played at this time, either in Saxon areas or on the continent.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Rowlan, Wikimedia Commons
