CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...2 CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND.3 CHAPTER II THE EVOLUTION OF FOOTBALL..5 II.1 EARLY RULES ..5 II.2 THE FA CUP AND THE PROFESSIONALISM.8 CHAPTER III THE GOLDEN AGE.1 0 CONCLUSION .12 BIBLIOGRAPHY .13

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered how soccer / football games get into our life? Why it is so many peoples in the world are crazy about this game? Almost every culture has reference to the history of soccer. The origin of football / soccer can be found in every corner of the world. The Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Ancient Greeks, Persians, Vikings, and many more played a ball game long before our era. The Chinese played a kind of football3000 years ago. The Ancient Greeks and the football games to train warriors for battle. In south and Central America a game called "Tlatchi" once flourished. But it was in England that soccer / football really began to take shape. It all started in 1863 in England, when two football associations association football and rugby football) split off on their different course. Therefore, the first Football Association was founded in England. The first match was played in 1872 and was contested by England and Scotland. This sudden boom of organized football accompanied by staggering crowds of spectators Roman used

brought with it certain problems with which other countries were not confronted until much later on. Professionalism was one of them. As far as I am concerned I have always been fond of this spectacular game, which is the reason why I have chosen to talk about this subject.

CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND

The game of football generally increased in England from around the 8th Century onwards. The game was incredibly popular with the working classes and there were considerable regional variations of the game throughout the country. Games were normally violent and disorganized affairs with any number of players - it was not uncommon for 1000 people to play in a single game. By the 11th Century, games were often played between rival villages and the 'pitch' could be an incredibly large area. The 'pitch' was not a defined size with a parameter, but included streets, fields, village squares and anything else that got in the way!

The level of violence within the game was astonishing. Players were kicked and punched regularly by opponents.

In addition to any personal injury that occurred, countless property items were destroyed in the course of a match. Fields were often ruined, because of this violence that happens in the match. Damage also occurred to people's houses and businesses within he main streets of the village. For people living within the cities, football was still a new concept and considered to be a 'rural custom'. However in the second half of the 12th Century football had established itself in London. By 1175 an annual competition had been established in the capital and every Tuesday the game created huge interest and gained further popularity. International matches were being staged later in Great Britain before football had hardly been heard of in Europe. The first was played in 1872 and was played between England and Scotland. This sudden boom of organized football accompanied by crowds of spectators brought with it certain problems with which other countries were not confronted until much later on. Professionalism was one of them. The first moves in this direction came in 1879, when Darwin, a small Lancashire club, twice managed to draw against the supposedly invincible Old Etonians in the FA Cup, before the famous team of London amateurs finally hardly managed to win at the third attempt. Two Darwin players, the Scots John Love and Fergus Suter, are reported as being the first players ever to receive remuneration for their football talent. This practice grew rapidly and the Football Association found

itself

obliged

to

legalise

professionalism

as

early

as

1885.

Even nowadays many people dont know the beginning of football, for example in what year was the first match played, or even the name of the football teams from those days. In my opinion, football is the most beautiful sport and we must be proud that the United Kingdom is the place where this game got shape to the way of what it looks now,

CHAPTER II THE EVOLUTION OF FOOTBALL II.1 EARLY RULES

Football was a very popular sport in every single place of the United Kingdom but in Sheffield and in 1857 a group of men established the Sheffield Football Club at Bramall Lane. It is believed to be the first football club in the world, but sadly not a big number of persons know this. Later on, to improve the quality of these game two former students, Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, published their own set of rules for football. These new rules allowed for more physical contact than those established by some of the public schools from that period. Players were allowed to push opponents off the ball with their hands. It was also within the rules to shoulder charge players, with or without the ball. If a goalkeeper caught the ball, he could be barged over the line. At first the Sheffield Club played friendly games against small teams from London and even Nottingham. In 1862 a new set of rules were established at Cambridge University. These specified 11-a-side, an umpire from each side plus a neutral referee, goals 12ft across and up to 20ft high. An offside rule was added.

One of the teachers at Uppingham, John Charles Thring, published his own set of rules: 1. A goal is scored whenever the ball is forced through the goal and under the bar, except it be thrown by hand. 2. Hands may be used only to stop a ball and place it on the ground before the feet. 3. Kicks must be aimed only at the ball. 4. A player may not kick the ball whilst in the air. This is just a few rules that helped this sport to develop and to became what it is today, a sport that means more than a ball or some players on the pitch.1

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fhistory.htm

Although the government from the years Sheffield appeared disproved the idea that working- classes are playing football, this sport continued to be a very popular sport in every place in the kingdom, especially in public schools. In 1884 a meeting took place at Cambridge University in order to reformulate the rules of football. Teachers representing Shrewsbury, Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster produced what became known as the Cambridge Rules. From that date every man brought a copy of his school rules, or knew them by heart, to make this sport better than it was. Some of this rules war clearly important and decided that that goals would be awarded for balls kicked between the flag posts (uprights) and under the string (crossbar). All players were allowed to catch the ball direct from the foot, provided the catcher kicked it immediately. However, they were forbidden to catch the ball and run with it. Only the goalkeeper was allowed to hold the ball. He could also punch it from anywhere in his own half. Goal kicks and throw-ins took place when the ball went out of play. It was specified that throw-ins were taken with one hand only. It was also decided that players in the same team should wear the same color cap (red and dark blue). Sometimes public schools played football against boys from the local town. Although these games often ended in fights, it did help to spread knowledge of Cambridge Rules football. Former public school boys also played football at university. Many continued to play after finishing their education. Some joined clubs like the Old Etonians, Old Harrovians and the Wanderers (a side only open to men who had attended the leading public schools), whereas others formed their own clubs. 1871 also saw the introduction of umpires and a neutral referee. Both sides were allowed to appoint an umpire to whom players could appeal to about incidents that took place on the pitch. However, the FA rule now stated, a new but very important point of view. Archie Hunter, who played football in Scotland in the late 1860s, later explained that "football in those days was very different to what it is now or ever will be again. There were no particular rules and we played pretty much as we liked and also we played football because we love it, not for money; but we thought we were playing the Rugby game, of course, because the Association hadn't started then to come up with rules in order to make this sport better. It didn't matter as long as we got goals and the crowd

behind us; and besides, we only played with one another, picking sides among ourselves and having friendly matches in the playground. Such as it was though, I got to like the game immensely, and I spent as much time as I could kicking the ball" In 1871, then years later Charles W. Alcock, the Secretary of the Football Association, announced the introduction of the Football. It was the first knockout competition of its type in the world and people who loved this sport were very happy. Only 12 clubs took part in the competition: Wanderers, Royal Engineers, Hitchin, Queens Park, Barnes, Civil Service, Crystal Palace, Hampstead Heathens, Great Marlow, Upton Park, Maidenhead and Clapham Rovers, only 2 teams are still in the present, Crystal Palace in the second league and Queens Park in the first league of England

5 years after the first international match was played, between England and Scotland, another match between these two teams had been played in 1877, but also in this match were problems, and new rules would be added later on. One of the problems from this match was the lack the crossbars and nets. Because of this absence the goalkeeper was in difficulty not to concede goals

II.2 The FA CUP AND THE PROFESIONALISM

The FA Cup, was the first nationally organized competition. A knockout cup, it began 1871, with the first winners being the Wanderers, a team that doesnt exist any more. In 8

those days professionalism was banned, and the cup was dominated by service teams or old schoolboys' teams (such as Old Etonians). Because of this The Scottish Football Association split from the FA in 1873.In the early 1870s the modern team passing game was invented by the Sheffield FC, Royal Engineers A.F.C. and Scottish players of the era from Queens Park FC. This was the predecessor to the current passing, defensive game was known as the Combination Game and was spread around the world by British peoples.

England was home to the first ever international football match on 5 March 1870. The first match ended in a draw and was one of a series of four matches between representatives of England and Scotland at The Oval, London. These matches were arranged by the Football Association, at the time the only national football body in the world. The new professionals needed more regular competitive football in which they could compete, which led to the creation of the Football League in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor. This was dominated by those clubs who had supported professionalism, and the twelve founding members consisted of six from Lancashire (Blackburn,Rovers, Burnley,Bolton,Wanderers, Accrington, Everton an d Preston North End) and six from the Midlands (Aston Villa, Derby County, Notts County, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers). No sides from the South or London initially participated. Preston North End won the first ever Football League championship without losing any of their 22 fixtures, and won the FA Cup to complete the double. They retained their

league title the following year but by the turn of the 20th century they had been eclipsed by Aston Villa, who had emulated Preston's double success in 1897.

This period in English football was dominated by the conflict between those who supported professionalism, and those who wanted the game to remain amateur. Clubs in Scotland and Northern England generally supported a professional game, as the working class of these regions could not afford to miss work in order to play football. In Southern England, the game was more popular with the middle class, who supported. A number of clubs, such as Blackburn Rovers and Darwen were accused of employing professionals, and the FA eventually legalized the practice in 1885, in order to avoid a split. But, these conflicts were benefic to the future of football. Maybe, without the FA Cup, and without those people who worked hard to get somewhere, football was not the same in the present. In this period, when new rules had appeared, a couple of teams had won trophies and cups. At the turn of the 20th century, clubs from Sheffield were particularly successful, with Sheffield United winning a title and two FA Cups, as well as losing to Tottenham in the 1901 final; meanwhile The Wednesday (later Sheffield Wednesday) won two titles and two FA Cups, despite being relegated in 1899 they were promoted the following year. Sunderland had won four titles between 1892 and 1902, and in the following decade Newcastle United won the title three titles, in 1905, 1907 and 1909, and reached five FA Cup finals in seven years between 1905 and 1911, winning just the one, however. In addition Bury managed a 6-0 win over Derby County in the 1903 FA Cup Final, a record score line that stands to this day. During the first decade of the 20th century, Manchester

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City looked to be emerging as England's top side after winning the FA Cup for the first time in 1904, but it was soon revealed that the club had been involved in financial irregularities, which included paying 6 or 7 a week in wages to players when the national wage limit was 4 per week. The authorities were furious and rebuked the club, dismissing five of its directors and banning four of its players from ever turning out for the club again.

CHAPTER III THE GOLDEN AGE

After the period that started in 1870, when new rules, FA CUP and other appeared a new period had made history in English football. This period, between 1963 and 1971 many teams from England had won trophies, cups and win, the most important of all glory and a lot of fans. A lot of people called this period the Golden Age of English football, because in this period a famous football club, Liverpool had raised. The end of the 1950s had seen the beginning of the modernisation of English football, with the Divisions Three North and South becoming the national Division Three and Division Four in 1958. 1960 saw the introduction of the League Cup (with the first winners being Aston Villa), whilst Matt Busby rebuilt his Manchester United team into a second Busby Babes, starring George Best. Meanwhile, past giants like Wolves started to decline, with relegation eventually coming in 1965. It was Tottenham Hotspur who became the dominant force in English football in the early 1960s, winning the elusive double of the League and FA Cup in 1961, retaining the cup in 1962 and becoming the first British team to win a European trophy, after their 5-1 victory over Atltico Madrid in the 1963 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final. Fellow London side West Ham United was also successful, with the England trio of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters helping them win the 1964 FA Cup.

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In the golden age of English football, many players and couches played a very important role. Practically, without them, none of these incredible performances would come to the United Kingdom. So, we must remind huge players who dominated the English scene during the 1970s and early 1980: Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Older players whose careers finished during this time include Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, George Best, Successful managers of this era include Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Don Revie, John Lyall, Brian Clough, Ron Saunders, This special had come to an end between 1986-1991, and starting with 2001, football is like we see it today on TV. Behind this history of football stays a lot of hard work, hard trains, and also sacrifices for both players and couches but also supporters played a very important role in the development of this sport, called football, sport born in England and a sport that spread over the entire world, from South Africa to China or Russia.

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Conclusion

To me, football means more than a sport, means emotion, passion and sometimes many sacrifices. It means a sport that now is probably the most loved sport in the world. In football you can see players fighting for every ball, players ready to give their life on the pitch for their teams to win, or even for their fans, who often go many miles all over this world after their favorites. In my opinion, it is fabulous thing to be a football player, to know that due to you a match can be won, and that match to bring you the glory that everyone runes after it. The emotion you feel when your team wins a cup, or even wins a normally match cant be replaced with nothing else. On the other hand, when your team lose, you are ready to cry, because disappointments all in your head, over and over again. These feelings are not very often, and not many people can have these feelings, but this is way I love football more. Another, amazing thing is the way that football has been invented in the United Kingdom, in the last decade and due to passion from many persons had developed as we see it today, with full crowded stadiums and brave players ready to defend their colors and dreams. For me, this is football, probably the best sport in the world, as a famous commercial says.

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BIBLIOGRAPGHY
Books The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football by David Goldblatt Football Nation: Sixty Years of the Beautiful Game by Andrew Ward and John Williams When Football Was Football: Norwich City: A Nostalgic Look at a Century of the Club by Iain Dale Articles cited, E-books http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Fhistory.htm http://www.all-soccer-info.com/ http://www.footballnetwork.org/dev/historyoffootball/history8_18.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_English_football http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/game/historygame1.html http://www.information-britain.co.uk/sporthistory/entry/Football/

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