6/13/12 Soccer History Timeline
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Football / SoccerSports > List > Football > Resources
> History
A Football History - from its origin to now
There is no clear documentation stating the date
and place of origination of today's most popular
sport - world football. However, most historians
agree that some type of a ball game has been played
for at least over 3000 years. The origins of the
game can be seen in games played in China, Japan,
Egypt, Greece before our modern game developed in
England.
Here is a brief outline of some of the events that
have shaped the game of soccer throughout
history.
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5000-300
B.C.
There is evidence in China that military forces around 2nd and
3rd
century BC (Han Dynasty) played a game, originally named "Tsu
Chu",
that involved kicking a leather ball stuffed with fur into a
small hole. Like
Soccer, no hands were permitted during the play of the game.
2500 B.C There was possibly a version of a type of ball game
played by young
women in Egypt during the age of Baqet III, as images of this
sport were
depicted on his tomb, though there is not much known of this
sport
except that it was played with a ball.
1000 B.C. The Japanese version of 'soccer' is was called Kemari,
a game much like
modern hackysacks, played with two to twelve players, and played
a
larger ball stuffed with sawdust. There was also a field
designated by
four trees (cherry, maple, pine and willow).
B.C. In ancient Greece, they played a game called Episkyros, in
which two
equally numbered teams would try to throw the ball over the
heads of
the other team. There was a white line between the teams and
another
white line behind each team. Teams would change the ball often
until
one of the team is forced behind the line at their end.
50 B.C. China's Tsu Chu players and Japan's Kemari players were
the first to
have an "International" game of their versions of soccer,
believed to
have occurred roughly 50 B.C.. There is a definite date of such
a game
occurring in 611 A.D.
600 -
1600 A.D.
In Mexico & Central America the rubber ball was created, and
used in
a game on a recessed court 40-50 feet long shaped like a capital
"I". In
the middle of each wall, was a mounted stone or wooden ring and
the
object was to project the hard rubber ball through the ring.
700s The first Football games played in Britain was played by
the locals of
east of England, starting after a 'legendary' game that involved
kicking
around the severed head of a Danish prince that they have
defeated in a
war. These games were violent, where injury and death were
not
uncommon
1331 Despite the violence of these games, they were still
popular. This led
King Edward III of England to pass laws in 1331 to stop the
game
1424 King James I of Scotland also passed a law banning the
game
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6/13/12 Soccer History Timeline
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1424 King James I of Scotland also passed a law banning the
game
1500 In Italy they played a game called "calcio" with teams of
27+ people.The game involved kicking, carrying or passing a ball
across a goal line. In1580, Giovanni Bardi published a set of rules
of the game of calcio.
1572 Queen Elizabeth I of England, enacted laws that could
sentence afootball player to jail for a week followed by penance in
a church.
1600 In Alaska and Canada the native Eskimos played a game
calledaqsaqtuk on ice, using balls stuffed with grass, caribou
hair, and moss.One legend tells of two villages playing against
each other with goals 10miles apart.
1605 Football became legal again in England
1620 In North America, native American Indians in the original
Jamestownsettlement played a game called pasuckuakohowog, meaning
"theygather to play ball with the foot." It was a rough game,
played thebeach, the field a half-mile wide with goals 1 mile
apart, with as many as1000 players at a time.
1815 Eton College of England established a set of rules for the
games.
1820 In the USA, football was played among the Northeastern
universities andcolleges of Harvard, Princeton, Amherst and
Brown.
1848 The rules were further standardized and a new version was
adopted byall the schools, college and universities, known as the
Cambridge Rules.
1862 The first soccer club formed anywhere outside of England
was theOneida Football Club, Boston USA.
1863 October 26 of 1863, the Football Association was formed
when elevenLondon schools and clubs came together at the
Freemason's Tavern toestablish a single set of rules to administer
any football match that wereto be played among them. On December 8
1863, Association Footballand Rugby Football finally split onto two
different organizations. Later inthe year, the first ever soccer
match was played on Barnes common atMortlake, London on 19th
December 1863 between Barnes FootballClub and Richmond Football
Club. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.
1869 The Football Association rules were further amended to
exclude anyhandling of the ball.
1872 The first official international football match was played,
between thenational teams of Scotland and England, played in
Glasgow Scotland.The game was played on 30 November 1872, and
finished with a 0-0draw.
1883 The four British associations agreed on a uniform code and
formed theInternational Football Association Board.
1885 The first international match played by teams outside of
Great Britainwas between USA and Canada, played in Newark and ended
with Canadawinning 1-0.
1888 Introduction of the penalty kick.
1904 Establishment of FIFA by delegates from France, Belgium,
Denmark, theNetherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland at a meeting
in Paris on the21st of May.
1900 Soccer played the Olympic Games for the first time
1930 In 1930, The Federation Internationale de Football
Association (FIFA)held soccer's first World Cup tournament in
Montevideo, Uruguay, with13 teams.
1932 Soccer was taken off the program for the Olympic games in
LosAngeles, due to a controversy between FIFA and the IOC over
thedefinition of amateur and the reluctance of many strong
soccercountries to travel the US because of the expense
involved.
