Football (Soccer)
Early Form: Cuju
Cuju was a game similar to modern-day football that was formed in ancient China. It was also played in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and goes as far back as the fourth century BC. The word cuju literally translated to "kick the ball with the foot." It was first played as a form of military training, and then in royal courts as a form of entertainment. Overtime, the game gained popularity and spread to the general public, becoming a national sport.
The equipment used in cuju consisted of a ball and some type of goal. The ball was made of rubber with a leather exterior, and it was usually stuffed with feathers. One of the forms of cuju was played with two teams on opposite sides of a field and two goals on each end. Another version involved a single post in the center of the playing field, with the objective being to hit it to score points.
During the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279 AD), Cuju became extremely popular and developed into a national pastime. The game became commercialized and professional players were paid to play and teach the sport. As Cuju developed during this time, it grew into a shooting competition using a single goal. By the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1664 AD), the game started to lose its popularity and slowly died out.
Development of the Modern Game
The modern game of football originates from nineteenth-century Britain, but "folk football" in Britain, as well as other variations of the game around the world, had been around for hundreds to thousands of years. By the early 1800s, football had become popular at British public schools, with each school having different playing rules. In 1843, Cambridge University attempted to standardize the rules. These rules spread to other schools and clubs via Cambridge graduates.
A further step towards a standard set of rules came when, in 1863, a printed set of rules was produced after meetings from clubs in London and the surrounding areas. These rules prohibited the carrying of the ball, which was still allowed in some forms of football at the time. This separated rugby from the new Football Association. By 1870, all contact between the ball and the hands except for the goalkeeper was not allowed.
During the mid- to late-nineteenth century, many industrial workers used football as a form of recreation or entertainment during their breaks. Also around this time, many schools, churches, and trade unions organized teams. By the turn of twentieth-century, the game had spread across Europe, Africa, and North and South America, with its popularity ever increasing. Coinciding with the rising adult literacy, press coverage of football brought more and more fans. Additionally, new forms of transportation allowed more people to travel to games. In 1904, representatives from the football associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland founded the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). With the creation of football associations around the world, the sport became a global phenomenon. Today, it is the most popular and widely-played sport on the planet.
Cuju was a game similar to modern-day football that was formed in ancient China. It was also played in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and goes as far back as the fourth century BC. The word cuju literally translated to "kick the ball with the foot." It was first played as a form of military training, and then in royal courts as a form of entertainment. Overtime, the game gained popularity and spread to the general public, becoming a national sport.
The equipment used in cuju consisted of a ball and some type of goal. The ball was made of rubber with a leather exterior, and it was usually stuffed with feathers. One of the forms of cuju was played with two teams on opposite sides of a field and two goals on each end. Another version involved a single post in the center of the playing field, with the objective being to hit it to score points.
During the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279 AD), Cuju became extremely popular and developed into a national pastime. The game became commercialized and professional players were paid to play and teach the sport. As Cuju developed during this time, it grew into a shooting competition using a single goal. By the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1664 AD), the game started to lose its popularity and slowly died out.
Development of the Modern Game
The modern game of football originates from nineteenth-century Britain, but "folk football" in Britain, as well as other variations of the game around the world, had been around for hundreds to thousands of years. By the early 1800s, football had become popular at British public schools, with each school having different playing rules. In 1843, Cambridge University attempted to standardize the rules. These rules spread to other schools and clubs via Cambridge graduates.
A further step towards a standard set of rules came when, in 1863, a printed set of rules was produced after meetings from clubs in London and the surrounding areas. These rules prohibited the carrying of the ball, which was still allowed in some forms of football at the time. This separated rugby from the new Football Association. By 1870, all contact between the ball and the hands except for the goalkeeper was not allowed.
During the mid- to late-nineteenth century, many industrial workers used football as a form of recreation or entertainment during their breaks. Also around this time, many schools, churches, and trade unions organized teams. By the turn of twentieth-century, the game had spread across Europe, Africa, and North and South America, with its popularity ever increasing. Coinciding with the rising adult literacy, press coverage of football brought more and more fans. Additionally, new forms of transportation allowed more people to travel to games. In 1904, representatives from the football associations of Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland founded the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). With the creation of football associations around the world, the sport became a global phenomenon. Today, it is the most popular and widely-played sport on the planet.