History of the Game of Soccer

Sports And Games Of The 18th And 19th Centuries

Definition
Soccer is a game played between two teams of 11 players, the object being to propel a round inflated ball into the opponent's goal by kicking or hitting the ball with any part of the body other than the hand or arm. Soccer developed as an organized sport in Great Britain over the latter half of the 19th century and quickly spread to the European continent and around the world. Today, soccer is played by young and old alike, in almost every country in the world.

History
Contrary to popular belief, "football" is not synonymous with soccer. The word "football" came into use in England in the mid-14th century to describe a game not played with the feet but on foot, in order to distinguish it from other games played on horseback.

Soccer's lineage dates back to ancient times. A Chinese military manual dating from the Han dynasty (3rd and 2nd centuries b.c.) includes as one of its physical exercises the game of Tsu Chu. In Tsu Chu, players kicked a leather ball into a small net affixed to the end of long bamboo canes. The ancient Greeks also played a game called Episkiros that involved kicking and throwing a ball on a field. Conquering Romans borrowed much from the game, turning it into a rougher affair that they called Harpastum. It was popular with the Roman legionaries, who brought the game to England during the Roman occupation between a.d. 43 and 409. Later on, a soccer-like game seems to have been associated with seasonal planting and fertility rites. The ball, representing the sun, was ceremoniously kicked across newly planted fields. A rural rite soon was transplanted to the city as a fun pastime. In 1175 a London monk, William Fitzstephen, described how teams of students and trades apprentices played a game of ball on flat ground just outside the city.

But early variants of soccer were often no more than a violent, disorganized mass of opposing forces vying for control of the ball. In "The Anatomie of Abuses," published in 1583 by the Puritan pamphleteer Phillip Stubbs, football is likened to a "bloody and murthering practise," where brutal injury is commonplace: sometimes their necks are broken, sometimes their backs, sometimes their legs, sometime their armse, sometime one part thrust out of joynt, sometime their eyes start out; and sometime hurt in one place, sometimes in another... and hereof groweth envie, malice, rancour, cholar, hatred, displeasure, enmitie, and what not els, and sometimes murther, fighting, brawling, contortion, quarrel kicking, homicide, and great effusion of blood, as experience dayly teacheth.

The sport took a significant step toward respectability and organization when, in the early 1800s, public education administrators began to use sports as a form of self-disciple and character building. Dr. Thomas Arnold, the headmaster at Rugby School, was a major proponent of making sports part of the educational process. Arnold's sport of choice was a variant of football called rugby (see Rugby). Popularized between the 1820s and the 1840s, the game of rugby developed along two lines: the "handling game," in which players largely ran with the ball, and the "dribbling game," a precursor of soccer where participants kicked the ball.

Though there were several attempts to produce one master game from the two strains, none was successful. Finally, in 1863, representatives from the leading football clubs in London gathered with the objective of regulating the sport throughout the country. Calling themselves the Football Association (F.A.), they largely favored the skill and athleticism of the dribbling game over the brute strength of the handling game. The F.A.'s first set of rules, published on December 7, 1863, marks the birth of soccer. Prohibitions against running with the ball, tripping, and hacking (or "shinning," where a player checked an opponent's progress with a kick to the shins) were definitive in setting soccer apart from rugby. Other regulations regarding the size and shape of the field and the space between the goalposts, and rules governing kickoffs, in-bounds passes, corner kicks, free kicks, and direct kicks constitute the basis of the modern game.

Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, soccer became enormously popular throughout England and Scotland, and later in Ireland and Wales. Much of the popularity was due to the F.A. creating a Challenge Cup Tournament, open to all clubs in England. Much like today's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball Tournament, a good deal of local pageantry sprang up around the F.A.'s winner-take-all tourney. On any given day, a small club from the north could beat a big London club; underdogs dreamed of upsets, and the David-and-Goliath aura around the event produced excitement and boosted attendance. By 1900 the F.A. Cup was drawing 242 teams. In 1901 over 110,000 fans watched the Cup final.

But like many sports in Victorian England, soccer had to wrestle with the question of amateur versus professional. Most of the early club members were former public school and university men of the middle and upper middle classes. However, when the sport spread to the industrial cities of England's midlands and north, the working classes began to play soccer in greater numbers. Companies began to recruit workers with special soccer talents, and many of the most successful clubs outside London were based in factories and carried the name of the company or manufacturer on their uniform. In order to keep the best players on the field, the F.A. ruled in 1885 to allow professionals to play in the Cup tournament. Even when the first professional league, the 12-team Football League, was established in 1888, the F.A. maintained control over the sport. This was important when the F.A. began to export the game through international play. In choosing a national team, the F.A. picked from among the best native-born amateurs and professionals.

But soccer's widespread popularity was ensured before the advent of international play. The sport's rise to prominence in England coincided with the height of the country's maritime and commercial strength. British sailors traveled regularly to foreign ports, and businessmen and engineers often spent long periods of time abroad. Wherever they went, they brought a soccer ball. The game's simplicity helped spread its popularity. Thus, in 1889 employees of the British railway started a soccer club in Argentina, and soon after British students in Sao Paulo, Brazil, began playing the sport with locals. As Britain's business connections increased throughout Europe in the 1880s and 1890s, soccer clubs were formed in Italy, Germany, and Austria.

The Federation Internationale Football Association, or FIFA, was formed in 1904 to govern international play. In 1908 soccer became an Olympic sport, and by 1924, 22 countries were competing. That year, 51,000 fans attended the Olympic final in Paris, where Uruguay beat Switzerland 3-0. World Cup competition was inaugurated in 1930. By that time, FIFA had 41 member nations. Today the association has 204 member nations. These national teams vie every four years for the World Cup, which is considered the world championship of the sport. FIFA also began staging a Women's World Cup in 1991. The United States women won both the 1991 and 1999 championships - the latter before the largest crowd in women's soccer history: 90,185 at the Rose Bowl against China in the final game.

Equipment
Soccer has been referred to as the "simplest game." There are 17 basic rules, and the only equipment is an inflated, leather-covered ball 27 to 28 inches in circumference. When fully inflated, a soccer ball weighs between 14 and 16 ounces. Over the years a soccer player's uniform has changed very little. Players typically wear shorts, a long- or short-sleeved shirt, long athletic socks to cover a pair of shin guards, and a pair of nonmetal studded cleats. Goalkeepers often wear a light pair of gloves to keep their hands warm and to provide a better grip to catch. A goalkeeper must also wear a different colored jersey and shorts to distinguish himself or herself from the other players and from the referee.

Rules
As mentioned above, soccer has a rather small set of rules in comparison to other sports - in all there are 17 "laws" of soccer. The field of play is rectangular - 110-120 yards long and 70-80 yards wide for international play (see illustration). The goal is 8 yards wide and 8 feet high.

There are a number of different soccer formations (see illustration). Traditional positions include a striker, or center, and two wings who attack the opponent's goal, four midfielders, or halfbacks, who play both offense and defense, and three defensemen, or fullbacks, who are the last line of defense before the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper is the only player who is allowed to catch and touch the ball - but only while he remains within an 18 by 44 yard penalty area that surrounds the goal.

Figure 13. A diagram of a soccer field (top), with two common formations indicated by position (bottom). At left is the "classic" 2-3-5 formation, popularized by England around the turn of the century and the most common formation through the mid-20th century. At right is the "modern" 3-4-3 formation, with an extra midfielder facilitating a more fluid transition from offense to defense.

Players are not permitted to hold, push, or trip an opponent, but they may bump him with the shoulder, and may attempt to intercept passes or kick the ball away from an opponent. For rule violations such as handling the ball, or for fouls like tripping, pushing, or kicking an opponent, the offending team is penalized by awarding a free kick - an unguarded kick from the point of the infraction - to the opposing team. For fouls committed within the penalty area by the defending team, the opposing team is awarded a penalty kick - a free kick directly at the goal.

Soccer, like hockey, has rules prohibiting offside plays. In general, an attacker is offside if there are not at least two defenders between him and the goal at the time the ball is passed to him. He is not offside if he is behind the ball, if the ball last touched an opponent, or if he is in his half of the field. Games consist of two 45-minute halves. Play is continuous and is stopped only when a goal is scored, a violation or infraction is committed, or the ball goes out of bounds. When a ball is driven out of bounds, it is put back in play by a member of the opposing team, who must throw the ball with two hands, over the head, with both feet on the ground. A ball driven over the end line by the defending team is awarded to the opposing team as a corner kick - a kick taken from the corner of the field. A ball driven over the end line by the attacking team is returned to play as a goal kick - a kick taken by the goalkeeper.

Bibliography
Gardner, Paul. (1996). The Simplest Game. New York: Macmillan.

Gerhardt, Wilfred. (1979). "The Colorful History of a Fascinating Game." Federation Internationale de Football Web site, http://www.fifa.com/index.html (March 3, 2001).

Murray, Bill. (1994). Football: A History of the World Game. London: Scholar Press.

Citation: Crego, Robert. "Soccer" from Sports And Games Of The 18th And 19th Centuries. Daily Life Online. Greenwood Publishing Group. 18 August 2008. http://dailylife.greenwood.com/dle.jsp?k=3&x=GR1610&p=GR1610-791.