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| No no no, stick to the stuff u know, if you wanna be cool follow one simple rule dont mess with the flow no no, | |||
| :''This article deals with the history and development of the different sports around the world known as "football". For links to articles on each of these codes of football, please see the list in the ] section of this article. | |||
| stick to the status quo | |||
| '''Football''' is the name given to a number of different, but related, ]s. The most popular of these worldwide is ], which is called '']'' in several countries. The ] ] is also applied to ] (] and ]), ], ], ], and ]. (See also: ].)] match at the ], ], in ]. (A ] by Robert Bruce.)]] | |||
| While it is widely believed that the ], or "foot ball", originated in reference to the action of a foot kicking a ball, there is a rival explanation, which has it that football originally referred to a variety of games in ], which were played ''on foot''. These games were usually played by ]s, as opposed to the ] sports often played by ]s. While there is no conclusive evidence for this explanation, the word football has always implied a variety of games played on foot, not just those that involved kicking a ball. In some cases, the word football has been applied to games which have specifically outlawed kicking the ball. (See ] for more details.) | |||
| All football games involve scoring points with a ] or ] ball (itself called a '']''), by moving the ball into, onto, or over a ] area or line defended by the opposing team. Many of the modern games have their origins in ], but many peoples around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball since ancient times. | |||
| The object of all football games is to advance the ball by kicking, running with, or passing and catching, either to the opponent's end of the field where points or goals can be scored by, depending on the game, putting the ball across the goal line between posts and under a crossbar, putting the ball between upright posts (and possibly over a crossbar), or advancing the ball across the opponent's goal line while maintaining possession of the ball. | |||
| In all football games, the winning team is the one that has the most points or ]s when a specified length of time has elapsed. | |||
| ==History== | |||
| Throughout the history of mankind the urge to kick at stones and other such objects is thought to have led to many early activities involving kicking and/or running with a ball. Football-like games predate recorded history in all parts of the world, though the earliest forms of football are not known. | |||
| === Ancient games === | |||
| Documented evidence of what is possibly the oldest organized activity resembling football can be found in a Chinese military manual written during the ] in about 2nd century BC. | |||
| It describes a practice known as '']'' (]:蹴鞠 or 蹴踘 ; ]: cù jū) which involved kicking a leather ball through a hole in a piece of silk cloth strung between two 30 foot poles. | |||
| It was not a game as such but more of a spectacle for the amusement of the Emperor and it may have been performed as long as 3000 years ago. | |||
| Another ]n ball-kicking game, which may have been influenced by ''tsu chu'', is '']''. This is known to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in ] from about ]AD. | |||
| In ''kemari'' several individuals stand in a circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball drop to the ground (much like ]). | |||
| The game survived through many years but appears to have died out sometime before the mid 19th century. | |||
| In ] in a bid to restore ancient traditions the game was revived and it can now be seen played for the benefit of tourists at a number of festivals. | |||
| The ]s and ] are known to have played many ball games some of which involved the use of the feet. | |||
| The Roman writer ] describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when a ball was kicked into a barbers shop. | |||
| The Roman game of ''Harpastu'' is believed to have been adapted from a team game known as "επισκυρος" (episkyros) or pheninda that is mentioned by Greek playwright, ] (388-311BC) and later referred to by ]. The game appears to have vaguely resembled ]. | |||
| There are a number of less well-documented references to ], ] or ]al ball games, played by ] peoples all around the world. For example, ] of the ] is the first to record a game played by the ] called '']'', in ]. In ], ] played a game called '']''. An 1878 book by ], ''The Aborigines of Victoria'', quotes a man called Richard Thomas as saying, in about ], that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: "Mr Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a ] and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it." It is widely believed that Marn Grook had an influence on the development of ] (see below). In northern ] and/or ], the ] (Eskimos) played a game on ice called '']''. Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team's line and then at a goal. The ancient ] game of '']'' also involved kicking a ball, but it generally had more similarities to ]. | |||
| These games and others may well stretch far back into antiquity and have influenced football over the centuries. However, the route towards the development of modern football games appears to lie in Western Europe and particularly ]. | |||
| === Mediæval football === | |||
| {{see|Mediæval football}} | |||
| The ] saw a huge rise in popularity of annual ] football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. The game played in England at this time may have arrived with the ], but there is little evidence to indicate this. Reports of a game played in ], ] and ], known as ''Choule'' or ''Soule'', suggest that some of these football games could have arrived in England as a result of the ]. | |||
| These archaic forms of football would be played between neighbouring towns and villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams, who would clash in a heaving mass of people struggling to drag an inflated ]'s bladder by any means possible to markers at each end of a town. A legend that these games in England evolved from a more ancient and bloody ritual of kicking the "]'s head" is unlikely to be true. Shrovetide games survive in a number of English towns (see below). | |||
| The first description of football in England was given by William FitzStephen (c. 1174-1183). He described the activities of ] youths during the annual festival of ]. | |||
| :''After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents''. | |||
| Most of the early references to the game speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at ball". This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked. The first clear reference to football was not recorded until ], when King ] issued an edict to ban it. In ], King ] also attempted to ban the playing of "fute-ball". However, the first clear reference to a ball being used did not occur until ]. | |||
| The first reference to football in ] occurs in the ] of ], which allowed the playing of football and ] but banned "hokie' — the ] of a little ball with sticks or staves" as well as other sports. (The earliest recorded football match in Ireland was one between ] and ], at ], in ].) | |||
| === Calcio Fiorentino === | |||
| {{main|Calcio Fiorentino}} | |||
| In the ], the city of ] celebrated the period between ] and ] by playing a game known as "''o Calcio storico''" ("kickball in costume") in the ] or the ]. The young aristocrats of the city would dress up in fine silk costumes and embroil themselves in a violent form of football. For example, ''calcio'' players could punch, shoulder charge, and kick opponents. Blows below the belt were allowed. The game is said to have originated as a military training exercise. | |||
| The most famous match took place on ], ]. While the troops of ] were besieging Florence, a game of ''calcio'' was organised as a show of defiance. In ], Count Giovanni de' Bardi di Vernio wrote ''Discorso sopra 'l giuoco del Calcio Fiorentino''. This is sometimes credited as the earliest known published rules of any football game. The game was not played between January ] and May ], when it was revived to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the match mentioned above. ''Calcio'' is still played, mostly as a tourist attraction. | |||
| === Official disapproval and attempts to ban football === | |||
| Numerous attempts have been made throughout history to ban football games, particularly the most rowdy and disruptive forms. Between 1324 and 1667, football was banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws. King ] was so troubled by the unruliness of football in ] that on ], ] he issued a proclamation banning it: | |||
| :''Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls from which many evils may arise which God forbid; we command and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future.'' | |||
| The reasons for the ban by ], on ], ], were explicit: football and other recreations distracted the populace from practicing ], which was necessary for war, and after the great loss of life that had occurred during the ], England needed as many archers as possible. | |||
| Football featured in similar attempts by ]s to ban recreational sport across Europe. In France it was banned by ] in ], and again by ] in ]. In England, the outlawing of sport was attempted by ] in ] and ] in ]. In ], football was banned by ] in ] and by ] in ]. Despite evidence that ] played the game — in 1526, he ordered the first known pair of ] — in ] Henry also attempted a ban. All of these attempts failed to curb the people's desire to play the game. | |||
| By ], the local authorities in ] were complaining that: | |||
| :''With the ffotebale... hath beene greate disorder in our towne of Manchester we are told, and glasse windowes broken yearlye and spoyled by a companie of lewd and disordered persons using that unlawful exercise of playing with the ffotebale in ye streets of the said towne, breaking many men's windows and glasse at their pleasure and other great inormyties.'' | |||
| That same year, the modern spelling of the word "football" is first recorded, when it was used disapprovingly by ]. Shakespeare's play ''King Lear'' (which was first published in 1608) contains the line: "Nor tripped neither, you base football player" (Act I Scene 4). | |||
| Shakespeare also mentions the game in ''A Comedy of Errors'' (Act II Scene 1): | |||
| :''Am I so round with you as you with me,''<br> | |||
| :''That like a football you do spurn me thus?''<br> | |||
| :''You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither:''<br> | |||
| :''If I last in this service, you must case me in leather.'' | |||
| ("Spurn" literally means ''to kick away'', thus implying that the game involved kicking a ball between players.) | |||
| In the period following the ], ] had some success in suppressing football games, although they became even more popular following the ], in ]. ] gave the game royal approval in ] when he attended a fixture between the Royal Household and ]'s servants. | |||
| Even in the early modern era, efforts were made to ban football at a local level, and force it off the streets. In ], the annual ] Shrove Tuesday game proceeded only after ] provided a field for the game to be played on. (The Duke also presented the ball before the match — a ritual that continues to this day.) In ], the British ] banned the playing of football on public highways, with a maximum penalty of forty shillings. | |||
| ==The establishment of modern codes of football== | |||
| ===English public schools=== | |||
| ] around ].]] | |||
| The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English ] — attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes — comes from the ''Vulgaria'' by William Horman in ]. Horman had been headmaster at ] and ] and his ] textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase "We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde". The first specific mention of football can be found in a Latin poem by Robert Matthew, a Winchester scholar from 1643 to 1647. He describes how "...we may play quoits, or hand-ball, or bat-and-ball, or football; these games are innocent and lawful...". ''Nugae Etonenses'' (1766) by T. Frankland also mentions the "Football Fields" at Eton. | |||
| By the early ], (before the ]), most ] people in Britain had to work six days a week, often for over twelve hours a day. They had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in sport for recreation and, at the time, many children were part of the ]. ] football on the public highway was at an end. Thus the public school boys, who were free from constant toil, became the inventors of organised football games with formal codes of rules. These gradually evolved into the modern football games that we know today. | |||
| Football had come to be adopted by a number of public schools as a way of encouraging competitiveness and keeping youths fit. Each school drafted their own rules as they saw fit and they often varied widely and were changed over time with each new intake of pupils. In ] ], a pupil at ], is said to have "showed a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his time" by picking up the ball and running to the opponents' goal, but the evidence for this bold act does not stand up to close examination. However, by ] (some sources say 1842), ''running'' with the ball had become acceptable at Rugby, as long as a player gathered the ball on the full or from a bounce, he was not ] and he did not pass the ball. | |||
| Soon, two schools of thought about how football should be played had developed. Some favoured a game in which the ball could be carried (as at Rugby, ] and ]), whilst others preferred a game where kicking and dribbling the ball was promoted (as at Eton, ], ] and ]). The division into these two camps was partly the result of circumstances in which the games were played. At Charterhouse and Westminster the boys were confined to playing their ball game within the cloisters making the rough and tumble of the handling game difficult. | |||
| During this period, the Rugby School rules appear to have spread at least as far, perhaps further, than the other schools' games. For example, it is said that the world's first "football club" (that is one which was not part of a school or university), was the ], founded in London in ]. The club is said to have played the Rugby School game. However, some have argued that this club is too poorly documented to be considered to have existed since that time. | |||
| In ], three boys at Rugby School were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football. This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game. | |||
| ] during the ] meant that people were able to travel further and with less inconvenience than they ever had before. Inter-school sporting competitions became possible. While local rules for ]s could be easily understood by visiting schools, it was nearly impossible for schools to play each other at football, as each school played by its own rules. | |||
| ===The Cambridge Rules=== | |||
| {{main|The Cambridge Rules}} | |||
| In ] at ], ], who were both formerly at ], called a meeting at ] with 12 other representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, ] and Shrewsbury. An eight-hour meeting produced what amounted to the first set of modern rules, known as the ''Cambridge Rules''. No copy of these rules now exists, but a revised version from circa 1856 is held in the library of Shrewsbury School. The rules clearly favour the kicking game. Handling was only allowed for a player to take a ''clean catch'' entitling them to a free kick and there was a primitive offside rule, disallowing players from "loitering" around the opponents' goal. However, the ''Cambridge Rules'' were not widely adopted. | |||
| ===Other developments in the 1850s=== | |||
| The increasing interest and development of the various English football games was shown in ], when ], a shoemaker from Rugby, exhibited both round and oval-shaped balls at the ] in London. | |||
| ] — founded at ] in ] and later famous as a bastion of the Rugby School game — is arguably the world's ] in any code. | |||
| ] also has a claim to be the world's oldest football club, in the sense of a club not attached to a school or university. It was founded by former Harrow School pupils Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, in ]. Creswick and Prest devised their own version of football: the ''Sheffield Rules''. There were some similarities to the ''Cambridge Rules'', but players were allowed to push or ''hit'' the ball with their hands, and there was no ''offside'' rule at all, so that players known as 'kick throughs' could be permanently positioned near the opponents' goal. (How long this set of rules lasted is unclear, but by ], when Sheffield played a combined FA side, they were employing their own version of offside that differed from the FA rule. In ] the ] was formed by a number of clubs in the local area and the Sheffield clubs continued to play by their own rules until they decided to fall in line with the FA in ].) | |||
| By the end of the 1850s, many clubs had been formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various codes of football. (For more details see: ]s.) | |||
| === Australian Rules football === | |||
| {{main|Australian Rules football}} | |||
| ] began to develop ] in ] during ]. Wills had been educated in England, at Rugby School and had played ] for Cambridge University. The extent to which Wills was directly influenced by British and Irish football games is unknown, but there were similarities between some of them and his game. There were pronounced similarities between Wills's game and ] (as it would be codified in 1887). It appears that Australian Rules also has some similarities to the ] game of '']'' (see above). | |||
| The ] was also founded in 1858 and is the oldest surviving Australian football club, but the rules it used during its first season are unknown. The club's rules of ] are the oldest surviving set of laws for Australian Rules. They were drawn up at the Parade Hotel, East Melbourne on ], by Wills, W. J. Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas Smith (some sources include H. C. A. Harrison). These men had similar backgrounds to Wills and their code also had pronounced similarities to the Sheffield rules, most notably in the absence of an ''offside'' rule. A free kick was awarded for a ''mark'' (clean catch). However, ''running'' while holding the ball was allowed and although it was not specified in the rules, an ''oval ball'' (like those later used in rugby) was used. The club had a strong and long-standing association with the ] and ''cricket ovals'' — which vary in size and are much larger than the fields used in other forms of football — became the standard playing field. The 1859 rules did not include some elements which would soon become important to the game, such as the requirement to ''bounce'' the ball while running. | |||
| Australian Rules is sometimes said to be the first form of football to be codified but — as was the case in all kinds of football at the time, there was no official body supporting the rules — and play varied from one club to another. By ], however, several other clubs in the ] had agreed to play an updated version of the Melbourne FC rules, which were later known as "Victorian Rules" and/or "]n Rules". The official name of the code is now Australian football. | |||
| ===The Football Association=== | |||
| ] international, ] versus ]. Once kept by the ] as an early example of ].]] | |||
| In ], J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original ''Cambridge Rules'', was now a master at ] and he issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (these are also known as the ''Uppingham Rules''). In early October of ] a new revised set of ''Cambridge Rules'' rules were drawn up by a seven man committee representing former pupils from Harrow, Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster. This later revised version of the ''Cambridge Rules'' rules were to form the basis of what eventually became the rules adopted by ] (FA). | |||
| On the evening of ], ] at the Freemason's Tavern in Great Queen Street, ], The Football Association (FA) met for the first time. It was the world's first official football body. The meeting had been called, not by public school figures, but by members of several football clubs in the London Metropolitan area. Charterhouse was the only school represented at that first meeting. The aim was to produce a single code of football that everybody could agree to and to set up a governing body for the regulation of the game. The first meeting resulted in the issuing of a request for representatives of the public schools to join the association. With the exception of Thring at Uppingham, most schools declined. Rugby, Eton and Winchester did not even reply. In total, six meetings were held between ] and ] 1863. At the close of the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published that most of the delegates were happy to endorse, but this agreement was not to last. At the beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the fact that a number of newspapers had recently published the ''Cambridge Rules'' of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely 'running with the ball' and 'hacking' (kicking an opponent in the shins). The two contentious draft rules were as follows: | |||
| :IX.''A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he makes his mark he shall not run.'' | |||
| :X.''If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at the same time.'' | |||
| At the fifth meeting a motion was proposed that these two rules be expunged from the FA rules. Most of the delegates were favourable to this suggestion but F. W. Campbell, the representative from ] and the first FA treasurer, objected strongly. He said, "hacking is the true football". The motion was carried nonetheless but at the final meeting, Campbell withdrew his club from the FA. After the final meeting on ] the FA published the "]", the first comprehensive set of rules for the game later known as ] (or, colloquially, ''soccer''). These first FA rules still contained elements that are recognisable in other games for instance, a player could make a fair catch and claim a ''mark'' and if a player touched the ball behind the opponents' goal line, his side was entitled to a free kick at the goal 15 yards from the goal line. | |||
| ===Rugby football=== | |||
| :''See the earlier section ] and the main article ]'' | |||
| ] | |||
| In Britain, by 1870, there were about 75 clubs playing variations of the Rugby School game, including ] (founded in ] and arguably the world's oldest surviving, non-university rugby club). There were also "rugby" clubs in ], ], ] and ]. However, there was no generally accepted set of rules for rugby until ], when 21 clubs in England came together to form the ] (RFU). (Ironically, Blackheath now lobbied to ban ''hacking''.) The first official RFU rules were adopted in June ]. | |||
| ===North American football=== | |||
| {{main articles|], ], and ]}} | |||
| As was the case in Britain, by the early 19th century, ]n schools and universities played their own local games, between sides made up of students. By the ], a game known as ] was being played at the ] (later known as Princeton University) and ] was being played at ], ]. In ], a ] student composed a humorous epic poem called ''The Battle of the Delta'', one of the first accounts of football in American universities. | |||
| The first documented football match in Canada was a game played at ], ] on ], ]. A football club was formed at the university soon afterwards, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear: it is not known whether they played a ''kicking'' or ''handling'' game, or both, and its members mostly played against each other. | |||
| The first "football club" in the ] was the short-lived ] in ], founded in ]. It has often been said that this club was the first to play soccer outside Britain. However, the rules that the Oneida club used are also unknown, and it was formed before the FA rules were formulated. The club may have invented the "]", a ''running'' code which was being played several years later in Massachusetts. | |||
| In 1864, at ], Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on the Rugby School game. However, the first game of "rugby" in Canada is generally said to have taken place in ], in 1865, when ] officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the ] was formed in 1868, the first recorded football club in Canada. | |||
| The first match generally said to have occurred under English FA (soccer) rules in the USA was a game between ] and ] in ]. This is also often considered to be the first US game of ], in the sense of a game between colleges (although the eventual form of American football would come from rugby, not soccer). | |||
| ] | |||
| Modern ] grew out of a match between ] of Montreal, and ] in ]. At the time, Harvard students are reported to have played the "Boston Game" — a ''running'' code — rather than the FA-based ''kicking'' games favored by US universities. This made it easy for Harvard to adapt to the rugby-based game played by McGill and the two teams alternated between their respective sets of rules. Within a few years, however, Harvard had both adopted McGill's rugby rules and had persuaded other US university teams to do the same. In ], at the ], it was agreed by these universities to adopt most of the ] rules. However, a ''touch-down'' (as it was also known in rugby football at the time) only counted toward the score if neither side kicked a ''field goal''. The convention decided that, in the US game, four touchdowns would be worth one goal; in the event of a tied score, a goal converted from a touchdown would take precedence over four touch-downs. | |||
| Princeton, Rutgers and others continued to compete using soccer-based rules for a few years before switching to the rugby-based rules of Harvard and its competitors. US colleges did not generally return to soccer until the early twentieth century. | |||
| In ], ] coach ], devised a number of major changes to the American game, beginning with the reduction of teams from 15 to ''11 players'', followed by reduction of the field area by almost half, and; the introduction of the ''scrimmage'', in which a player heeled the ball backwards, to begin a game. These were complemented in ] by another of Camp's innovations: a team had to surrender possession if they did not gain five yards after three ''downs'' (i.e. successful tackles). | |||
| Over the years Canadian football absorbed some developments in American football, but also retained many unique characteristics. One of these was that Canadian football, for many years, did not officially distinguish itself from rugby. For example, the '''Canadian Rugby Football Union''', founded in ] was the forerunner of the ], rather than a Rugby Union body. (The ] was not formed until 1965.) American football was also frequently described as "rugby" in the 1880s. | |||
| ===Gaelic football=== | |||
| ''Main article: ].''<br> | |||
| In the mid-], various traditional football games, referred to collectively as '']'', remained popular in Ireland, especially in ]. One observer, Father W. Ferris, described two main forms of ''caid'' during this period: the "field game" in which the object was to put the ball through arch-like goals, formed from the boughs of two trees, and; the epic "cross-country game" which took up most of the daylight hours of a Sunday on which it was played, and was won by one team taking the ball across a ] boundary. "Wrestling", "holding" opposing players, and carrying the ball were all allowed. | |||
| By the 1870s, Rugby and Association football had started to become popular in Ireland. ] was an early stronghold of Rugby (see the ] section, above). The rules of the English FA were being distributed widely. Traditional forms of ''caid'' had begun to give way to a "rough-and-tumble game" which allowed tripping. | |||
| There was no serious attempt to unify and codify Irish varieties of football, until the establishment of the ] (GAA) in ]. The GAA sought to promote traditional Irish sports, such as ] and to reject "foreign" (particularly English) imports. The first Gaelic football rules were drawn up by ] and published in the ''United Ireland'' magazine on ], ]. Davan's rules showed the influence of games such as hurling and a desire to formalise an Irish code of football distinct from Rugby and Association football. The prime example of this differentiation was the lack of an ] (an attribute which, for many years, was shared only by other Irish games like hurling, and by Australian rules football). | |||
| ===The split in rugby football=== | |||
| {{see|History of rugby league}} | |||
| The ] (IRFB) was founded in 1886, but rifts were beginning to emerge in the code. ] was beginning to creep into the various codes of football. In Britain, by the ], a long-standing ] ban on ''professional'' players was causing regional tensions within rugby football, as many players in northern England were ] and could not afford to take time off to train, travel, play and recover from injuries. In ] representatives of the northern clubs met in ] to form the ] (NRFU), a professional competition. | |||
| Within a few years the NRFU rules had started to diverge from the RFU, most notably with the abolition of the ''line out''. The separate Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions of the NRFU merged in ], forming the ''Northern Rugby League'', the first time the name ] was used officially. Eventually, to differentiate the two codes of rugby, the code played by clubs which remained members of national federations affiliated to the IRFB became known as ]. | |||
| ===The reform of American football=== | |||
| Both forms of rugby and American football were noted at the time for serious injuries, as well as the deaths of a significant number of players. By the early ] in the USA, this had resulted in national controversy and American football was banned by a number of colleges. Consequently, a series of meetings was held by 19 colleges in ]. This occurred reputedly at the behest of President ], who was considered to be a fancier of the game, but who had threatened to ban it, unless the rules were modified to reduce the numbers of deaths and disabilities. The meetings are now considered to be the origin of the ]. | |||
| One proposed change was a widening of the playing field. However, Harvard University had just built a concrete stadium, objected and proposed instead legalisation of the ''forward pass''. The report of the meetings introduced many restrictions on tackling and two more divergences from rugby: the banning of ''mass formation plays'', as well as the forward pass. The changes did not immediately have the desired effect, and 33 American football players were killed during 1908 alone. However, the number of deaths and injuries did gradually decline. | |||
| ===The two rugby codes diverge further=== | |||
| Rugby league rules diverged significantly from rugby union in ], with the reduction of the team from 15 to ''13 players'', and the introduction of the ''play the ball'' (heeling the ball back after a tackle). In ], a ] professional rugby team toured Australia and Britain, and as a result the ] was formed. However the rules of professional rugby varied from one country to another, and negotiations between various national bodies were required to fix the exact rules for each international match. This situation endured until ], when at the instigation of the French league, the ] (RLIF) was formed at a meeting in ]. | |||
| ==Football today== | |||
| ===Use of the word "football" in English-speaking countries=== | |||
| {{see|Football (word)}} | |||
| The word "''football''", when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term ''football'', primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the ]. | |||
| In most English-speaking countries, the word "football" usually refers to ], also known as soccer (soccer originally being a slang abbreviation of ''Association''). Of the 48 national ] affiliates in which ] is an official or primary language, only five — ], the ], ], ] and the ] — use soccer in their name, while the rest use football. Even in the countries where "football" is the official name of association football, this name may be at odds with common usage; this has occurred in Australia where official attempts to re-brand soccer, in the early 21st century, are at odds with usages of the word "football" established more than 100 years earlier. | |||
| In other countries or regions within them, the word "football" may refer to ], ], ], ], or one of the two codes of ]: ] or ]. | |||
| The different codes are listed below and are described more fully in their own articles. | |||
| === Games descended from the FA rules of 1863 === | |||
| * ], also known as ''soccer''. | |||
| * Indoor varieties of Association football: | |||
| ** ] - played throughout the world under various rules including: | |||
| *** ] — the ]-approved Five-a-side indoor game | |||
| ** ] — the six-a-side indoor game as played in ] | |||
| * ] — modified association football for disabled competitors. | |||
| * ] — football played on sand, also known as sand soccer | |||
| === Games descended from Rugby School rules === | |||
| * ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ***] — usually known simply as "Touch". | |||
| *** ] — a form of Rugby League replacing tackles with tags. | |||
| ** ] | |||
| *** ] | |||
| ** ] — a form of rugby union without tackles. | |||
| *** ] — a form of Touch Rugby, in which a velcro tag is taken to indicate a tackle. | |||
| ** ] | |||
| *** ] | |||
| *** ] | |||
| * ] — called "football" in the United States, and "gridiron" in Australia and New Zealand. | |||
| ** ] — an indoor version of American football | |||
| ** ] — non-tackle American football. | |||
| *** ] — non-tackle American football, like touch football, in which a flag that is held by velcro on a belt tied around the waist is pulled by defenders to indicate a tackle. | |||
| * ] — called simply "football" in Canada. | |||
| ** ] — non-tackle Canadian football. | |||
| * ] — a combination of American football, soccer, and ], devised by Elmer D. Mitchell at the ] in ]. There is an coincidental resemblance to Gaelic football. It has since been played occasionally on an experimental basis, but is not known to have had organised competitions amateur leagues. (Another game known as ] is a combination of soccer and ].) | |||
| === Irish and Australian varieties of football === | |||
| * ] — now known officially as '''Australian football''' and informally as "Aussie rules" or "footy". Often (erroneously) referred to as "]", which is the name of the main organising body. | |||
| ** ] — a version of Australian rules designed by the AFL for young children | |||
| ** ] (or ''Metro rules footy'') — a modified version invented by the ], for use on ] fields in ]n cities (which often lack grounds large enough for conventional Australian rules matches). | |||
| ** ] — a more open, running variety of Australian rules, requiring 18 players in total and a proportionally smaller playing area. (Includes contact and non-contact varieties.) | |||
| ** ] — "Recreational Football", a modified non-contact touch variation of Australian rules, created by the AFL, which replaces tackles with tags. | |||
| ** ] — localised version adapted to ]n conditions, such as the use of ]s. | |||
| * ] – a compromise between Australian rules and ], invented in ] during ]. | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] — a compromise code used for games between Gaelic and Australian Rules players. | |||
| * '']'' — a game played by some ] communities, which is considered to have partly inspired ]. | |||
| === Surviving Mediæval ball games === | |||
| * Traditional ] matches in the ] — annual town- or village-wide football games with their own rules. Alternative names include '''mob football''', '''Shrovetide football''' and '''folk football'''. | |||
| ** ] in ] | |||
| ** ] in ] (known as ]) | |||
| ** ] in ] | |||
| ** ] in ] The Shrove Tuesday Football Ceremony of the Purbeck Marblers | |||
| ** ] in ] (the ], actually played on ]) | |||
| ** ] takes place at ] in ] | |||
| ** ] in ] | |||
| ** In ] the ] ("Ball Game") is still popular around Christmas and ] at: | |||
| *** ], ] | |||
| *** ] | |||
| *** ] in the ] Islands | |||
| *Outside the UK other Mediæval games include: | |||
| ** ] — a modern revival of Renaissance football from ] ]. | |||
| ''For details of extinct varieties of football invented and/or played during the ] in ], see the ] article.'' | |||
| === Other surviving public school games === | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| === More recent inventions and derivations === | |||
| {{seealso|Invented sport}} | |||
| *Based on Medieval football: | |||
| ** ] | |||
| * Based on FA rules: | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| * Based on Rugby: | |||
| ** ] | |||
| *] | |||
| === Tabletop games and other recreations === | |||
| * Based on FA rules: | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] (also known as table football/soccer, babyfoot, bar football or gettone) | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] (also known as Futebol de Mesa; Jogo de Botões) | |||
| * Based on Rugby: | |||
| ** ] | |||
| * Based on American Football: | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ** ] | |||
| ==References== | |||
| * Mandelbaum, Michael (2004); ''The Meaning of Sports''; Public Affairs, ISBN 1586482521 | |||
| * Green, Geoffrey (1953); ''The History of the Football Association''; Naldrett Press, London | |||
| * Williams, Graham (1994); ''The Code War''; Yore Publications, ISBN 1874427658 | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
| ] | |||
| ] | |||
| <!-- The below are interlanguage links. --> | |||
| ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] ] | |||
Revision as of 20:36, 10 February 2006
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