These would be among the reasons for the proclamations against the game that finally was forbidden for several centuries. The rampage of these games would cause damage on the town and sometimes death to the participants. This early form of football was also much more rough and violent than the modern way of playing.Īn important feature of the forerunners to football was that the games involved plenty of people and took place over large areas in towns (an equivalent was played in Florence from the 16th century where it was called Calcio). Besides from kicks, the game involved also punches of the ball with the fist. In this century, games that resembled football were played on meadows and roads in England. The most admitted story tells that the game was developed in England in the 12th century.
It is, however, uncertain in which degree the British people were influenced by this variety and in which degree they had developed their own variants. It was the Roman culture that would bring football to the British island (Britannica).
In the Ancient Rome, games with balls were not included in the entertainment on the big arenas (amphitheaters), but occurred in exercises in the military by the name of Harpastum. Ball games had, however, a low status and was not included at the Panhellenic Games. The ball was made by shreds of leather filled with hair (the first documents of balls filled with air are from the 7th century). Other variety of ball games had been known from Ancient Greece. The rules are mostly unknown, but as with many other early versions of the game keeping the ball in the air was probably a chief feature. The ball was made by encased leaves or roots. Perhaps even older cuju was Marn Gook, played by Aboriginal Australians and according to white emigrants in the 1800s a ball game primarily involving kicking. A modified form of this game later spread to Japan and was by the name of kemari practiced under ceremonial forms. Cuju was played with a round ball (stitched leather with fur or feathers inside) on an area of a square. The first known ball game which also involved kicking took place In China in the 3rd and 2nd century BC under the name cuju. A unique feature of the Mesoamerican ball game versions was a bouncing ball made of rubber – no other early culture had access to rubber. In some ritual occasions, the ball would symbolize the sun and the captain of the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods. It was by the Aztecs called Tchatali, although various versions of the game were spread over large regions. The first known examples of a team game involving a ball, which was made out of a rock, occurred in old Mesoamerican cultures for over 3,000 years ago. Early history and the precursors of football But alternative versions of the game existed much earlier and are a part of the football history. Football in its current form arose in England in the middle of the 19th century. Welcome to, a website about football history including competitions, teams and players.įootball (or soccer as the game is called in some parts of the world) has a long history.