subject: History Of Football (soccer) [print this page] Since time immemorial, mankind has played various ball games. Proof of which could be seen in many ancient societies, ancient Greek society as an example. The beginnings of the modern game however started in Britain in the times leading until the industrial revolution. Entire villages would band together against other villages in games, which would cover several fields. These games were often violent and there wasn't any particular rules on which body parts you can use.
Variances of this kind of games carried on for quite a while through the 19th century. An increasing number of individuals were going out of their villages for the industry of towns. People were feeling pride and allegiances to their fast growing towns and soon, they sought to represent their own towns in competition with the other new fast growing towns close to them. Before long, games where-by you could only use your feet were being played in stadiums between the burgeoning settlements. During this period in history, there were no crossbars on the goals, only a piece of flimsy tape connecting two poles. Other variations included, as you may guess, no use of goalie gloves but also essentially, no offside rule, the lack of this kind of a ruling meaning strong attack bias with games frequently ending 10 a piece or greater.
More and more towns developed their own football teams and by the beginning of the 20th century, the structure of how football is contested today with leagues and cups were prepared. Also around this time, the game was beginning to be exported all over the world with teams beginning in countries such as Germany and Italy approximately this time. International bouts were starting, at this point, England still supreme defeating the likes of the rest of the world on its own. With this international popularity, it was not long before the game was being contested on the world stage in the likes of the World Cup or European Championships.
Tactically, the game was modifying as well, with the advent of the offside rule out went five strikers and in came much more defensive approaches, teams such as Italy trailblazing certain approaches to the game. England was losing its supremacy and on the 50's, Spanish and Italian club teams as well as South American international teams particularly had gone up to an equivalent footing.
The game ever since has steadily increased in popularity around the globe, this popularity attracting wealth making former small town sports clubs into multinational plcs. With this bigger professionalism has been introduced into the game with much better use of nutrition and exercise as well as strict controls on player's lifestyles. The use of emerging technologies and assistance from the likes of sports psychologists are all being used taking the game to new highs. The future of the sport definitely looks rosy.
