Football History | The Beginning

Nobody can actually say an exact date for the beginning of football. The game has its origins from 200 years BC, when there had been a form of the game, played in China. There had been many peoples, who had had their own versions of the ancient football. For example, Romans and Greeks had also played such a game.

To continue with, football in Britain had started to be played in the early Middle Ages, when the Anglo-Saxons had repelled an attack by the Danes. It had been a kind of a celebration for the people. But, it had been way too different than nowadays’ football. All the villages had taken part in the game, which had been a massive one.

During the years, many monarchs had tried to ban the newly invented game, but people had been so passionate about football, that nobody could stop them playing it!

The first real attempt for changing football to the game we are familiar with now, had been the draw up of the rules in 1848 at Cambridge University (Cambridge Rules – the basis of the FA rules). A few years later (1855) Sheffield FC had become the first football club in the world. It had been formed by the members of the local cricket club.

After those crucial events, there had been formed lots of new clubs in The UK. I am only going to mention a few of the oldest football clubs. As we said Sheffield FC is the oldest club (1855), the next to appear as a football club had been Notts County of Nottingham in 1862; Sheffield Wednesday in 1867; Aston Villa in 1874; Domingo FC (Everton) and Newton Heat (Manchester United) – 1878; Stanley FC (Newcastle United) – 1881; Arsenal – 1886 and so on.

Here are other important events, which had changed the game a lot: it had been determined that a team should consist of 11 players (1870); Wanderers had won the first edition of the FA Cup (1872); England 0-0 Scotland had been the first English international match (1872); introduction of the crossbar (1875); two-handed throw-ins (1883); the football professionalism had been legalized (1885); Preston North End had become the first champions of England (1889); the goal net had been introduced and the introduction of the penalty kick (1891) and many, many other events had transformed football to the game we all know!

So, that’s the first chapter of the football game. Later, we will take a closer look to other historical events, connected with the English football.