unusual facts that will amaze you about football(soccer) .

unusual facts that will amaze you about football(soccer).

football or soccer as called in some parts of the world is a game that is played between two people.

or two teams trying to take the ball from each other and score goals, to be more specific it's a game of way more than that.

as today's football is more sophisticated than following a ball or throwing it. but like anything else or any sports it has its share of odd and interesting facts that probably most of us don't know, as it is not highlighted on mainstream media or as time goes we are more interested in watching football matches than discovering its history.

to be honest, the information I'm about to share with you can be found all across the web but I guessed why not summarize it in one simple blogpost and present to you what I newly discovered about the story of what we call football.

so, here goes the most interesting things about football you probably never knew of. 

Early appearance of football in history:

1. the first known examples of teams playing a ball game occurred in Mesoamerican cultures for over 3000 years(with a ball made of rock, later made out of rubber)and were called tchatali. What's interesting about football back then is, it has been kind of a ritual where the loser team would be sacrificed to the gods.
2. known early traces of playing ball took place in china in the 3rd and 2nd century BC, under the name cuju.
3. a new form of this game spread into japan called kemari, which used leather stuffed with feathers and fur as well.

Football taking form:

1. the first admitted story says that football was developed  in12th century England, it was mostly played in meadows and roads, besides kicking it involved punching the ball with fists. to be more clear football was more violent than modern-day playing.
2. an equivalent form of it was also found in Florence Italy in the 16th century, under the name Calcio.

Banned for several centuries:

because the game took place over large areas and involved lots of people, the rampage of that caused damage to towns and even certain people death. that was amongst the reasons the game was forbidden for centuries. fortunately, it was revived on the streets of London in 17th century  England and banned again in 1835, but at this stage, it was already established in public schools.

Two schools and two different styles:

while football was played in lots of schools, the two predominant schools that integrated football in England were rugby and Eton. each of them had different styles.

for rugby, it was allowed to take the ball hands(today's rugby was derived from that), back then it was called the running game.

as for Eton, football was played exclusively by feet. you could say that this form was the predecessor of the modern game.

An attempt to give rules to the game:

the first attempt to create football rules was at a meeting in Cambridge but a final solution to all questions about rules was not achieved. however, in London about 1963 a football association was formed .in its meeting, it was decided that carrying the ball with the hands was not allowed, also the size and shape of the ball.

another result of that meeting is that game was divided into two codes, football association and rugby association.

Starting the big matches:

football was at first entertainment for the British working class, unprecedented amounts of spectators, up to 30.000, would see the big matches in the late19th century. the game would soon expand by British people who traveled to India and especially in South America.

Summary:

just so you know, all the information I provided in this article, is just a small portion of football history and if you are interested, you would find a lot more on the internet. because football is far more than an air-filled ball.

Disclaimer: All images used on this blog belong to their respective owners.

for more pictures like these, please visit Football - Wikipedia for more picture stocks about football.