Every day or even every hour, there is a football match happening somewhere in the world. We have become accustomed to the game such that it is hard to imagine a world without football. Sports betting experts have stated that most of the wagering happens in the football space. It is the game with most odds. Likewise, the number of punters who place football bets far outnumbers any other sport. For football players, it is a career. For the fans and the punters who frequent UK online betting sites, it’s fun and a pleasure. They normally have great fun predicting football results and placing wagers. For tipsters, this is the most exciting game when it comes to providing tips and analysis.
People look forward to big tournaments for the thrill and fun they offer as well as the opportunities that they present. Despite football being one of the most popular sports, very few people pose and think about its origin. Some even think it has been in existence for a long period. However, as sports historians will tell you, football as we know it today, is a recent creation, perhaps not old than three hundred years. That being said, the origin of the game can be traced several centuries away in different parts of the world. Japanese, Chinese, Greeks, Maoris, and other different people across the world had varied versions of football.
Going further back
Football, as we know it today, can be associated with England, however, its origin goes further back.
- There is documented history of a ball game that was played in the Han Dynasty. This game involved teams, where up to 16 players kicked a ball using a net. They used to call the game cuju.
- In Japan, a game similar to Chinese cuju existed during the Asuka period. Kemari as it was known involved players passing the ball in a circle to keep it off the ground
- Greeks and Romans had episkryros and harpastum respectively
- Maori people in New Zealand and Australia have their versions of football
The football that we recognize today
The type of football that we recognize today was first documented by an English Thomas Becket in the 1100s. In the city of London, young people would use an inflated animal bladder as the ball during street celebrations. From here, most of the recorded instances are from the bans in the 1300s where the games were prohibited due to the disorder and noise they generated. The orderliness that characterizes football today can be credited to English public schools which came up with the rules as well as taking it from the mob to organized sport. It is between 1824 and 1841 that the first football club was formed in Edinburgh.
The football association that established today’s game can be attributed to 1863 when the code of practice was developed.
Since then the game has grown to be one of the most popular sports. Sporting events such as World Cup, national leagues, and continental tournaments have attracted huge crowds with the best betting sites for Football UK and other parts of the world recording huge traffic as punters wage for their favourite teams. Perhaps as you search for the best new betting sites, knowing a little bit of the game’s history will spice up the experience. This is what we attempt here, educate you on matters of history, where we attempt to answer a question that has lingered in people’s minds. Who invented English football?
As we have seen in the brief history of the sport, it is hard to locate the invention of football and no single person can realistically lay claim to being the football inventor. However, we can associate the current version of football with an individual and that is none other than Ebenezer Morley. He has been referred to in different quarters as the father of the Football Association. He was the founder of Barnes Football Club.
His letter to a popular newspaper is said to have prompted the meeting that helped in establishing the new rules. The meeting which took place in October 1863 brought together representatives from twelve clubs and it is here that the game was codified. It is in this meeting that the Football Association was founded. This is the association that would clear up the confusion that characterized earlier versions of football through the establishment of rules that would govern the matches. The meeting also kicked a debate that later saw the split of football and Rugby. A prohibition on ball handling was the bone of contention and it is said to have brought a separation between the two sides.
Football Association grew fast. It had more than fifty clubs just a few years after its founding. From here, football grew and even went international. Great Britain was the first to stage international tournaments. It was not long before professionalism was introduced in the game.
England football has come a long way. From the time when football was played in a mob to the organized games that were birthed through the formation of the Football Association. The kind of football that we are witnessing today in various events including the World Cup can be traced to the organized games that have their roots in football organizations in England.
