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Origin of Soccer Soccer, as we know it, was
first played as a game in England in the
mid-19th Century. The name is a slang version of
"association football." Its deeper origins
stretch back much further in time and are more
controverial. Certainly, different people have
independently invented games using their feet
and something akin to a ball. Here is more input
on those deeper origins: Nobody really knows
where soccer came from some say it was from the
roman who used their enemies head as ball other
say the Chinese, other say it came from South
America where they used anything as a ball,
including people and the loser would be
sacrified and sometimes the winner. The only
documented reference to the origin of soccer is
from the observations of Herodotus who describes
a game played by soldiers where the defeated
team captain's head would be severed, dipped in
melted rubber, and used for the play of the
rematch. It started in Brazil when a few
children were playing together when they saw a
bucket of soft rubber which came from a rubber
plantation nearby. Then, one of them got an idea
and turn it into a ball-shape. So, the childrens
play with each other but not in the modern way.
They just pass each other without touching with
thier hands. Some tourist nearby happen to pass
by and saw what had happen and decide to change
the game with two goalpost and 20 aside. Soccer
was first played as a game by Roman soldiers,
who used the heads of their enemies in a game
with simple goalposts. So it's understandable
why there is a rule against touching the ball
with your hands. Just kick it again. It began in
Italy with small rocks, we now call bacchi ball,
played by the Roman soldiers when bored that
their post, progressed to larger rocks, then do
to the difficulty in the weight, material was
sewn together to form a large ball, each century
there were modifications made, until today.
Soccer came to Europe from the Mexicans after a
battle they would chop off their opponents' head
and use it at a football. This form of
entertainment was then taken across to Europe by
the Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch etc. only they
invented the ball. The historical origin of
soccer was in China in about 2600 bc. They used
a ball made of leather and the goals were about
30 feet high and 20 feet apart and was played in
celebration of the emperor's birthday. The name
was called Tsi chu. It was played during the Hun
Dynasty. Soccer was invented by the Mayan and
Aztec Indians in Central America. At the Mayan
Ruins, in the city of Copan, Honduras, they have
a one of the first soccer fields ever. This
civilization dates back to more than 10,000
years ago. In this civilization, Soccer teams
would compete against each other and the captain
of the winning team was sacraficed after the
game. The act of being sacrificed was considered
an honor to these people. From the history of
soccer page at About.com: "There is documentary
evidence that a a game or skill building
exercise, involving kicking a ball into a small
net, was used by the Chinese military during the
Han Dynasty - around the 2nd and 3rd centuries
BC. Earlier evidence - of a field marked out to
play a ball-kicking game has been found at
Kyoto, in Japan. Both the Greeks and ancient
Romans played a soccer-type game which resembled
modern soccer - although in this early version,
teams could consist of up to 27 players!"
FIFA.com has an article about the history of
soccer that credits the Chinese with inventing
the game. It is believed that the first recorded
soccer game took place on a Shrove Tuesday in
Derby, England, as part of a festival to
celebrate the victory of English soldiers over
Roman troops ( a.d. 217). By 1175 the annual
Shrove Tuesday soccer game was a regular event.
It is correct that a lot of games were played in
the history of mankind where something was
kicked around. As well as tennis, volleyball or
hacky sack are not simply defined by the fact
that a ball is played over a net, socer is not
defined by trying to kick something into a
whatever goal. The game whe know as soccer today
was founded in the English public schools in the
early 19th century by simple school boys that
played the game although it was mostly
forbidden. They discussed and changed the rules
of the game. Later the games were allowed and
seen as good training for manlihood and
fairness. To give an extra challenge to fair
play and self controll the boys of Eton forbade
the use of the hands. As not being allowed to
use the hands is the main characteristic of
soccer in contrast to rugby, I would say that
was the moment when soccer was born. Soccer and
Rugby parted and went different ways, the first
became the sport we know as soccer today. Soccer
later spread to the continent, where the first
national game was Austria against Hungary.
Soccer was believed by scientists to have been
started in the Han Dynasty in 1000 B.C. They
think that it was played by the military to make
sure that the soldiers were ready for battle. It
was later played in the Roman and Greek
civilizations, but with many more players and
not that many rules. It is known for a fact that
"soccer" was played in 600 A.D. in Kyoto, Japan.
Later, football was played in the United Kingdom
by people of all sorts. The king of England
thought that soccer should be banned because of
how dangerous it was, but no one could stop
soccer because it had become too popular of a
sport. Today soccer is all over the world and
considered to be the most popular sport of all.
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