History of association football
This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2013) |
The history of association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, stretches back at least to medieval times.[1][2][3] Some predecessors of football may date back to ancient Greece and Rome, and similar games were played in ancient China and Japan.[4] The history of football in Britain dates at least to the eighth century CE.[5]
The development of association football has its origins in
Besides its dedicated competitions, football has also been an Olympic sport since the second modern Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, in 1900.[8]
The Football Association
During the early-mid nineteenth century, different sets of rules for football began to be drawn up in schools, universities, and clubs. The first such set of rules to be published was that of Rugby School in 1845.
According to N. L. Jackson, in the University of Cambridge in 1846 "two old Shrewsbury boys, Messrs H. de Winton and J. C. Thring, persuaded some Old Etonians to join them and formed a club. Matches were few and far between, but some were played on Parker's Piece. Unfortunately, the game was not popular at the Varsity then, and the club did not last long".[9] According to Thring's own account, written in 1861:[10]
[I]n 1846, when an attempt was made to introduce a common game and form a really respectable club, at Cambridge, the Rugby game was found to be the great obstacle to the combination of Eton, Winchester, and Shrewsbury men in forming a football club.
This was among the first of several known attempts to formulate
Another set of rules was set by Eton College in 1847.
During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the
During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various football games that were played in the public schools as well in the industrial north under the Sheffield Rules. In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at
Ebenezer Cobb Morley, a solicitor from Hull, wrote to Bell's Life newspaper in 1863, proposing a governing body for football. Morley was to become the FA's first secretary (1863–66) and its second president (1867–74), but is particularly remembered for drafting the first Laws of the Game at his home in Barnes, London, that are today played the world over. For this, he is considered not just the father of the Football Association, but of association football itself.[6]
Public schools such as
On the evening of 26 October 1863, representatives of several football clubs in the Greater London area met at the
Banned practices
After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published by the FA. However, at the beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently published
IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he makes his mark he shall not run.
X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at the same time.
At the fifth meeting a motion was proposed that these two rules be removed from the FA rules. Most of the delegates supported this suggestion but F. W. Campbell, the representative from
These first FA laws contained elements that are no longer part of association football, but which are still recognisable in other games (e.g.
Foundations of a competition
The laws laid down by the FA had an immediate effect, with
First FA Cup
On 20 July 1871,
The success of the inaugural FA Cup lead many English clubs to apply to take part. Inclusion required playing by the newly instituted FA code, which led to the quick spread of a universal set of rules. These rules are the basis of which all association football rules today stem.[23]
Later competitions saw the 'Gentleman' or Southerners dominate with
In 1872, Alcock purchased a trophy for the Football Association Cup for £20.
First league
In 1888,
McGregor had voted against the name The Football League, as he was concerned that it would be associated with the
A rival English league called the Football Alliance operated from 1889 to 1892. In 1892 it was decided to formally merge the two leagues, and so the Football League Second Division was formed, consisting mostly of Football Alliance clubs. The existing League clubs, plus three of the strongest Alliance clubs, comprised the Football League First Division.
First International
The first international game was played in Scotland on 30 November 1872. Charles Alcock, who was elected to secretary of the FA at the age of 28, devised the idea of an international competition, inaugurating an annual
In 1872 the challenge was eventually taken up by Queens Park FC.[29] The first international currently recognised as official by FIFA (which took place on 30 November 1872, Glasgow, Scotland) ended in a goalless draw between the two sides and thus, one of the most bitterly disputed fixtures in footballing history was born. The 2nd game between the two sides, on 8 March 1873, ended 4–2 in favour of England, the Scots then went on to win the next game 2–1. The fourth game ended in a 2–2 draw after which the Scots enjoyed a 3-game winning streak.
The first non-European international was contested on 28 November 1885, at Newark, New Jersey, between the US and Canada, the Canadians winning 1–0. [citation needed]
From amateurism to professionalism
When football was gaining popularity during the 1870s and 1880s professionals were banned in England and Scotland. Then in the 1880s, soon after Wanderers disbanded, in the north of England, teams started hiring players known as 'professors of football', who were often professionals from Scotland (who were referred to at the time as the 'Scotch Professors'). This was the first time a professional got into football. The clubs in working class areas, especially in Northern England and Scotland, wanted professional football in order to afford to play football besides working. Several clubs were accused of employing professionals.
The northern clubs made of lower class paid players started to gain momentum over the amateur 'Gentleman Southerners'. The first northern club to reach the FA Cup final was
During the summer of 1885, there was pressure put on the Football Association to accept professionalism in English football, culminating in a special meeting on 20 July, after which it was announced that it was "in the interests of association football, to legalise the employment of professional football players, but only under certain restrictions". Clubs were allowed to pay players provided that they had either been born or had lived for two years within a six-mile radius of the ground. There were also rules preventing professional players from playing for more than one club in a season, without obtaining special permission, and all professional players had to be registered with the F.A.[30]
Though English clubs employed professionals, the
One of the teams to benefit from the move of Scottish players to England, who were nicknamed the Scotch Professors, was Sunderland A.F.C. The club went professional in 1885, and the club recruited a number of Scotsmen the same year, their first internationally capped players.[33] Founder James Allan left Sunderland in 1888 because of his dislike for the "professionalism" that had been creeping into the club, and subsequently formed Sunderland Albion.[34]
The wealthy miner Samuel Tyzack, who alongside and shipbuilder Robert Turnbull funded the now professional "team of all talents," often pretended to be a priest while scouting for players in Scotland, as Sunderland's recruitment policy in Scotland enraged many Scottish fans. In fact, the whole Sunderland lineup in the
Another team to benefit from the Scotch Professors was Preston North End, the first English team to win the Championship and Cup "double", which did so with a majority of their team being made up of Scottish players.[37][38]
The Scottish FA lifted its ban on professionalism in 1893, whereupon 560 players were registered as professionals.[39]
Early English women's teams, such as the
In 1934, the Swedish club Malmö FF was relegated from the top division after it had been discovered that they paid their players, something that was not allowed in Swedish football at the time.
Association football during wartime
Between 1915 and 1919 competitive association football was suspended in England. Many footballers signed up to fight in the war and as a result many teams were depleted, and fielded guest players instead. The
International spread
Continental Europe
The oldest club in continental Europe could be the
The
Imperial Russia
The first recorded football game in Imperial Russia occurred in
Portugal
The first organised game of football in Portugal took place in 1875 in Camacha, Madeira. Organised by the Madeira born Harry Hinton.
The oldest surviving team in Portugal is
On 31 March 1914, the 3 regional associations that existed in Portugal (Lisbon, Portalegre and Porto), merged to create a national association called "a União Portuguesa de Futebol" which is the ancestor of the current national association "Federação Portuguesa de Futebol" which was formed on 28 May 1926.
South America
The first recorded football match in Argentina was played in 1867 by British railway workers at the Buenos Aires Cricket Club Ground.[45] The game was a blend of both association and rugby footballs, allowing the use of hands.[46] The first association football team in South America, Buenos Aires Football Club was created in Argentina that same year. The first country's league was the "Association of Argentine Football" (AAF), founded in 1891 by F.L. Wooley. This league organized the first ever championship to take place in 1891,[47] making Argentina's the oldest association football league outside mainland Great Britain[48] although it only lasted for one season. Its successor, the Argentine Football Association was founded by Scottish schoolteacher Alexander Watson Hutton in 1893, and remaining nowadays.[49]
In the 1870s an expatriate named John Miller who worked on the railway construction project in São Paulo together with some 3000 other immigrant families from the British Isles in the last decades of the 19th century, decided to send his young boy Charles William Miller to England for his education. In 1884 Charles aged 10 was sent to Bannister's school in Southampton. Charles was a natural footballer who quickly picked up the arts of the game. The football association was being formed at the time. Eton, Rugby, Charterhouse and other colleges all had developed their own rules to the game. As an accomplished winger and striker, Charles held school honours that were to gain him entry first into the Southampton Club team and then into the County team of Hampshire.
In 1892, a couple of years before his return to Brazil, Miller was invited to play a game for the Corinthians, a team formed of players invited from public schools and universities.
On his return, Miller brought some association football equipment and a rules book with him. He then went on to develop the new rules of the game amongst the community in São Paulo. In 1888, six years before his return, the first sports club was founded in the city, São Paulo Athletic Club. São Paulo Athletic Club won the first three years of championships. Miller's skills were far and above his colleagues at this stage. He was given the honour of contributing his name to a move involving a deft flick of the ball with the heel "Chaleira".
Charles Miller kept a strong bond with English association football throughout his life. Teams from Southampton and Corinthians Club came over to Brazil and played against São Paulo Athletic Club and other teams in São Paulo. One on occasion in 1910 a new local team was about to be formed after a tour of the Corinthians team to Brazil and Charles was asked to suggest a name for the team. He suggested they should call themselves after Corinthians.
During the first years of the 20th century, several British clubs
The Argentine Primera División is the oldest league in South America, being first held in 1891.[52] Moreover, Argentina became the first country outside the United Kingdom to establish a football league.[53] The Uruguayan Football Association was also established in 1900. Both associations organised together the first Rioplatense club competitions in the region, starting with the Tie Cup in 1900.[54]
In 1988, São Paulo A.C. celebrated its centenary and the English Corinthian F.C. (that had first toured on Brazil in 1910)[55] went across again to play them at Estádio do Morumbi. The end of the tour was against the local Corinthians Paulista team (which had taken its name from the English side) with former stars Sócrates and Rivellino amongst its players. This game was played at Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo and true to Corinthian principles of good clean association football the score was 1 to 0 in favour of the locals when as agreed Socrates changed shirts to play alongside the English amate. This did not affect the score unfortunately although a largely packed stadium was cheering on for a drawn result.
The Brazilian Football Confederation was founded in 1914, and the current format for the Campeonato Brasileiro was established in 1971.
United States
The first association football club in the United States was the Oneida Football Club of Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 1862. It is often said that this was the first club to play association football outside Britain. However, Oneidas were formed before the English Football Association (FA); it is not known what rules they used[56] and the club wound up within the space of a few years. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the club is often credited with inventing the "Boston Game", which both allowed players to kick a round ball along the ground, and to pick it up and run with it.
The first U.S. match known to have been inspired by FA rules was a game between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869, although the game included features such as extremely physical tackling and teams of 20 each. Other colleges emulated this development, but all of these were converted to rugby-oriented rules from soccer-oriented rules by the mid-1870s on, and they would soon become famous as early bastions of American football. (For more details see: History of American football and 1869 college football season.)
Early football leagues in the U.S. mostly used the name football leagues: for example, the
Two further football leagues were started in 1967, the United Soccer Association and the National Professional Soccer League. These merged to form the North American Soccer League in 1968, which survived until 1984. The NASL also ran an indoor league in the later years.
Creation of FIFA
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2023) |
The need for a single body to oversee the worldwide game became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The English Football Association had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body but was perceived as making no progress. It fell to seven other European countries to band together to form this association. FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) was founded in Paris on 21 May 1904 – the French name and acronym persist to this day, even outside French-speaking countries. Its first president was Robert Guérin.
FIFA presided over its first international competition in 1906, however, it met with little approval or success. This, in combination with economic factors, led to the swift replacement of Guérin with Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, which had become a member association by that point. The next tournament staged the football competition for the 1908 Olympics in London was more successful, despite the presence of professional footballers, contrary to the founding principles of FIFA.
Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the application of South Africa in 1909, Argentina in 1912 and the United States in 1913.
FIFA however floundered during World War I with many players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the death of Woolfall, the organisation fell into the hands of Alexander Bartholomew.[citation needed] The organisation had a new leader though after Bartholomew's death in 1919. It was saved from extinction but at the cost of the withdrawal of the Home Nations, who cited an unwillingness to participate in international competitions with their recent World War enemies.
In 1946 the four British nations returned. On 10 May 1947 a 'Match of the Century' between Great Britain and 'Rest of Europe XI' was played at
FIFA World Cup
Football at the Summer Olympics was introduced in 1900 in Paris, and the South American Copa América was first contested in 1916. The Olympics were the de facto World Championship until FIFA decided to host its own tournament in between Olympics. With Uruguay winning the Gold Medals in 1924 and 1928, it was decided that the first men's football World Cup, the 1930 FIFA World Cup, was played in Uruguay, while there would be no football at the 1932 Games in Los Angeles. Olympic football resumed in 1936, though.
Due to the Great Depression, many countries could not afford travel to South America and did not enter, so most entrants came from the Americas. In the first championship match between Argentina and Uruguay, the teams could not decide on a ball so they used Argentina's ball in the first half and Uruguay's in the second. By 1950 however, again in Uruguay, some European teams took an interest, and the competition blossomed into the world's biggest footballing and sporting event.
Decades later, other continental championships emerged – the
Only seven nations have won the World Cup, most of them multiple times. Brazil is the most successful team in the World Cup, having won five times between 1958 and 2002. The next most successful teams are Italy (1934 to 2006) and Germany (three as West Germany 1954 to 1990, and 2014) with four titles each, followed by Argentina with three titles (1978 to 2022). Uruguay (1930 and 1950) and France (1998 and 2018) have two titles each. England (1966) and Spain (2010) have won one title each.
FIFA Women's World Cup
The FIFA Women's World Cup was inaugurated with the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup, hosted in China, with 12 teams sent to represent their countries.
Over 90,185 spectators attended the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup and nearly 1 billion viewers from 70 countries tuned in. By the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, 16 teams competed in the championship finals. Of the eight tournaments held to date (as of 2019), the United States (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019) is the most successful team with four titles; Germany (2003, 2007) have won the championship twice, and Norway (1995) and Japan (2011) have each won once. Women's confederations are the same as men's: Oceania (OFC), European (UEFA), North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF), South American (CONMEBOL), Asian (AFC) and African (CAF).
See also
- History of football in England
- British football clubs tours to South America
- Timeline of association football
- Association football and politics
References
- ^ "Football | History, Rules, & Significant Players | Britannica". 18 March 2024.
- ^ "The history of soccer".
- ISBN 978-0-19-517632-2.
- ^ "FIFA.com – History of Football – The Origins". 25 December 2012. Archived from the original on 25 December 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ "FIFA.com – History of Football – Britain, the home of Football". 1 July 2007. Archived from the original on 1 July 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
- ^ a b "History of Football – The Global Growth". FIFA. 1994. Archived from the original on 3 August 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ "The History of the FA". The Football Association. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ Team, Editorial (22 August 2021). "The History of Soccer: (Also Known As association football)". History of Soccer. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
- ^ Jackson (1900), p. 26. Jackson does not provide the original source of this information.
- ^ J.C.T. (28 December 1861). "Football, Simple and Universal". The Field: 578.
- ^ Green, Geoffrey (1953). History of the Football Association. London: Naldrett Press. pp. 15–16.
- ^ Alcock, C. W. (8 January 1898). "Association Football: No. 1 -- Its Origin". The Sportsman (8851). London: 3.
- ^ "Henry Charles MALDEN – Godalming Museum". godalmingmuseum.org.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
- ^ Curry and Dunning (2015), p. 73
- ^ "Laws of the University Foot Ball Club" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ^ Adrian Harvey: Football: The First Hundred Years, 2005
- ^ "1863-1888 In The Beginning". Stoke City F.C. Archived from the original on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2007.
- ^ Marples, Morris. A History of Football, Secker and Warburg, London 1954, page 150
- ^ "The Football Association". Bell's Life in London. 28 November 1863. p. 6.
- ^ "The History of The FA". The Football Association. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
- ^ Warsop. Early FA Cup Finals. p. 40.
- ^ "F.A. Cup Final 1872". Archived from the original on 16 April 2003. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "The History of The FA". thefa.com. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ ISBN 1-899807-19-5.
- ^ "Harrow School – Cradle of the FA Cup" (PDF). Old Harrovian Football Club. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
- ^ "A History of Football", p.22
- ^ H>M. The Scotsman newspaper, 1 December 1870, page 12
- ^ Charles W Alcock, The Scotsman newspaper, 28 November 1870, page 7
- ^ "A Sporting Nation – The first international football match". BBC. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
- ISBN 1-84426-035-6.
- ISBN 0-00-218242-4.
- ^ Goldblatt, The Ball is Round, p. 57.
- ^ Days, p. 13.
- ^ Days, p. 18.
- ^ "Sunderland's Victorian all-stars blazed trail for money's rule of football". The Guardian. 25 April 2020.
- ^ Days, p21.
- ^ Aitken, Mike (22 March 2008). "Scots passing pioneers shaped football". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 6 March 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
- ^ "The Scottish Professors and their role in football's first Invincibles". Nutmeg Magazine. 19 February 2019.
- ISBN 978-1-55849-610-1.
- ^ "Background and Brief History". thefa. Archived from the original on 14 January 2004. Retrieved 22 May 2006.
- ^ "2020 Youth Olympics give Lausanne chance to take lead in driving 'new Games' era". SportBusiness. 16 January 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
- ^ Dries Vanysacker (21 May 2015). "Belgische voetbalgeschiedenis begon in Gent". Eos (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- ^ "Fodboldens Danmarks-historie". Danish Football Association (in Danish). Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2006.
- ^ Edelman, Robert (1993). Serious Fun – LA84 Foundation home page. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ^ "140 años del primer partido de fútbol" by Eduardo Cántaro, 21 May 2007
- ^ A un siglo y medio del primer partido de fútbol en la Argentina y en Sudamérica by Oscar Barnade, Clarín, 20 June 2017
- ^ "RSSSF Argentina 1891". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 19 January 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
- ^ Pears, Tim (4 June 2006). "Observer article". London: Observer.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
- ^ "RSSSF Argentina 1893". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 19 January 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
- ^ A cien años de un triunfazo on Clarín, 24 June 2006
- ^ South American Trip of Chelsea FC 1929 by Pablo Ciullini on RSSSF
- ISBN 9504343848
- ^ Pears, Tim (3 June 2006). "Salvation army". The Guardian.
- ^ Cup Tie Competition at Historia y Fútbol website
- ^ Corinthian FC Football Pioneers by Vince Cooper, 2 October 2017
- ^ "Were the Oneidas playing soccer or not?". Sover.net. 14 February 2001. Archived from the original on 5 November 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
- ^ "Professional Indoor Soccer". Misl.net. Retrieved 25 March 2009.
Further reading
- Wikidata Q26852666
External links
- Royal Engineers Museum When the Sappers won the FA Cup (1875)
- Potted history of association football in England