History Of Football – Part One

2500 BC – In China was played the game “Tsuh-Kuh” where players were kicking and carrying a ball.
2200 BC – Similar game called kemari became very popular in Japan.
400 BC – In the city of Sparta a game named episkyros was played a lot (most of the times as a part of military education).
100 BC – In the city of Rome the same game became popular but was named harpastum. It was a type of football played with a small and hard ball.

Middle Ages – Partially independently, partially influenced by one another, in different European countries was popularized a ball game – kicking, carrying the ball, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams. In Italy this game was called “calcio” which means kick. In France this is a folklore game called “sul and shul”.

XIV century – The game becomes very popular in England becoming a trouble to the king (the young men do not practice with their bows but wasting their time with the new game).The king of England Edward III for the first time called the game “ball-foot”, “foot-ball”.

XIV-XIX centuries – Two types of the ball game were competing - the first one, where the ball was kicked (like in modern football) and the second one, where the ball was carried mainly by hands (like in modern rugby). The game becomes very popular in Britain and there is a need to create football codes.

1823 – William Webb Ellis, a pupil at rugby school, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it creating the distinctive feature of the rugby game.

1855 - In Sheffield was found the first football club in the world with its own code of football (Sheffield rules).

1862 – The master at Uppingham school, John Thring issues 10 rules (known also as Uppingham rules – number of players, size of the field etc.)

26 October 1863 - At the Freemason’s Tavern, representatives of several football clubs in the London Metropolitan area met for the inaugural meeting of The Football Association (FA). The aim of the Association was to establish a single unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its members in the entire country.

1866 – The offside rule is has been issued which limits how far forward the attacking player may be when involved in play. Simply put, a player cannot gain an advantage by waiting for the ball near the opposing goal with fewer than three opponents between him and the goal.

1870 – A new rule amendment is issued : pushing the players in the back is forbidden.

1871 – continuance of the game is defined: matches should be played in two halves of 45 minutes. The distance between the goal-posts is defined to be 7,32 m.

1872 - A corner kick was introduced as a method of restarting play in a game. It was first issued in Sheffield under the Sheffield Rules in 1867 ( was adopted by the Football Association) in 1872. A corner kick is awarded to the attacking team when the ball leaves the field by crossing the goal line without a goal having been scored, having been last touched by a defending player including the goalkeeper.