Original Article is at MitigatorFC.com
Based on historical events of England, in 1863, soccers modern-day history began in London, where it was first written, either as an official code for football, or as todays Constitution for football. Being the first soccer governing body, Football Association, they also wrote official laws for the game as early as 1863. Every League around the World bases its soccer rules around the official rules for football.
In 1863, official rules were written for football in order to establish a organized game in England. England again decriminalized soccer in 1605, but soccer did not really develop for quite some time. Even in its semi-organised form, rules ranged from rugby to modern soccer.
Football became popular, with Rugby School and Eton leading the way. Football was played frequently at schools, with the two schools that were dominant being Rugby and Eton. As was the case in England, North American schools and universities played their own home games, by the 20th century, between teams composed of students.
Third, it was teachers, students, and ex-students of those schools that first codified the soccer games, to allow games between schools. First, local groups of clubs and schools formed Little Leagues and associations. Other divisions were formed, including a football league in 1888, which was held in northern and central parts of the country, with early matches played for league titles. In the late 19th century, there were only a handful of domestic football teams; England and Scotland had the first functioning teams playing against each other in the 1870s.
As early as the late 19th century, Goodison Park was built in England for football matches. In the 12th century, games similar to soccer were played in meadows and roads across England. This earlier form of soccer was also far more raw and violent than the modern game.
At Eton, the ball was played solely by the feet instead, a game that could be seen as the closest precursor of the modern football. Northeastern American Indians, particularly those in the Iroquois Confederacy, played a game that used a racquet ball in the form of a net, thrown and caught; however, while this was a game with the ball in a net, lacrosse (as its modern descendants are called) is also generally not classified as a form of soccer. Games played by native populations of Mesoamerica using rubber balls are also well-documented to exist from before this time, but they are more resembling basketball or volleyball, and no connection has been found between these games and the modern football sport.
When it comes to soccer’s history, there is evidence for ancient games from Asia and Central America that are similar to the modern sport. The history of football is thought to go back more than 2000 years in China, with the sport evolving from the ancient games. FIFAs History of Soccer Chronicles documents an early form of soccer being played in China during the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE.
The Chinese game Tsu-Chu, or Kuju, is recognized as the oldest form of soccer. The pursuit that is the most associated with our contemporary day association football is Chinese game of TsuChu (Tsu-Chu or Cuju, meaning to Kick a Ball). From ancient times, games have been played where the two teams attempt to throw a ball the other way, sending it into the opponents house via kick, shove, or some other means.
Within the private school system, soccer is a game where hands are used for portions of play, and tackles are allowed, but otherwise, it takes on the modern form of soccer. The need for the establishment of rules for the sport that we now refer to as football was born in the middle of the 19th century, with the aim of delineating the game from others like it, like rugby, which were played at English schools. The Football Association formed fifteen years later, standardized the ball in terms of its size and weight, as well as splitting its rules between two distinct games, association football and rugby union.
In 1908, soccer would for the first time be included as an official sport at the Olympics. Until the inaugural FIFA World Cup was held in 1930, Olympic football would be considered to be the most prestigious national-level competition.
The first international soccer game was the first match in the series of four, which were organised by the Football Association, the sole domestic soccer organisation of that era. Later in 1863, the first-ever soccer match was played at Barnes Common, Mortlake, London, between Barnes Football Club and Richmond Football Club, on 19 December 1863. The club, considered by some historians to be the first official football club in America, was formed in 1862 by schoolboys playing hybrids of both games at Boston Common.
Without set rules, soccer drew large crowds in all of the towns where it was played, leading to its banning in the 14th century. Since pre-medieval times, folk soccer games have been played in towns and villages according to local customs, with minimal rules. During the Middle Ages, a variety of games were played, including a combination of rugby football and soccer, with rivalries expressed among neighboring towns or villages, or among the wards of a single town. An important characteristic of precursors of football was that games that resembled rugby involved many men and took place over wide areas in cities (an equivalent was played from the 16th century in Florence, where it was called Calcio).
Because, like rugby union and association football, they were both spread by British soldiers and sailors across the globe, different parts of the world enjoyed different versions. For whatever reason, Rugby football took hold in America, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, whereas association football largely took over in the rest of the world.