Soccer is one of the most popular sports all around the world. It is played by two teams of 11 members each.Soccer is basically the American version of the football that is played in the rest of the world.
This game is as old as the origin of kicking of a ball. Several versions of this game have been played around many parts of the world. The earliest recorded form of this game dates back to the 2nd and 3rd century BC. It was played in Chinese military at that time. It was known as Caju in Chinese culture.
This game was modernized in the 19th century. The formal rules of this game were laid put in 1863 with the formation of The Football Association.
”The earliest evidence of soccer dates from about 200 in China, where a form of the game was played that emphasized the ability of players to dribble a leather ball. The Greeks and Romans also participated in a variation of soccer that permitted ball carrying.
The modern-day outgrowth of soccer is known to have started in England, and the first ball reportedly was the head of a dead Danish brigand. Although King Edward III prohibited soccer in 1365 because of its excessive violence and for military reasons playing took time away from archery practice the game had become too popular to be curtailed.” ”There is documentary evidence that 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!
It is impossible to say accurately where and when soccer started - but it is reasonable to assume that some type of ball game - from which the organised sport we know today developed - has been played somewhere on the planet for over 3000 years.
In medieval times, towns and villages played against rival towns and villages - and kicking, punching, biting and gouging were allowed.
The object of the game was to move the ball to an agreed spot which had been marked out before play commenced.
Hundreds of people took part and games could last all day. So violent did these matches become that many attempts were made by the authorities to ban soccer.
In England, King Edward III passed laws in 1331 to try and suppress football. In Scotland, King James 1, in 1424, proclaimed in Parliament, "That na man play at the Fute-ball" (No man shall play football/soccer).
Good Queen Bess, Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, had a law passed which provided for soccer players to be " jailed for a week, and obliged to do penance in church."
