FOOTBALL HISTORY

The modern history of the most popular sport on the planet covers more than 100 years of existence. It began in 1863, when in England the paths of "rugby-football" (rugby) and "association football" (football) were separated, and the oldest association in the world was founded: the "Football Association". ), the first governing body of sport. Both types of game have the same root and a family tree of very vast ramification. A deep and thorough investigation has given a half dozen different games in which there are aspects that refer to the origin and historical development of football. Obviously, despite the deductions made, two things are clear: first, that the ball was played with the foot for thousands of years and, second, that there is no reason to consider the game with the foot as a way secondary degenerate of the "natural" game with the hand. Quite the opposite: apart from the need to have to fight with the whole body for the ball in a great tumult (also using the legs and feet), generally without rules, it seems that, from its beginnings, this activity was considered as extremely difficult and, therefore, dominate the ball with the foot generated admiration. The oldest form of the game, of which one has certain science, is a manual of military exercises that goes back to the China of the dynasty of Han, in centuries II and III AC. It was known as "Ts'uh Kúh", and it consisted of a leather ball filled with feathers and hairs, which had to be thrown with the foot into a small net. This was placed between long bamboo poles, separated by an opening of 30 to 40 centimeters. Another modality, described in the same manual, was that the players, on their way to the finish line, had to avoid the attacks of a rival, being able to play the ball with feet, chest, back and shoulders, but not with the hand. From the Far East comes, meanwhile, a different form: the Japanese Kemari, which is mentioned for the first time some 500 to 600 years later, and which is still played today. It is a ceremonial exercise, that although it demands certain skill, it does not have any competitive character like the Chinese game, since there is no fight for the ball. On a relatively small surface, the actors must pass it without letting it fall to the ground. Much more lively were the Greek "Epislcyros," of which relatively little is known, and the Roman "Harpastum." The Romans had a smaller ball and two teams played in a rectangular field, limited with dial lines and divided by a middle line. The objective was to send the ball to the opponent's field, for which they passed it between them, appealing to the cunning to achieve it. This sport was very popular between the years 700 and 800, and although the Romans introduced it to Great Britain, the use of the foot was so infrequent that their ancestry in football is relative.