Football
Introduction
Football is a game where players kick
a ball into a goal. It can be played by
both men and women, but at a
professional level teams are not
mixed. Stafford Heginbotham
describes football as “the opera of the
people”. There are a few versions of football, Rugby
Football, Gaelic Football, Australian football, American
football and the number 1 game in the world Associated
Football. (Called Soccer in the US.)
History
Ball games with our
feet have been
around for many
thousands of years
and almost certainly
existed before people
were able to write
about them. The first set of rules was written in a
Chinese military manual written and the rules to Kick
Ball (蹴鞠) were standardized in the Han Dynasty.
Meanwhile in Europe there was plenty of evidence of
football games in Greek and Roman times. In fact the
games became so violent and troublesome that on 13
April 1314, Edward II banned the games. Despite
such bans the game continued to be very popular
throughout Europe and in the 1800's Cambridge
University created a set of rules that form the basis of
the modern game. On Parker's Piece Cambridge there
is a Plaque, saying: “...students established a
common set of simple football rules emphasising skill
above force...”
The Modern Rules
There are seventeen rules for the
modern game
1) The Field of Play
2) The Ball
3) The Number of Players
4) The Players' Equipment
5) The Referee
6) The Assistant Referees
7) The Duration of the Match
8) The Start and Restart of Play
9) The Ball In and Out of Play
10)The Method of Scoring
11)Offside
12)Fouls and Misconduct
13)Free Kicks
14)The Penalty Kick
15)The Throw-In
16)The Goal Kick
17)The Corner Kick
Most people agree the rules are
easy to understand except for the
Offside rule, which is designed to
stop players waiting near their
opponent's goal.
Cambridge is now considered "the home of football" and from these rules an international
association was formed in Paris on May 21, 1904 and they called it Fédération In