Football

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word footballnormally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly called football includeassociation football (known as soccer in some countries); gridiron football (specificallyAmerican football or Canadian football);Australian rules football; rugby football (eitherrugby league or rugby union); and Gaelic football.[1][2] These various forms of football are known as football codes.

There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games played in many different parts of the world.[3][4][5] Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the 19th century.[6][7] The expansion of theBritish Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside the directly controlled Empire.[8] By the end of the 19th century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage.[9] In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football competitions. During the 20th century, several of the various kinds of football grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world.[10] The early forms of football played in England, sometimes referred to as "mob football", would be played in towns or between neighbouring villages, involving an unlimited number of players on opposing teams who would clash en masse,[32] struggling to move an item, such as inflated animal's bladder[33]to particular geographical points, such as their opponents' church, with play taking place in the open space between neighbouring parishes.[34] The game was played primarily during significant religious festivals, such as Shrovetide, Christmas, or Easter,[33] and Shrovetide games have survived into the modern era in a number of English towns (see below).

The first detailed description of what was almost certainly football in England was given by William FitzStephen in about 1174–1183. He described the activities of London youths during the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:

After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields to take part in a ball game. The students of each school have their own ball; the workers from each city craft are also carrying their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy citizens come on horseback to watch their juniors competing, and to relive their own youth vicariously: you can see their inner passions aroused as they watch the action and get caught up in the fun being had by the carefree adolescents.[35]

Most of the very early references to the game speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at ball". This reinforces the idea that the games played at the time did not necessarily involve a ball being kicked.

An early reference to a ball game that was probably football comes from 1280 atUlgham, Northumberland, England: "Henry... while playing at ball.. ran against David".[36]Football was played in Ireland in 1308, with a documented reference to John McCrocan, a spectator at a "football game" at Newcastle, County Down being charged with accidentally stabbing a player named William Bernard.[37]Another reference to a football game comes in 1321 at Shouldham, Norfolk, England: "[d]uring the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his... ran against him and wounded himself".[36]

In 1314, Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of the City of London issued a decree banning football in the French used by the English upper classes at the time. A translation reads: "[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls [rageries de grosses pelotes de pee][38] in the fields of the public from which many evils might arise which God forbid: we command and forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future." This is the earliest reference to football.

In 1363, King Edward III of England issued a proclamation banning "...handball, football, or hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other such idle games",[39] showing that "football" – whatever its exact form in this case – was being differentiated from games involving other parts of the body, such as handball.