History of Football (Soccer), Single Combat, Divination, Russia & Ukraine
History of Football (Soccer), Ivanhoe, Single Combat, Judicium Dei, Divination, Russia & Ukraine; there is a connection between these seemingly disparate subjects.
The word “football” here refers to “soccer”. American football is derived from rugby, whose origin is also discussed.
Introduction
I did recently read an article by @ArteFM about the history of football: Where does the word "Gol" come from? and, Where was soccer created? Below I relate the history of football, as I found it. @ArteFM also lands in England, but mentions an alternative as well; historical records from 1639 describes a football-like game,“Manga ñembosarái", played by the Guarani, a people in present day Paraguay. I have no special comment to that, I am not familiar with the records, but it is very likely that games reminding of football or rugby, invented independently many times, were played all around the world far back in history. So, saying that football (or soccer) originated in England would be both right and wrong. Wrong, because similar games existed before. Right, because it was in England modern football (soccer) was standardized to the shape on which today's football is based.
Football - A Note On Its History: Eton & Rugby
Football: either you love this spectacle; as Queen, in "More of that Jazz":
"Only football gives us thrills,
Rock 'n roll just pays the bills"
Or you think it is ridiculous, like the author, O.M., of the Introduction to "The Book of the Law," who wrote:
"Consider sport, the babyish enthusiasms and rages which it excites, whole nations disturbed by disputes between boys."
However it is, it might be interesting to know how it began.
It is impossible to say when people began playing with balls. Rugby-like games probably existed during Antiquity and earlier; and a team game where a ball was kicked and hit is known from old China.
Something similar to modern football was played during the Middle Ages, in Scotland, England and a couple of countries in Continental Europe. The brutality that was involved, however, caused the game to be prohibited. The tradition survived only in some English schools, and two of them, Eton and Rugby, came to be important for the future of football.
For long disputing about the rules - unlike Eton, Rugby wanted to allow the use of hands - the Cambridge rules of 1848 set the rules upon which modern football (Association Football, or Soccer) is based. Eton had won! In 1863, the Football association was formed.
But the dissidents did not accept this. They decided to form their own association. In 1871 the Rugby Football Union came into being.
By this Football (soccer) and Rugby were established as two different sports.
Russia & Ukraine,Single Combat & Divination
When I did proofread this text now, a bizarre thought entered my mind.
We all know about the ongoing war in Ukraine. What if Russia & Ukraine would determine winner or loser with a football match instead? The winner gets his way, but without all the killing and destruction!
Ridiculous? Well, not entirely; there is some support for that sort of solution in history. Not with football, mind you, but a way to determine outcome while saving lives.
In old North European culture, wars where sometimes settled by single combat between kings or chieftains. While a full war could lead to complete extermination of one or both fighting tribes or nations (which were very small, seen with today's eyes). This limited death to the losing king or chief only. The winner took it all, and the losing tribe was absorbed into the winner's tribe. The outcome was considered an expression of the will of the gods - so, with their mind-set, the outcome was inevitable. War, single combat, or even throwing a dice, would not make any difference – they just needed a way to find out the intention of the gods.
This principle survived into Christianity. Trial by combat or ordeal were common during the Middle Ages. Allegedly, these were methods to find out the will of God. The term for this was “judicium dei”, “God's justice”.
An even for modern times well-known example can be found in Ivanhoe. Please allow me to quote my own e-book, “The Birth of Chance” (2019):
“I am sure most of you have read Ivanhoe, or seen one of the film versions. There the Jewess Rebecca is sentenced to death for being a witch, but the matter may be determined by single combat, judicium dei, judgement of God. Ivanhoe and Brian de Bois-Guilbert fight to death. Ivanhoe, Rebecca's champion, wins, so she goes free. According to the medieval mind, this is not the strongest being victorious, but God makes the righteous party win. A way to determine guilt or innocence by divine intervention: divination.”
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Excellent article friend and thanks for the tag, because it is so, we will not know exactly where soccer was really invented, but where it became what we know today as soccer.
With respect to the wars that exist today and not only in Russia and Ukraine, there are many other countries in wars, or wars within the same country by religion or politics, I wish they could be resolved with a day of games and not in deaths, it really is terrible that with so many advances in humanity we want to continue killing our friends, allies, neighbors, whatever you want to call them, it really seems crazy to me.
Life is only one and it is despicable to know how other people's lives are taken away just for the ideals of a "superior being".