Get World Cup ready with the history of British football

You can’t escape the World Cup – even though it is being hosted miles away in Qatar, it is everywhere. Learn more about the beautiful game with the history of football here.

Football has always historically been a British sport, but early versions of the game were thought to have originated in China in the 3^rd Century BC. The Han Dynasty were known to play a game which involved kicking a leather ball through a small opening – much like the modern concept of kicking a ball into a goal. Similar games were recorded in Ancient Greece, which required kicking a ball around a rectangular field where opposing teams had to get the ball over the boundary line.

In Britain, football thrived from 8^th – 19^th centuries. For a long time there was no real distinction between football and rugby, it became such a popular activity that various kings throughout the years made the playing of football illegal. Kings Edward II, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V all banned football during the 100 years’ war because they felt like it was distracting people from military duties. This wasn’t the only time it was banned, in 1314, the Lord Mayor of London banned playing football anywhere within the city because of the chaos that was caused by rival clubs playing – you could face a prison sentence if you were caught!

When it comes to the game as we know it now, football dates back to the 1800s. While football is considered to be a working class sport now, it was initially played by public schools – in fact the sport was dominated by public school teams. These days, working people make up the majority of players and fans, its popularity certainly grew after it became the norm to play in schools from the 19^th century onwards.

Many people credit a solicitor from London, Ebenezer Morley as being the father of modern football. He founded Barnes FC in 1862 and was one of the founding members of the FA – which saw football become separate from rugby and other forms of the sport, instead being organised centrally by the Football Association. Officially, the FA was formed on 26^th October in 1863 with only a handful of clubs associated with it. The rules were created the same year, but there continued to be debates over the standardised specifications of the ball for another 8 years, the length of the matches was decided in 1866. The first match to be played under the rules set out by Morley, was played between Barnes and Richmond in December in 1863.

A few years later in 1872, Charles Alcock came up with the idea of the FA Cup. 15 clubs entered into the competition and included Morley’s team, Barnes, along with the Civil Service’s team, a former version of Crystal Palace, Clapham Rovers, Hitchin, Maidenhead, Marlow, Queen’s Park Glasgow, Donnington Grammar School, Hampstead Heathens, Harrow Chequers, Reigate Priory, Royal Engineers, Upton Park and Wanderers. The same year, the first international football match between England and Scotland was played, it ended with a draw and was watched by 4000 people. By 19^th Century, only a few national teams existed, the oldest professional club is Notts County, which was formed in 1862 and continues to play to this day.

FIFA was established in 1904 and its founding members included Belgium, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Britain initially declined to join but did by 1905. Despite the World Cup beginning in 1930, Britain didn’t take part until 1950. Prior to the World Cup, football was included as an official sport in the Olympics and those that competed were considered to be the most prestigious teams.

The first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 and apart from during WWII, returns every four years. For the second ever competition, only 32 teams qualified, while in the 2014 competition there were over 200. The competition of 1966 was the first to be hosted by England and was the first tournament to receive major television coverage.

Women’s football also became increasingly popular in the 19^th century. The first women’s game took place in Inverness in 1888. Though not being as popular as it was among men, women’s teams increased during WWI, more than 900,000 women took up jobs left by men in factories and set up football teams of their own. However, women were banned from playing football by the FA in 1921, something that stayed in place until 1961 because the FA received complaints about women playing and decided that the “game was quite unsuitable for ladies.” It wasn’t just women playing during WWI, troops on the Western Front would play football behind the lines to maintain morale and there as even a famous match played during a Christmas Day truce. During WWII, though the World Cup was postponed, football still played a big part in keeping up morale and keeping POWs fit and healthy.