History Of Football

Football (as well as rugby and soccer) are believed to have descended
from the ancient Greek game ofharpaston.Harpaston is mentioned
frequently in classical literature, where it is often referred to as a
"very rough and brutal game".The rules of this ancient sport were

quite simple:Points were awarded when a player would cross a goal line
by either kicking the ball, running with it across the goal line, or
throwing it across the line to another player. The other team's
objective was simply to stop them by any means possible.There was no
specific field length, no side line boundaries, no specified number of
players per team, only a glaring lack of rules.
Harpaston: Luckily (for everyone) uniforms & equipment have improved
dramatically.
Most modern versions of football are believed to have originated from
England in the twelfth century. The game became so popular in England
that the kings of that time (Henry II and Henry IV) actually banned
football. They believed that football was taking away interest from
the traditional sports of England, such as fencing and archery.
Evolution and the Beginnings of Standardization
Football didn't really begin to take on any consistency of rules and
boundaries until it was picked up as a sport in the seven major public
schools of England in the early 1800's.Six of the seven schools were
largely playing the same game (including Eton, Harrow and Winchester)
- while the seventh, Rugby School (founded in 1567) was playing a
markedly different version of football.
The other schools moved ahead refining their rules and eventually
their game became known as "association football" – orsoccer, which
was played back then much as it is today.
Rugby School went in a different direction.How and why the game
developed differently at Rugby School appears to have been lost in
history, but what is known is that by the 1830's, running with the
ball at Rugby School was in common use and 18 foot goal posts had been
added with a cross-bar at 10 feet above the ground.
The inclusion of the cross-bar was accompanied by a rule that a goal
could only be scored by the ball passingoverthe barfrom a place kick
or drop kick. Apparently this was done to make scoring easier from
further out and also to avoid the horde of defenders standing in and
blocking the mouth of the goal.

Players who were able to "touch down" the ball behind the opponents
goal line were awarded a "try-at-goal" - the player would make a mark
on the goal line and then walk back onto the field of play to a point
where a place kick at the goal was possible (a conversion). There was
also an "off-your-side" rule used to keep the teams apart. Passing
the ball forward was not allowed.
By the mid-1860s British schools and universities had taken up Rugby's
game and honored the school by giving the "new football" the name of
rugby.
The game soon went trans-Atlantic to America and landed on fertile soil.
Source: www.hornetfootball.org