JOSE: Football

name given to a number of different, but related, team sports,although the first sport with this name originated in the United Kingdom.

most popular of these world-wide is association football (also known as soccer). The English word "football" is also applied to American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games.

A football match at the AOL-Arena in Hamburg, Germany, May 2004.

The games involve:

a large spherical or prolate spheroid ball, which is itself called a football. a team scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line.
the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team.
players being required to move the ball mostly by kicking and — in some codes — carrying and/or passing the ball by hand.
goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.
offside rules, in most codes, restricting the movement of players.
in some codes, points are mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line.
in most codes players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts.
players in some codes receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.

Etymology

it is widely believed that the word "football" (or "foot ball") originated in reference to the action of a foot kicking a ball, there is a rival explanation, which has it that football originally referred to a variety of games in medieval Europe, which were played on foot

These games were usually played by peasants, as opposed to the horse-riding sports often played by aristocrats.

History

The First Football Clubs
- clubs which claim to be the world's first and/or oldest football club, in the sense of a club which is not part of a school or university, are strongholds of rugby football: the Barnes Club, said to have been founded in 1839, and Guy's Hospital Football Club, in 1843. Neither date nor the variety of football played is well-documented, but such claims nevertheless allude to the popularity of rugby before other modern codes emerged.
- In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football.[19] This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game. For instance, Dublin University Football Club — founded at Trinity College, Dublin in 1854 and later famous as a bastion of the Rugby School game — is the world's oldest documented football club in any code.

The First Modern Balls

Richard Lindon (seen in 1880) is believed to have invented the first footballs with rubber bladders.
In Europe, early footballs were made out of animal bladders, more specifically pig's bladders, which were inflated.
Later leather coverings were introduced to allow the ball to keep their shape. [20] However, in 1851, Richard Lindon and William Gilbert, both shoemakers from the town of Rugby (near the school), exhibited both round and oval-shaped balls at the Great Exhibition in London.

In 1855, the U.S. inventor Charles Goodyear — who had patented vulcanized rubber — exhibited a spherical football, with an exterior of vulcanized rubber panels, at the Paris Exhibition Universelle. The ball was to prove popular in early forms of football in the U.S.A.

History of the Football Association

1860s - there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various public school games. In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School and he issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (these are also known as the Uppingham Rules). In early October 1863 another new revised version of the Cambridge Rules was drawn up by a seven member committee representing former pupils from Harrow, Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster.

The aim of the Association was to establish a single unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its members.

Present Day Codes and "Families" of Football

Indoor/basketball court varieties of Football:
Five-a-side football – played throughout the world under various rules including:
Futsal – the FIFA-approved five-a-side indoor game.
Minivoetbal – the five-a-side indoor game played in East and West Flanders where it is hugely popular.
Papi fut — the five-a-side game played in outdoor basketball courts (built with goals) in Central America.
Indoor soccer – the six-a-side indoor game as played in North America. Known in Latin America, where it is often played in open air venues, as fútbol rápido ("fast soccer").
Paralympic football – modified Football for athletes with a disability. Includes:
Football 5-a-side - for visually impaired athletes
Football 7-a-side - for athletes with cerebral palsy
Electric wheelchair soccer
Beach soccer – football played on sand, also known as sand soccer.
Street football – encompasses a number of informal varieties of football.
Rush goalie – is a variation of football in which the role of the goalkeeper is more flexible than normal.
Headers and volleys – where the aim is to score goals against a goalkeeper using only headers and volleys.
Fouling football – all tackles except the use of weapons and (usually) kicks to the groin are allowed.
Crab football - players stand on their hands and feet and move around on their backs whilst playing soccer as normal
Swamp soccer - the game is played on a swamp or bog field

Football Positions

Goalkeeper

Defensive Positions

- Center-back

- Sweeper/Libero

- Full-back

- Wingback

Midfield Position

- Centre midfields

- Defenive midfielders

- Attacking midfielders

- Side midfielders

- Winger

Strikers/Forwards

- Centre forward

- Striker

- Deep-lying forwards

League Systems

The English football league system includes hundreds of interlinked leagues, consisting of thousands of divisions. The FA Premier League is at the top, followed by The Football League and then the Football Conference, where the structure starts to become regional and includes the Northern Premier League, the Southern League, the Isthmian League and many more besides. The Welsh clubs of Cardiff City, Colwyn Bay, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport County, Swansea City and Wrexham play in the English system.
The Scottish football league system is much smaller, with just two national leagues: the Scottish Premier League (SPL) and Scottish Football League. There are, however, other regional leagues that are not connected to the national system, most notably the Highland Football League. One English club, Berwick Rangers, plays in the Scottish system. Gretna, based in Scotland, moved from the English to the Scottish league system in 2002.
The Welsh football league system includes the League of Wales and a number of regional leagues.
The Northern Irish football league system includes the Irish Football League. One Northern Irish club, Derry City, plays their football outside of the UK in the Republic of Ireland football league system.