Football

Football is a family of team sports

that involve, to varying degrees,
kicking a ball to score a goal.
Unqualified, the word football
normally means the form of football
that is the most popular where the
word is used. Sports commonly called
football include association football Association football American football
(known as soccer in North America,
Ireland and Australia); gridiron
football (specifically American football
or Canadian football); Australian rules
football; rugby union and rugby
league; and Gaelic football.[1] These
various forms of football share to
varying extents common origins and Australian rules football Rugby union
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.[2][3][4] Contemporary
codes of football can be traced back to
the codification of these games at
English public schools during the 19th Rugby league Gaelic football

century. [5][6] The expansion and Several codes of football.

cultural influence of the British
Empire allowed these rules of football
to spread to areas of British influence outside the directly controlled Empire.[7] 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.[8] In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many
professional football associations. During the 20th century, several of the various kinds of football
grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world.[9]

Common elements
The various codes of football share certain common elements and can be grouped into two main
classes of football: carrying codes like American football, Canadian football, Australian football,
rugby union and rugby league, where the ball is moved about the field while being held in the
hands or thrown, and kicking codes such as Association football and Gaelic football, where the ball
is moved primarily with the feet, and where handling is strictly limited.[10]

Common rules among the sports include:[11]

 Two

The action of kicking in (clockwise from upper left) association, gridiron, rugby, and Australian football.

teams of usually between 11 and 18 players; some variations that have fewer players (five or
more per team) are also popular.
A clearly defined area in which to play the game.
Scoring goals 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.
Goals or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.
The goal or line being defended by the opposing team.
Players using only their body to move the ball, i.e. no additional equipment such as bats or
sticks.

In all codes, common skills include passing, tackling, evasion of tackles, catching and kicking.[10]
In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a
goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts.

Etymology
There are conflicting explanations of the origin of the word "football". It is widely assumed that the
word "football" (or the phrase "foot ball") refers to the action of the foot kicking a ball.[12] There is
an alternative explanation, which is that football originally referred to a variety of games in
medieval Europe that were played on foot.[13] There is no conclusive evidence for either
explanation.

Early history

Ancient games

Ancient China

The Chinese competitive game cuju ( 蹴 鞠 ) resembles modern association football.[14] It existed
during the Han dynasty and possibly the Qin dynasty, in the second and third centuries BC,
attested by descriptions in a military manual.[15][16] The Japanese version of cuju is kemari (蹴鞠),
and was developed during the Asuka period.[17] This is known
to have been played within the Japanese imperial court in
Kyoto from about 600 AD. In kemari, several people stand in a
circle and kick a ball to each other, trying not to let the ball
drop to the ground (much like keepie uppie).

Ancient Greece and Rome

The Ancient Greeks and Romans

are known to have played many A painting depicting Emperor Taizu
ball games, some of which involved of Song playing cuju (i.e. Chinese
the use of the feet. The Roman football) with his prime minister
game harpastum is believed to Zhao Pu (趙普) and other ministers,
have been adapted from a Greek by the Yuan dynasty artist Qian
team game known as "ἐπίσκυρος" Xuan (1235–1305)
(Episkyros) [18][19] or "φαινίνδα"
(phaininda), [20] which is
mentioned by a Greek playwright, Antiphanes (388–311 BC) and later
referred to by the Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 –
An ancient Roman c. 215 AD). These games appear to have resembled rugby
tombstone of a boy with a football.[21][22][23][24][25] The Roman politician Cicero (106–43 BC)
Harpastum ball from describes the case of a man who was killed whilst having a shave when
Tilurium (modern Sinj, a ball was kicked into a barber's shop. Roman ball games already knew
Croatia) the air-filled ball, the follis.[26][27] Episkyros is described as an early
form of football by FIFA.[28]

Native Americans

There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games, played by
indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. For example, in 1586, men from a ship
commanded by an English explorer named John Davis went ashore to play a form of football with
Inuit in Greenland.[29] There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called Aqsaqtuk.
Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the
ball through each other team's line and then at a goal. In 1610, William Strachey, a colonist at
Jamestown, Virginia recorded a game played by Native Americans, called Pahsaheman.
Pasuckuakohowog, a game similar to modern-day association football played amongst
Amerindians, was also reported as early as the 17th century.

Games played in Mesoamerica with rubber balls by indigenous peoples are also well-documented
as existing since before this time, but these had more similarities to basketball or volleyball, and
no links have been found between such games and modern football sports. Northeastern American
Indians, especially the Iroquois Confederation, played a game which made use of net racquets to
throw and catch a small ball; however, although it is a ball-goal foot game, lacrosse (as its modern
descendant is called) is likewise not usually classed as a form of "football".

Oceania

On the Australian continent several tribes of indigenous people played kicking and catching games
with stuffed balls which have been generalised by historians as Marn Grook (Djab Wurrung for
"game ball"). The earliest historical account is an anecdote from the 1878 book by Robert Brough-
Smyth, The Aborigines of Victoria, in which a man called Richard Thomas is quoted as saying, in
about 1841 in Victoria, Australia, that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: "Mr
Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a possum
and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it." Some historians have theorised that
Marn Grook was one of the origins of Australian rules football.

The Māori in New Zealand played a game called Ki-o-rahi consisting of teams of seven players play
on a circular field divided into zones, and score points by touching the 'pou' (boundary markers)
and hitting a central 'tupu' or target.

These games and others may well go far back into antiquity. However, the main sources of modern
football codes appear to lie in western Europe, especially England.

Turkic peoples

Mahmud al-Kashgari in his Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, described a game called "tepuk" among Turks
in Central Asia. In the game, people try to attack each other's castle by kicking a ball made of sheep
leather.[30]

Ancient A Song dynasty Paint of a A group of indigenous

Greek painting by Su Mesoamerican people playing a ball
athlete Hanchen (c. 1130– ballgame player of game in French
balancing a 1160), depicting the Tepantitla Guiana
ball on his Chinese children murals in
thigh, playing cuju Teotihuacan
Piraeus,
400–375
BC

An illustration from the A revived version of

1850s of indigenous kemari being played at
Australians playing the Tanzan Shrine,
marn grook Japan, 2006

Medieval and early modern Europe

The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout
Europe, particularly in England. An early reference to a ball game played in Britain comes from the
9th-century Historia Brittonum, attributed to Nennius, which describes "a party of boys ... playing
at ball".[31] References to a ball game played in northern France known as La Soule or Choule, in
which the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and sticks,[32] date from the 12th century.[33]

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,[34]
struggling to move an item, such as inflated animal's
bladder[35] to particular geographical points, such as their
opponents' church, with play taking place in the open space
between neighbouring parishes.[36] The game was played
primarily during significant religious festivals, such as
Shrovetide, Christmas, or Easter,[35] and Shrovetide games
have survived into the modern era in a number of English
An illustration of so-called "mob
towns (see below).
football"
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.[37]

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 at Ulgham,
Northumberland, England: "Henry... while playing at ball.. ran against David".[38] 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.[39] 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".[38]

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][40] 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",[41] showing that "football" –
whatever its exact form in this case – was being differentiated from games involving other parts of
the body, such as handball.

A game known as "football" was played in Scotland as early as

the 15th century: it was prohibited by the Football Act 1424 and
although the law fell into disuse it was not repealed until 1906.
There is evidence for schoolboys playing a "football" ball game
in Aberdeen in 1633 (some references cite 1636) which is
notable as an early allusion to what some have considered to be
passing the ball. The word "pass" in the most recent translation
is derived from "huc percute" (strike it here) and later
"repercute pilam" (strike the ball again) in the original Latin. It
is not certain that the ball was being struck between members
of the same team. The original word translated as "goal" is "Football" in France, circa 1750
"metum", literally meaning the "pillar at each end of the circus
course" in a Roman chariot race. There is a reference to "get
hold of the ball before [another player] does" (Praeripe illi pilam si possis agere) suggesting that
handling of the ball was allowed. One sentence states in the original 1930 translation "Throw
yourself against him" (Age, objice te illi).

King Henry IV of England also presented one of the earliest documented uses of the English word
"football", in 1409, when he issued a proclamation forbidding the levying of money for
"foteball".[38][42]

There is also an account in Latin from the end of the 15th century of football being played at
Caunton, Nottinghamshire. This is the first description of a "kicking game" and the first
description of dribbling: "[t]he game at which they had met for common recreation is called by
some the foot-ball game. It is one in which young men, in country sport, propel a huge ball not by
throwing it into the air but by striking it and rolling it along the ground, and that not with their
hands but with their feet... kicking in opposite directions." The chronicler gives the earliest
reference to a football pitch, stating that: "[t]he boundaries have been marked and the game had
started.[38]

Other firsts in the medieval and early modern eras:

"A football", in the sense of a ball rather than a game, was

first mentioned in 1486.[42] This reference is in Dame
Juliana Berners' Book of St Albans. It states: "a certain
rounde instrument to play with ...it is an instrument for the
foote and then it is calde in Latyn 'pila pedalis', a
fotebal".[38]
A pair of football boots were ordered by King Henry VIII of
England in 1526.[43]
Oldest known painting of foot-ball in
Women playing a form of football was first described in Scotland, by Alexander Carse, c.
1580 by Sir Philip Sidney in one of his poems: "[a] tyme
1810
there is for all, my mother often sayes, when she, with
skirts tuckt very hy, with girles at football playes".[44]
The first references to goals are in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In 1584 and 1602
respectively, John Norden and Richard Carew referred to "goals" in Cornish hurling. Carew
described how goals were made: "they pitch two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten foote
asunder; and directly against them, ten or twelue [twelve] score off, other twayne in like
distance, which they terme their Goales".[45] He is also the first to describe goalkeepers and
passing of the ball between players.
The first direct reference to scoring a goal is in John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal
Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): "I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely
 violent variety of football, which was popular in East
Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613, Michael Drayton refers
to "when the Ball to throw, and drive it to the Gole, in
squadrons forth they goe".

Calcio Fiorentino

In the 16th century, the city of Florence celebrated the period

between Epiphany and Lent by playing a game which today is
known as "calcio storico" ("historic kickball") in the Piazza "Football" in Scotland, c. 1830
Santa Croce.[46] The young aristocrats of the city would dress
up in fine silk costumes and embroil themselves in a violent
form of football. For example, calcio players could punch,
shoulder charge, and kick opponents. Blows below the belt
were allowed. The game is said to have originated as a military
training exercise. In 1580, Count Giovanni de' Bardi di Vernio
wrote Discorso sopra 'l giuoco del Calcio Fiorentino. This is
sometimes said to be the earliest code of rules for any football
game. The game was not played after January 1739 (until it was
revived in May 1930).
An illustration of the Calcio
Fiorentino field and starting
Official disapproval and attempts to ban football positions, from a 1688 book by
Pietro di Lorenzo Bini
There have been many attempts to ban football, from the
middle ages through to the modern day. The first such law was
passed in England in 1314; it was followed by more than 30 in England alone between 1314 and
1667.[47]: 6  Women were banned from playing at English and Scottish Football League grounds in
1921, a ban that was only lifted in the 1970s. Female footballers still face similar problems in some
parts of the world.

American football also faced pressures to ban the sport. The game played in the 19th century
resembled mob football that developed in medieval Europe, including a version popular on
university campuses known as old division football, and several municipalities banned its play in
the mid-19th century.[48][49] By the 20th century, the game had evolved to a more rugby style
game. In 1905, there were calls to ban American football in the U.S. due to its violence; a meeting
that year was hosted by American president Theodore Roosevelt led to sweeping rules changes
that caused the sport to diverge significantly from its rugby roots to become more like the sport as
it is played today.[50]

Establishment of modern codes

English public schools

While football continued to be played in various forms throughout Britain, its public schools
(equivalent to private schools in other countries) are widely credited with four key achievements in
the creation of modern football codes. First of all, the evidence suggests that they were important
in taking football away from its "mob" form and turning it into an organised team sport. Second,
many early descriptions of football and references to it were recorded by people who had studied
at these schools. Third, it was teachers, students, and former students from these schools who first
codified football games, to enable matches to be played between schools. Finally, it was at English
public schools that the division between "kicking" and "running" (or "carrying") games first
became clear.

The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools –
mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes – comes from the
Vulgaria by William Herman in 1519. Herman had been headmaster at Eton and Winchester
colleges and his Latin textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase "We wyll playe with
a ball full of wynde".[51]

Richard Mulcaster, a student at Eton College in the early 16th century and later headmaster at
other English schools, has been described as "the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of
football".[52] Among his contributions are the earliest evidence of organised team football.
Mulcaster's writings refer to teams ("sides" and "parties"), positions ("standings"), a referee
("judge over the parties") and a coach "(trayning maister)". Mulcaster's "footeball" had evolved
from the disordered and violent forms of traditional football:

[s]ome smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not
meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or
shuffing one an other so barbarously ... may use footeball for as much good to the body,
by the chiefe use of the legges.[53]

In 1633, David Wedderburn, a teacher from Aberdeen, mentioned elements of modern football
games in a short Latin textbook called Vocabula. Wedderburn refers to what has been translated
into modern English as "keeping goal" and makes an allusion to passing the ball ("strike it here").
There is a reference to "get hold of the ball", suggesting that some handling was allowed. It is clear
that the tackles allowed included the charging and holding of opposing players ("drive that man
back").[54]

A more detailed description of football is given in Francis Willughby's Book of Games, written in
about 1660.[55] Willughby, who had studied at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, Sutton Coldfield,
is the first to describe goals and a distinct playing field: "a close that has a gate at either end. The
gates are called Goals." His book includes a diagram illustrating a football field. He also mentions
tactics ("leaving some of their best players to guard the goal"); scoring ("they that can strike the
ball through their opponents' goal first win") and the way teams were selected ("the players being
equally divided according to their strength and nimbleness"). He is the first to describe a "law" of
football: "they must not strike [an opponent's leg] higher than the ball".[56][57]

English public schools were the first to codify football games. In particular, they devised the first
offside rules, during the late 18th century.[58] In the earliest manifestations of these rules, players
were "off their side" if they simply stood between the ball and the goal which was their objective.
Players were not allowed to pass the ball forward, either by foot or by hand. They could only
dribble with their feet, or advance the ball in a scrum or similar formation. However, offside laws
began to diverge and develop differently at each school, as is shown by the rules of football from
Winchester, Rugby, Harrow and Cheltenham, during between 1810 and 1850.[58] The first known
codes – in the sense of a set of rules – were those of Eton in 1815[59] and Aldenham in 1825.[59])

During the early 19th century, most working-class people in Britain had to work six days a week,
often for over twelve hours a day. They had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in sport
for recreation and, at the time, many children were part of the labour force. Feast day football
played on the streets was in decline. Public school boys, who enjoyed some freedom from work,
became the inventors of organised football games with formal codes of rules.
Football was adopted by a number of public schools as a way of encouraging competitiveness and
keeping youths fit. Each school drafted its own rules, which varied widely between different
schools and were changed over time with each new intake of pupils. Two schools of thought
developed regarding rules. Some schools favoured a game in which the ball could be carried (as at
Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham), while others preferred a game where kicking and dribbling
the ball was promoted (as at Eton, Harrow, Westminster and Charterhouse). The division into
these two camps was partly the result of circumstances in which the games were played. For
example, Charterhouse and Westminster at the time had restricted playing areas; the boys were
confined to playing their ball game within the school cloisters, making it difficult for them to adopt
rough and tumble running games.

William Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby School, is said to have

"with a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his
time [emphasis added], first took the ball in his arms and ran
with it, thus creating the distinctive feature of the rugby game."
in 1823. This act is usually said to be the beginning of Rugby
football, but there is little evidence that it occurred, and most
sports historians believe the story to be apocryphal. The act of
'taking the ball in his arms' is often misinterpreted as 'picking Although the Rugby School
the ball up' as it is widely believed that Webb Ellis' 'crime' was (pictured) became famous due to a
handling the ball, as in modern association football, however version that rugby football was
handling the ball at the time was often permitted and in some invented there in 1823, most sports
cases compulsory,[60] the rule for which Webb Ellis showed historians refuse this version stating
disregard was running forward with it as the rules of his time it is apocryphal.
only allowed a player to retreat backwards or kick forwards.

The boom in rail transport in Britain during the 1840s meant that people were able to travel
further and with less inconvenience than they ever had before. Inter-school sporting competitions
became possible. However, it was difficult for schools to play each other at football, as each school
played by its own rules. The solution to this problem was usually that the match be divided into
two halves, one half played by the rules of the host "home" school, and the other half by the
visiting "away" school.

The modern rules of many football codes were formulated during the mid- or late- 19th century.
This also applies to other sports such as lawn bowls, lawn tennis, etc. The major impetus for this
was the patenting of the world's first lawnmower in 1830. This allowed for the preparation of
modern ovals, playing fields, pitches, grass courts, etc.[61]

Apart from Rugby football, the public school codes have barely been played beyond the confines of
each school's playing fields. However, many of them are still played at the schools which created
them (see Surviving UK school games below).

Public schools' dominance of sports in the UK

began to wane after the Factory Act of 1850, which
significantly increased the recreation time available
to working class children. Before 1850, many
British children had to work six days a week, for
more than twelve hours a day. From 1850, they
could not work before 6  a.m. (7  a.m. in winter) or
after 6  p.m. on weekdays (7  p.m. in winter); on
Saturdays they had to cease work at 2  p.m. These A Football Game (1839) by British painter
changes meant that working class children had Thomas Webster
more time for games, including various forms of
football.
The earliest known matches between public schools are as follows:

9 December 1834: Eton School v. Harrow School.[62]

1840s: Old Rugbeians v. Old Salopians (played at
Cambridge University).[63]
1840s: Old Rugbeians v. Old Salopians (played at
Cambridge University the following year).[63]
1852: Harrow School v. Westminster School.[63]
1857: Haileybury School v. Westminster School.[63]
24 February 1858: Forest School v. Chigwell School.[64]
1858: Westminster School v. Winchester College.[63] Football match in the 1846 Shrove
1859: Harrow School v. Westminster School.[63] Tuesday in Kingston upon Thames,
19 November 1859: Radley College v. Old England
Wykehamists.[63]
1 December 1859: Old Marlburians v. Old Rugbeians
(played at Christ Church, Oxford).[63]
19 December 1859: Old Harrovians v. Old Wykehamists (played at Christ Church, Oxford).[63]

Firsts

Clubs

Sports clubs dedicated to playing football began in the 18th

century, for example London's Gymnastic Society which was
founded in the mid-18th century and ceased playing matches in
1796.[65][63]

The first documented club to bear in the title a reference to being a

'football club' were called "The Foot-Ball Club" who were located in
Edinburgh, Scotland, during the period 1824–41.[66][67] The club
forbade tripping but allowed pushing and holding and the picking Sheffield F.C. (here pictured in
up of the ball.[67] 1857, the year of its
foundation) is the oldest
In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the surviving association football
rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of club in the world.
written rules (or code) for any form of football.[68] This further
assisted the spread of the Rugby game.

The earliest known matches involving non-public school clubs or

institutions are as follows:

13 February 1856: Charterhouse School v. St Bartholemew's

Hospital.[69]
7 November 1856: Bedford Grammar School v. Bedford Town Notes about a Sheffield v.
Gentlemen. [70] Hallam match, dated 29
13 December 1856: Sunbury Military College v. Littleton December 1862
Gentlemen.[71]
December 1857: Edinburgh University v. Edinburgh Academical Club.[72]
24 November 1858: Westminster School v. Dingley Dell Club.[73]
 12 May 1859: Tavistock School v. Princetown School.[74]
5 November 1859: Eton School v. Oxford University.[75]
22 February 1860: Charterhouse School v. Dingley Dell Club.[76]
21 July 1860: Melbourne v. Richmond.[77]
17 December 1860: 58th Regiment v. Sheffield.[78]
26 December 1860: Sheffield v. Hallam.[79]

Competitions

One of the longest running football fixture is the Cordner-Eggleston Cup, contested between
Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, Melbourne every year since 1858. It is believed
by many to also be the first match of Australian rules football, although it was played under
experimental rules in its first year. The first football trophy tournament was the Caledonian
Challenge Cup, donated by the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne, played in 1861 under the
Melbourne Rules.[80] The oldest football league is a rugby football competition, the United
Hospitals Challenge Cup (1874), while the oldest rugby trophy is the Yorkshire Cup, contested
since 1878. The South Australian Football Association (30 April 1877) is the oldest surviving
Australian rules football competition. The oldest surviving soccer trophy is the Youdan Cup (1867)
and the oldest national football competition is the English FA Cup (1871). The Football League
(1888) is recognised as the longest running association football league. The first international
football match took place between sides representing England and Scotland on 5 March 1870 at
the Oval under the authority of the FA. The first rugby international took place in 1871.

Modern balls

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 balls to keep their shape.[81] 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. Richard Lindon's wife
is said to have died of lung disease caused by blowing up pig's
bladders.[a] Lindon also won medals for the invention of the "Rubber
inflatable Bladder" and the "Brass Hand Pump".

In 1855, the U.S. inventor Charles Goodyear – who had patented

vulcanised rubber – exhibited a spherical football, with an exterior of
vulcanised rubber panels, at the Paris Exhibition Universelle. The ball
Richard Lindon (seen in
was to prove popular in early forms of football in the U.S.[82]
1880) is believed to have
The iconic ball with a regular pattern of hexagons and pentagons (see invented the first footballs
truncated icosahedron) did not become popular until the 1960s, and with rubber bladders.
was first used in the World Cup in 1970.

Modern ball passing tactics

The earliest reference to a game of football involving players passing the ball and attempting to
score past a goalkeeper was written in 1633 by David Wedderburn, a poet and teacher in Aberdeen,
Scotland.[83] Nevertheless, the original text does not state whether the allusion to passing as 'kick
the ball back' ('repercute pilam') was in a forward or backward direction or between members of
the same opposing teams (as was usual at this time).[84]
"Scientific" football is first recorded in 1839 from Lancashire[85] and in the modern game in rugby
football from 1862[86] and from Sheffield FC as early as 1865.[87][88] The first side to play a
passing combination game was the Royal Engineers AFC in 1869/70.[89][90] By 1869 they were
"work[ing] well together", "backing up" and benefiting from "cooperation".[91] By 1870 the
Engineers were passing the ball: "Lieut. Creswell, who having brought the ball up the side then
kicked it into the middle to another of his side, who kicked it through the posts the minute before
time was called".[92] Passing was a regular feature of their style.[93] By early 1872 the Engineers
were the first football team renowned for "play[ing] beautifully together".[94] A double pass is first
reported from Derby school against Nottingham Forest in March 1872, the first of which is
irrefutably a short pass: "Mr Absey dribbling the ball half the length of the field delivered it to
Wallis, who kicking it cleverly in front of the goal, sent it to the captain who drove it at once
between the Nottingham posts".[95] The first side to have perfected the modern formation was
Cambridge University AFC;[96][97][98] they also introduced the 2–3–5 "pyramid"
formation.[99][100]

Rugby football

Rugby football was thought to have been started about 1845 at

Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England although
forms of football in which the ball was carried and tossed date
to medieval times. In Britain, by 1870, there were 49 clubs
playing variations of the Rugby school game.[101] There were
also "rugby" clubs in Ireland, Australia, Canada and New
Zealand. However, there was no generally accepted set of rules
for rugby until 1871, when 21 clubs from London came together The Last Scrimmage by Edwin
to form the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The first official RFU Buckman, depicting a rugby scrum
rules were adopted in June 1871. [102] These rules allowed in 1871
passing the ball. They also included the try, where touching the
ball over the line allowed an attempt at goal, though drop-goals
from marks and general play, and penalty conversions were still the main form of contest.
Regardless of any form of football, the first international match between the national team of
England and Scotland took place at Raeburn Place on 27 March 1871.

Rugby football split into Rugby union, Rugby league, American football, and Canadian football.
Tom Wills played Rugby football in England before founding Australian rules football.

Cambridge rules

During the nineteenth century, several codifications of the rules of football were made at the
University of Cambridge, in order to enable students from different public schools to play each
other. The Cambridge Rules of 1863 influenced the decision of the Football Association to ban
Rugby-style carrying of the ball in its own first set of laws.[103]

Sheffield rules

By the late 1850s, many football clubs had been formed throughout the English-speaking world, to
play various codes of football. Sheffield Football Club, founded in 1857 in the English city of
Sheffield by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, was later recognised as the world's oldest club
playing association football.[104] However, the club initially played its own code of football: the
Sheffield rules. The code was largely independent of the public school rules, the most significant
difference being the lack of an offside rule.
The code was responsible for many innovations that later spread to association football. These
included free kicks, corner kicks, handball, throw-ins and the crossbar.[105] By the 1870s they
became the dominant code in the north and midlands of England. At this time, a series of rule
changes by both the London and Sheffield FAs gradually eroded the differences between the two
games until the adoption of a common code in 1877.

Australian rules football

There is archival evidence of "foot-ball" games being played in various

parts of Australia throughout the first half of the 19th century. The
origins of an organised game of football known today as Australian
rules football can be traced back to 1858 in Melbourne, the capital city
of Victoria.

In July 1858, Tom Wills, an Australian-born cricketer educated at

Rugby School in England, wrote a letter to Bell's Life in Victoria &
Sporting Chronicle, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws"
to keep cricketers fit during winter.[106] This is considered by
historians to be a defining moment in the creation of Australian rules
football. Through publicity and personal contacts Wills was able to co-
Tom Wills, major figure in ordinate football matches in Melbourne that experimented with
the creation of Australian various rules,[107] the first of which was played on 31 July 1858. One
football week later, Wills umpired a schoolboys match between Melbourne
Grammar School and Scotch College. Following these matches,
organised football in Melbourne rapidly increased in popularity.

Wills and others involved in these early matches formed the

Melbourne Football Club (the oldest surviving Australian
football club) on 14 May 1859. Club members Wills, William
Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas H. Smith met with
the intention of forming a set of rules that would be widely
adopted by other clubs. The committee debated rules used in
English public school games; Wills pushed for various rugby
football rules he learnt during his schooling. The first rules
share similarities with these games, and were shaped to suit to
Australian conditions. H. C. A. Harrison, a seminal figure in Wood engraving of an Australian
rules football match at the
Australian football, recalled that his cousin Wills wanted "a
Richmond Paddock, Melbourne,
game of our own".[108] The code was distinctive in the
1866
prevalence of the mark, free kick, tackling, lack of an offside
rule and that players were specifically penalised for throwing
the ball.

The Melbourne football rules were widely distributed and gradually adopted by the other Victorian
clubs. The rules were updated several times during the 1860s to accommodate the rules of other
influential Victorian football clubs. A significant redraft in 1866 by H. C. A. Harrison's committee
accommodated the Geelong Football Club's rules, making the game then known as "Victorian
Rules" increasingly distinct from other codes. It soon adopted cricket fields and an oval ball, used
specialised goal and behind posts, and featured bouncing the ball while running and spectacular
high marking. The game spread quickly to other Australian colonies. Outside its heartland in
southern Australia, the code experienced a significant period of decline following World War I but
has since grown throughout Australia and in other parts of the world, and the Australian Football
League emerged as the dominant professional competition.

The Football Association

The first football international, Scotland versus England. Once kept by the Rugby Football Union as an early
example of rugby football.

During the early 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.

At the Freemasons' Tavern, Great Queen Street, London on the evening of 26 October 1863,
representatives of several football clubs in the London Metropolitan area met for the inaugural
meeting of the Football Association (FA). The aim of the association was to establish a single
unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its members. Following the first
meeting, the public schools were invited to join the association. All of them declined, except
Charterhouse and Uppingham. In total, six meetings of the FA were held between October and
December 1863. After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published. However, at the
beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently published Cambridge Rules
of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely
running with (carrying) the ball and hacking (kicking opposing players in the shins). The two
contentious FA rules were as follows:

IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal if he
makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he
makes his mark he shall not run.
X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal, any player on the
opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold, trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball
from him, but no player shall be held and hacked at the same time.[109]

At the fifth meeting it was proposed that these two rules be removed. Most of the delegates
supported this, but F. M. Campbell, the representative from Blackheath and the first FA treasurer,
objected. He said: "hacking is the true football". However, the motion to ban running with the ball
in hand and hacking was carried and Blackheath withdrew from the FA. After the final meeting on
8 December, the FA published the "Laws of the Game", the first comprehensive set of rules for the
game later known as Association Football. The term "soccer", in use since the late 19th century,
derives from an Oxford University abbreviation of "association".[110]
The first FA rules still contained elements that are no longer part of association football, but which
are still recognisable in other games (such as Australian football and rugby football): for instance,
a player could make a fair catch and claim a mark, which entitled him to a free kick; and if a player
touched the ball behind the opponents' goal line, his side was entitled to a free kick at goal, from 15
yards (13.5 metres) in front of the goal line.

North American football codes

As was the case in Britain, by the early 19th century, North American schools and universities
played their own local games, between sides made up of students. For example, students at
Dartmouth College in New Hampshire played a game called Old division football, a variant of the
association football codes, as early as the 1820s.[49] They remained largely "mob football" style
games, with huge numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any
means necessary. Rules were simple, violence and injury were common.[48] The violence of these
mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. Yale University,
under pressure from the city of New Haven, banned the play of all forms of football in 1860, while
Harvard University followed suit in 1861.[48] In its place, two general types of football evolved:
"kicking" games and "running" (or "carrying") games. A hybrid of the two, known as the "Boston
game", was played by a group known as the Oneida Football Club. The club, considered by some
historians as the first formal football club in the United States, was formed in 1862 by schoolboys
who played the Boston game on Boston Common.[48][111] The game began to return to American
college campuses by the late 1860s. The universities of Yale, Princeton (then known as the College
of New Jersey), Rutgers, and Brown all began playing "kicking" games during this time. In 1867,
Princeton used rules based on those of the English Football Association.[48]

In Canada, the first documented football match was a practice

game played on 9 November 1861, at University College,
University of Toronto (approximately 400 yards west of
Queen's Park). One of the participants in the game involving
University of Toronto students was (Sir) William Mulock, later
Chancellor of the school.[113] In 1864, at Trinity College,
Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, Frederick A. Bethune, and
Christopher Gwynn, one of the founders of Milton,
Massachusetts, devised rules based on rugby football.[113] A
The Tigers of Hamilton, Ontario,
"running game", resembling rugby football, was then taken up circa 1906. Founded 1869 as the
by the Montreal Football Club in Canada in 1868.[114] Hamilton Foot Ball Club, they
eventually merged with the
On 6 November 1869,
Hamilton Flying Wildcats to form the
Rutgers faced Princeton in a
Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a team still
game that was played with a active in the Canadian Football
round ball and, like all early League.[112]
games, used improvised
rules. It is usually regarded
as the first game of American intercollegiate football.[48][115]

Modern North American football grew out of a match between

McGill University of Montreal and Harvard University in 1874.
Rutgers University (here pictured in During the game, the two teams alternated between the rugby-
1882) played the first inter- based rules used by McGill and the Boston Game rules used by
collegiate football game v Princeton Harvard.[116][117][118] Within a few years, Harvard had both
in 1869. adopted McGill's rules and persuaded other U.S. university
teams to do the same. On 23 November 1876, representatives
from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met at the
Massasoit Convention in Springfield, Massachusetts, agreeing
to adopt most of the Rugby Football Union rules, with some
variations.[119]

In 1880, Yale coach Walter Camp, who had become a fixture at

the Massasoit House conventions where the rules were debated
and changed, devised a number of major innovations. Camp's
The Harvard v McGill game in 1874.
two most important rule changes that diverged the American
It is considered the first rugby
game from rugby were replacing the scrummage with the line
football game played in the United
of scrimmage and the establishment of the down-and-distance
States.
rules.[119] American football still however remained a violent
sport where collisions often led to serious injuries and
sometimes even death.[120] This led U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt to hold a meeting with
football representatives from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton on 9 October 1905, urging them to
make drastic changes.[121] One rule change introduced in 1906, devised to open up the game and
reduce injury, was the introduction of the legal forward pass. Though it was underutilised for
years, this proved to be one of the most important rule changes in the establishment of the modern
game.[122]

Over the years, Canada absorbed some of the developments in American football in an effort to
distinguish it from a more rugby-oriented game. In 1903, the Ontario Rugby Football Union
adopted the Burnside rules, which implemented the line of scrimmage and down-and-distance
system from American football, among others.[123] Canadian football then implemented the legal
forward pass in 1929.[124] American and Canadian football remain different codes, stemming from
rule changes that the American side of the border adopted but the Canadian side has not.

Gaelic football

In the mid-19th century, various traditional football

games, referred to collectively as caid, remained
popular in Ireland, especially in County Kerry. One
observer, Father W. Ferris, described two main
forms of caid during this period: the "field game" in
which the object was to put the ball through arch- The All-Ireland Football Final in Croke Park, 2004
like goals, formed from the boughs of two trees; and
the epic "cross-country game" which took up most
of the daylight hours of a Sunday on which it was played, and was won by one team taking the ball
across a parish boundary. "Wrestling", "holding" opposing players, and carrying the ball were all
allowed.

By the 1870s, rugby and association football had started to become popular in Ireland. Trinity
College Dublin was an early stronghold of rugby (see the Developments in the 1850s section
above). The rules of the English FA were being distributed widely. Traditional forms of caid had
begun to give way to a "rough-and-tumble game" which allowed tripping.

There was no serious attempt to unify and codify Irish varieties of football, until the establishment
of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884. The GAA sought to promote traditional Irish
sports, such as hurling and to reject imported games like rugby and association football. The first
Gaelic football rules were drawn up by Maurice Davin and published in the United Ireland
magazine on 7 February 1887.[125] Davin's rules showed the influence of games such as hurling
and a desire to formalise a distinctly Irish code of football. The prime example of this
differentiation was the lack of an offside rule (an attribute which, for many years, was shared only
by other Irish games like hurling, and by Australian rules football).

Schism in Rugby football

The International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) was founded in

1886,[126] but rifts were beginning to emerge in the code.
Professionalism had already begun to creep into the various
codes of football.

In England, by the 1890s, a long-standing Rugby Football

Union ban on professional players was causing regional
tensions within rugby football, as many players in northern
England were working class and could not afford to take time
off to train, travel, play and recover from injuries. This was not
very different from what had occurred ten years earlier in
soccer in Northern England but the authorities reacted very
differently in the RFU, attempting to alienate the working class
support in Northern England. In 1895, following a dispute
about a player being paid broken time payments, which An English cartoon from the 1890s
replaced wages lost as a result of playing rugby, representatives lampooning the divide in rugby
of the northern clubs met in Huddersfield to form the Northern football which led to the formation of
Rugby Football Union (NRFU). The new body initially rugby league. The caricatures are of
permitted only various types of player wage replacements. Rev. Frank Marshall, an arch-
However, within two years, NRFU players could be paid, but opponent of player payments, and
James Miller, a long-time opponent
they were required to have a job outside sport.
of Marshall. The caption reads:
The demands of a professional league dictated that rugby had Marshall: "Oh, fie, go away naughty
to become a better "spectator" sport. Within a few years the boy, I don't play with boys who can't
NRFU rules had started to diverge from the RFU, most notably afford to take a holiday for football
any day they like!" Miller: "Yes,
with the abolition of the line-out. This was followed by the
that's just you to a T; you'd make it
replacement of the ruck with the "play-the-ball ruck", which
so that no lad whose father wasn't a
allowed a two-player ruck contest between the tackler at
millionaire could play at all in a
marker and the player tackled. Mauls were stopped once the
really good team. For my part I see
ball carrier was held, being replaced by a play-the ball-ruck.
no reason why the men who make
The separate Lancashire and Yorkshire competitions of the
the money shouldn't have a share in
NRFU merged in 1901, forming the Northern Rugby League,
the spending of it."
the first time the name rugby league was used officially in
England.

Over time, the RFU form of rugby, played by clubs which remained members of national
federations affiliated to the IRFB, became known as rugby union.

Globalisation of association football

The need for a single body to oversee association football had become apparent by the beginning of
the 20th century, with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The English Football
Association had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body, but was perceived
as making no progress. It fell to associations from seven other European countries: France,
Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, to form an international
association. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris
on 21 May 1904.[127] Its first president was Robert Guérin.[127] The French name and acronym has
remained, even outside French-speaking countries.

Further divergence of the two rugby codes

Rugby league rules diverged significantly from rugby union in 1906, with the reduction of the team
from 15 to 13 players. In 1907, a New Zealand professional rugby team toured Australia and
Britain, receiving an enthusiastic response, and professional rugby leagues were launched in
Australia the following year. However, the rules of professional games varied from one country to
another, and negotiations between various national bodies were required to fix the exact rules for
each international match. This situation endured until 1948, when at the instigation of the French
league, the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) was formed at a meeting in Bordeaux.

During the second half of the 20th century, the rules changed further. In 1966, rugby league
officials borrowed the American football concept of downs: a team was allowed to retain
possession of the ball for four tackles (rugby union retains the original rule that a player who is
tackled and brought to the ground must release the ball immediately). The maximum number of
tackles was later increased to six (in 1971), and in rugby league this became known as the six tackle
rule.

With the advent of full-time professionals in the early 1990s, and the consequent speeding up of
the game, the five metre off-side distance between the two teams became 10  metres, and the
replacement rule was superseded by various interchange rules, among other changes.

The laws of rugby union also changed during the 20th century, although less significantly than
those of rugby league. In particular, goals from marks were abolished, kicks directly into touch
from outside the 22 metre line were penalised, new laws were put in place to determine who had
possession following an inconclusive ruck or maul, and the lifting of players in line-outs was
legalised.

In 1995, rugby union became an "open" game, that is one which allowed professional players.[128]
Although the original dispute between the two codes has now disappeared – and despite the fact
that officials from both forms of rugby football have sometimes mentioned the possibility of re-
unification – the rules of both codes and their culture have diverged to such an extent that such an
event is unlikely in the foreseeable future.

Use of the word "football"

The word football, when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described
above. Because of this, much controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it
is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking world. Most often, the word
"football" is used to refer to the code of football that is considered dominant within a particular
region (which is association football in most countries). So, effectively, what the word "football"
means usually depends on where one says it.

In each of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, one football code is known solely
as "football", while the others generally require a qualifier. In New Zealand, "football" historically
referred to rugby union, but more recently may be used unqualified to refer to association football.
The sport meant by the word "football" in Australia is either Australian rules football or rugby
league, depending on local popularity (which largely conforms to the Barassi Line). In
francophone Quebec, where Canadian football is more popular,
the Canadian code is known as le football while American
football is known as le football américain and association
football is known as le soccer.[129]
Heading from The Sportsman
Of the 45 national FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football (London) front page of 25
Association) affiliates in which English is an official or primary November 1910, illustrating the
language, most currently use Football in their organisations' continued use of the word "football"
official names; the FIFA affiliates in Canada and the United to encompass both association
States use Soccer in their names. A few FIFA affiliates have football and rugby
recently "normalised" to using "Football", including:

Australia's association football governing body changed its name in 2005 from using "soccer"
to "football".[130]
New Zealand's governing body renamed itself in 2007, saying "the international game is called
football".[131]
Samoa changed from "Samoa Football (Soccer) Federation" to "Football Federation Samoa" in
2009.[132][133]

Popularity
Several of the football codes are the most popular team sports
in the world.[9] Globally, association football is played by over
250 million players in over 200 nations,[134] and has the
highest television audience in sport,[135] making it the most Small football stadium in Croatia
popular in the world.[136] American football, with 1.1  million
high school football players and nearly 70,000 college football
players, is the most popular sport in the United States,[137][138] with the annual Super Bowl game
accounting for nine of the top ten of the most watched broadcasts in U.S. television history.[139]
The NFL has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the
world and has the highest revenue[140] out of any single professional sports league.[141] Thus, the
best association football and American football players are among the highest paid athletes in the
world.[142][143][144]

Australian rules football has the highest spectator attendance of all sports in Australia.[145][146]
Similarly, Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland in terms of match attendance,[147]
and the All-Ireland Football Final is the most watched event of that nation's sporting year.[148]
Rugby union is the most popular sport in New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji.[149] It is also the
fastest growing sport in the U.S.,[150][151][152][153] with college rugby being the fastest
growing[154][155] college sport in that country.[156]

Football codes board

Indoor
Cambridge
rules (1848– Beach (1992–)
1863)
Futsal (1930–)

Paralympic
Association
football Street
(1863–)
Sheffield rules Underwater football (1967–),
(1857–1877) Indoor American football, Arena
Rugby Union American
football, Sprint football, Flag
with minor football
football, Touch football, Street
modifications (1869[b]-) football, Wheelchair football
(1987–), XFL

Canadian
Burnside rules football Flag football[e]
Medieval (1861–)[d]
football
Rugby sevens (1883–), Rugby tens, Rugby X,
Touch rugby, Tag rugby, American flag rugby,
Mini rugby, Beach rugby, Snow rugby, Tambo
Rugby football (1845–)[c] rugby, Wheelchair rugby, Underwater rugby
Rugby Football Nines
Union (1871–)
Rugby Rugby league sevens
league
(1895–) Touch football, Tag rugby,
Wheelchair rugby league, Mod
league

Rugby rules and

International rules football
other English
Australian rules (1859–) (1967–), Austus, Rec footy,
public school
Auskick, Samoa Rules, Metro
games[f] Footy, Lightning football, AFLX,
Nine-a-side footy, Kick-to-kick
Gaelic football (1885–), Ladies' Gaelic football (1969–)

Football codes development tree

Football codes development tree [hide]
|
Football

Rugby
rules and
Sheffield
Cambridge Rugby other
rules
rules (1848– football English
(1857–
1863) (1845–) public
1877)
school
games
 Association Australian
Gaelic
Football rules
(1887–)
(1863–) (1859–)

Rugby
Rugby union Canadian
Football Int'l Rules
with minor football
Union (1967–)
modifications (1861–)
(1871–)

American
Rugby league Rugby sevens
football
(1895–) (1883–)
(1869–)

Arena Flag
Flag
football football
football
(1987–) (Canadian)

Rugby
Futsal Rugby league
league Touch football
(1930–) sevens
nines

Beach soccer Indoor Paralympic Street

(1992–) soccer football football
Notes:

Present day codes and families

Association

These codes have in common the prohibition of the use of

hands (by all players except the goalkeeper, though outfield
players can "throw-in" the ball when it goes out of play),
unlike other codes where carrying or handling the ball by all
players is allowed

Association football, also known as football, soccer, footy

and footie
Indoor/basketball court variants: An indoor soccer game at an open-
Five-a-side football – game for smaller teams, played air venue in Mexico. The referee
under various rules including: has just awarded the red team a
free kick.
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 extremely 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, the Latin American variant (fútbol rápido, "fast
football") is often played in open-air venues
 Masters Football – six-a-side played in Europe by
mature professionals (35 years and older)
Paralympic football – modified game for athletes with a
disability.[157] Includes:
Football 5-a-side – for visually impaired athletes
Football 7-a-side – for athletes with cerebral palsy
Amputee football – for athletes with amputations
Deaf football – for athletes with hearing impairments Street football, Venice (1960)
Powerchair football – for athletes in electric wheelchairs
Beach soccer, beach football or sand soccer – variant
modified for play on sand
Street football – encompasses a number of informal
variants
Rush goalie – a variation in which the role of the
goalkeeper is more flexible than normal
Crab football – players stand on their hands and feet and
move around on their backs whilst playing
Swamp soccer – the game as played on a swamp or bog Women's beach soccer game at
field YBF 2010 in Yyteri Beach, Pori,
Jorkyball Finland
Walking football – players are restricted to walking, to
facilitate participation by older and less mobile players
Rushball

The hockey game bandy has rules partly based on the association football rules and is sometimes
nicknamed as 'winter football'.

There are also motorsport variations of the game.

Rugby

These codes have in common the ability of players to carry the

ball with their hands, and to throw it to teammates, unlike
association football where the use of hands during play is
prohibited by anyone except the goalkeeper. They also feature
various methods of scoring based upon whether the ball is
carried into the goal area, or kicked above the goalposts.

Rugby football
Rugby union Rugby sevens; Fiji v Wales at the
2006 Commonwealth Games in
Mini rugby a variety for children. Melbourne
Rugby sevens and Rugby tens – variants for teams
of reduced size.
Rugby league – often referred to simply as "league", and usually known simply as "football"
or "footy" in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland.
Rugby league sevens and Rugby league nines – variants for teams of reduced size.
Beach rugby – rugby played on sand
Touch rugby – generic name for forms of rugby football which do not feature tackles, one
variant has been formalised
 Tag Rugby – non-contact variant in which a flag
attached to a player is removed to indicate a tackle.
Gridiron football
American football – called "football" in the United States
and Canada, and "gridiron" in Australia and New
Zealand.
Nine-man football, eight-man football, six-man
football – variants played primarily by smaller high
schools that lack enough players to field full teams. Griffins RFC Kotka, the rugby union
Street football/backyard football – played without team from Kotka, Finland, playing in
equipment or official fields and with simplified rules the Rugby-7 Tournament in 2013
Flag football – non-contact variant in which a flag
attached to a player is removed to indicate a tackle.
Touch football – non-tackle variants
Canadian football – called simply "football" in Canada; "football" in Canada can mean
either Canadian or American football depending on context. All of the variants listed for
American football are also attested for Canadian football.
Indoor football – indoor variants, particularly arena football
Wheelchair football – variant adapted to play by athletes with physical disabilities

Irish and Australian

These codes have in common the absence of an

offside rule, the prohibition of continuous
carrying of the ball (requiring a periodic bounce
or solo (toe-kick), depending on the code) while
running, handpassing by punching or tapping
the ball rather than throwing it, and other
traditions.

Australian rules football – officially known as

"Australian football", and informally as
"football", "footy" or "Aussie rules". In some International rules football test match from the 2005
areas it is referred to as "AFL", the name of International Rules Series between Australia and
the main organising body and competition Ireland at Telstra Dome, Melbourne, Australia

Auskick – a version of Australian rules

designed by the AFL for young children
Metro footy (or Metro rules footy) – a modified version invented by the USAFL, for use on
gridiron fields in North American cities (which often lack grounds large enough for
conventional Australian rules matches)
Kick-to-kick – informal versions of the game
9-a-side footy – a more open, running variety of Australian rules, requiring 18 players in
total and a proportionally smaller playing area (includes contact and non-contact varieties)
Rec footy – "Recreational Football", a modified non-contact variation of Australian rules,
created by the AFL, which replaces tackles with tags
Touch Aussie Rules – a non-tackle variation of Australian Rules played only in the United
Kingdom
Samoa rules – localised version adapted to Samoan conditions, such as the use of rugby
football fields
 Masters Australian football (a.k.a. Superules) – reduced contact version introduced for
competitions limited to players over 30 years of age
Women's Australian rules football – women's competition played with a smaller ball and
(sometimes) reduced contact
Gaelic football – Played predominantly in Ireland. Commonly referred to as "football" or
"Gaelic"
Ladies Gaelic football
International rules football – a compromise code used for international representative matches
between Australian rules football players and Gaelic football players

Medieval
Calcio Fiorentino – a modern revival of Renaissance football from 16th century Florence.
la Soule – a modern revival of French medieval football
lelo burti – a Georgian traditional football game

Britain
The Haxey Hood, played on Epiphany in Haxey, Lincolnshire
Shrove Tuesday games
Scoring the Hales in Alnwick, Northumberland
Royal Shrovetide Football in Ashbourne, Derbyshire
The Shrovetide Ball Game in Atherstone, Warwickshire
The Shrove Tuesday Football Ceremony of the Purbeck Marblers in Corfe Castle, Dorset
Hurling the Silver Ball at St Columb Major in Cornwall
The Ball Game in Sedgefield, County Durham
In Scotland the Ba game ("Ball Game") is still popular around Christmas and Hogmanay at:
Duns, Berwickshire
Scone, Perthshire
Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands

British schools

Games still played at UK public (private) schools:

Eton field game

Eton wall game
Harrow football
Winchester College football

Recent and hybrid Harrow football players after a

game at Harrow School (c. 2005)
Keepie uppie (keep up) – the art of juggling with a football
using the feet, knees, chest, shoulders, and head.
Footbag – several variations using a small bean bag or sand bag as a ball, the trade
marked term hacky sack is sometimes used as a generic synonym.
 Freestyle football – participants are graded for their entertainment value and expression of
skill.

Association
Three sided football
Triskelion

Rugby
Force 'em backs a.k.a. forcing back, forcemanback

Hybrid
Austus – a compromise between Australian rules and American football, invented in Melbourne
during World War II.
Bossaball – mixes Association football and volleyball and gymnastics; played on inflatables
and trampolines.
Cycle ball – a sport similar to association football played on bicycles
Footgolf – golf played by kicking an Association football.
Footvolley – mixes Association football and beach volleyball; played on sand
Football tennis – mixes Association football and tennis
Kickball – a hybrid of Association football and baseball, invented in the United States about
1942.
Underwater football – played in a pool, and the ball can only be played when underwater. The
ball can be carried as in rugby.
Speedball – a combination of American football, soccer, and basketball, devised in the United
States in 1912.
Universal football – a hybrid of Australian rules and rugby league, trialled in Sydney in
1933.[158]
Volata – a game resembling Association football and European handball, devised by Italian
fascist leader, Augusto Turati, in the 1920s.
Wheelchair rugby – also known as Murderball, invented in Canada in 1977. Based on ice
hockey and basketball rather than rugby.

Although similar to football and volleyball in some aspects, Sepak takraw has ancient origins and
cannot be considered a hybrid game.

Tabletop games, video games, and other recreations

Based on association football

Blow football
Button football – also known as Futebol de Mesa, Jogo de Botões
Fantasy football
FIFA Video Games Series
Lego Football
Mario Strikers
Penny football
 Pro Evolution Soccer
Subbuteo
Table football – also known as foosball, table soccer, babyfoot, bar football or gettone

Based on American football

Blood Bowl
Fantasy football (American)
Madden NFL
Paper football

Based on Australian football

AFL video game series
List of AFL video games

Based on rugby league football

Australian Rugby League
Sidhe's Rugby League series
Rugby League 3

See also
Football portal

1601 to 1725 in sports: Football

Football field (unit of length)
List of types of football
List of players who have converted from one football code to another
Names for association football
American football in the United States
List of largest sports contracts

Notes

Footnotes
a. The exact name of Mr Lindon is in dispute, as well as the exact timing of the creation of the
inflatable bladder. It is known that he created this for both association and rugby footballs.
However, sites devoted to football indicate he was known as HJ Lindon (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20070311213720/http://www.richardlindon.com/), who was actually Richard Lindon's
son, and created the ball in 1862 (ref: Soccer Ball World (http://www.soccerballworld.com/Histo
ry.htm) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20060616030554/http://www.soccerballworld.co
m/History.htm) 16 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine), whereas rugby sites refer to him as
Richard Lindon creating the ball in 1870 (ref: Guardian article (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/o
sm/story/0,,1699545,00.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20061115193354/http://ob
server.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1699545,00.html) 15 November 2006 at the Wayback
 Machine). Both agree that his wife died when inflating pig's bladders. This information
originated from web sites which may be unreliable, and the answer may only be found in
researching books in central libraries.
b. The first game of American football is widely cited as a game played on 6 November 1869,
between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton. But the game was played under rules
based on the association football rules of the time. During the latter half of the 1870s, colleges
playing association football switched to the Rugby code.
c. In 1845, the first rules of rugby were written by Rugby School pupils. But various rules of rugby
had existed until the foundation of the Rugby Football Union in 1871.
d. In 1903, Burnside rules were introduced to Ontario Rugby Football Union, which transformed
Canadian football from a rugby-style game to the gridiron-style game.
e. There are Canadian rules [1] (http://footballcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/FlagRB_
secure.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151121193313/http://footballcanada.com/
wp-content/uploads/2014/07/FlagRB_secure.pdf) 21 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine
established by Football Canada. Apart from this, there are also rules [2] (http://ifaf.org/pdf/docu
ments/rules/ifaf_flag_rules_2015.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20151018053139/
http://ifaf.org/pdf/documents/rules/ifaf_flag_rules_2015.pdf) 18 October 2015 at the Wayback
Machine established by IFAF.
f. Some historians support the theory that the primary influence was rugby football and other
games emanating from English public schools. On the other hand, there are also historians
who support the theory that Australian rules football and Gaelic Football have some common
origins. See Origins of Australian rules football.

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