Who Really Invented Modern Football?

This article focuses on the development of soccer as we know it today.  A concise summary of this seems to be that Sheffield was the hub of a amateur, elite soccer scene, while Lancashire focused on the competition of sport.  Sheffield changed the rules and helped form soccer into what the game is today, like with the offside rule mentioned on page 1428.  It seems that Lancashire, with its sporting traditions of horse racing and pedestrianism, wanted good players and good competition.  They used what the reading calls “shamateur game” and “they [the players] were paid quite openly out of the gate money, the net sum remaining after those disbursements being entered in the books kept for inspection as gross amounts’.” (pg 1437) Ultimately the game continued to grow and become what it is today, but it is really interesting to see such different perspectives of a game work together to form a lasting sport.

A History of Football in Paris:

Capital and port areas were main places for soccer in the beginning, but this changed.  Compulsory military service helped spread the game across the country and the article seems to say that this happened across class lines.  Before soccer was a city or port area thing, but during the 1920’s this spread to the provinces around France, indicating that the game was spreading thanks to the compulsory military service, and these new teams were winning. “In redefining spheres of influence, this new institutional configuration once again brought into play the French regions’ mistrust of Parisian power in a country already defined by a long tradition of centralisation going back to the division of the country into departments following the French Revolution” (pg. 1133) This is really interesting, the once dominant power was stopped and made to be equal, which is way different from the “creation” story of Brazil.

The story of football in France also has “identity portals” like with the Italians in Brazil.  It is really interesting to see that immigrants used soccer to find to find their own “place” within the culture and to be accepted.

When were the rules hammered out again? How did they choose rules across country lines, when the rules changed as much as they did?

Who Really Invented Modern Football

 Introduction:

-Football became a means of maintaining rivalries and boosting nationalism during the 19^th century.

The Rules of football and Sheffield’s contributions: Continue reading →

Who Really Invented Modern Football

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1658394/zlatan-ibrahimovic-rule-future-mls?cc=5901

I thought I would point this article out that I found on ESPN just to continue the theme of my last TIFO. One of the most important parts of growing the brand of the MLS is trying to maintain its better players and attract new ones. Bringing in Zlatan would be a great step towards making the MLS a more attractive place for European players to play.

On Bosworth Field or the Playing Fields of Eton and Rugby? Who Really Invented Modern Football?

In the article about the origins of modern football the authors discuss what region of England is truly responsible for the game of modern football we know today.  The article discusses early football and how the game looked different then how we think of the game today and how the rules evolved.  The Sheffield region seemed to get the game into its more modern form in terms of rules.  In the region the sport enjoyed popularity among the elite although it was limited to amateurism due to the preferences of the elite who for religious or other reasons declined to allow the game in that region to be played professionally.  Since these men controlled the sport in the region the game was played at the amateur level.

In Lancashire the situation was different.  While the region adopted the basic rules of the game from Sheffield the region embraced professional players much more so that the Sheffield region.  Much of that difference in preference had to do with who was playing football in Lancashire compared to Sheffield at the time.  The Lancaster region players and club organizers were from the emerging lower middle class.

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In the International Journal of the History of Sport article “On Bosworth Field or the Playing Fields of Eton and Rugby? Who Really Invented Modern Football?” One quote stuck out to me far above the rest. Authors Peter Swain and Adrian Harvey wrote “In the period up until 1850, there were at least thirteen teams playing football in Lancashire” (Harvey, 1432). While this didn’t encompass all the teams playing “football” at this time, It really shows the size of teams playing “association football”. 150 years later, there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of teams playing in England alone.

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