Football inventors: The true origins of soccer | OneFootball

Highlights

Football has played a key role in human lives for over 150 years since being established as a fully regulated sport. It has become by far the most popular sport across the globe, and for many, it is hard to imagine life without it. But how far can its origins be traced back to, and who were the vital founders of its creation?

Hundreds of millions across the planet watched the FIFA World Cup final of 2022 as Lionel Messi finally got his hands on the famous trophy. The viewing figures toppled the Super Bowl of 2022 which is indicative of the huge worldwide interest that the sport holds.

The sport is one of the most accessible for all types of people from various walks of life. All that is required is players and a football - or in some cases, even makeshift spheres are used to replicate a football.

The game is played on the streets, in parks and ultimately anywhere where a rough resemblance to a playing pitch can be created. Many other sports like cricket and tennis for example require specific conditions and certain equipment, but football can easily be enjoyed by almost anybody, which is part of the reason it is so widely loved.

The sport is intertwined with cultures all over Earth, but who kickstarted the revolution of the ball game in the 19th century, and which key figures have helped its development since?

Here we will look back at football's foundations as well as traces of the game in early human history. It is an ever-changing game, but its core principles have always remained the same.

The origins of football

There have been traces of games similar to football throughout human history. They perhaps helped to shape the game we know today, but who founded football at a regulated level, and when did it happen?

The sport was first established with an official set of rules back in 1863. These were officially brought into play by the then-freshly created Football Association in England. The rules have, of course, been tweaked regularly ever since, but the main aims of the game remain and the basic rulings do so too.

Similar unregulated games existed in England before the official integration of the sport in 1863. They were often played by students at private schools in the North and South of the country, although there was no standard set of rules that were followed across the various venues of education until at least 1848.

There were two sets of rules that existed, the Cambridge rules and the Sheffield rules, which meant there was a clear difference in how the game was played in the North and South of England.

Cambridge Rules

In 1848 Cambridge University hosted a conference when delegates from different schools and colleges came together to draft a uniform set of football rules, which eventually became the Cambridge Rules. The idea was to create a regionally enforceable set of rules that would enable various teams to compete against one another under pre-agreed conditions.

This form of football introduced many rules which have been carried into the modern game. They were the first to allow progressive passes - they paved the way for some of the great playmakers to shine throughout history.

They outlawed the use of hands by anybody besides the goalkeeper. Although there was a clear emphasis on fouls being allowed in the early form of the sport. Fouling players were initially allowed, such as kicking shins, but was eventually removed as the Cambridge Rules evolved.

Sheffield Rules

The Sheffield Rules were established by the world's oldest football club, Sheffield FC. They featured distinct differences from the Cambridge Rules. Players were allowed to carry the ball in their hands if it was caught directly from a kick, although they were not allowed to throw it.

These rules also allowed what would be modern fouls in the game. The kicking of shins was initially legal within the Sheffield rules but was removed in a later adaption of the legislation.

The Sheffield Rules did contain several features which have been carried into modern football, however. They introduced various set pieces such as corners and freekicks, as well as throw-ins for when the ball passed the byline.

The Sheffield Rules also helped to establish heading in the early forms of British football and created positions that play prominent roles in football to this day, including the goalkeeper and forward positions.

The Cambridge Rules and Sheffield Rules both contain key features of the modern game. Both sets of regulations were combined to help the FA create an official nationwide rule book in 1863. But how did that landmark date in the 1860s come around?

Football's founding fathers

No single person can claim full credit for the invention of football and its development into a worldwide game played at a professional level. However, Ebenezer Morley, a lawyer from Hull, was integral to creating the FA and the sport of football. He has been widely regarded throughout history as one of the founding fathers of soccer. Morley founded Barnes Football Club in 1862 - which later became the first team ever to win an FA Cup fixture - and a year later he sought to create a nationwide regulated competition for the sport. He sent a letter to a newspaper titled 'Bell's Life' and this triggered the fateful meeting of 1863, in which one of the world's greatest hobbies and forms of entertainment was officially established.

The meeting took place on the 26th of October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in London. Representatives from 12 clubs across the nation attended, and together they created a unified set of rules that governed football for the next four decades and set the tone for its eternal future. Morley shared his ideas of creating a fixed set of football rules that could be implemented nationwide. He had many of his own ideas for laws that should have been authored into the game and he is regarded to have had the greatest influence on the original laws of the game that were formatted in 1863. Morley also laid the foundations for the modern football pyramid that we have today. He consistently emphasised that football is not just a game for professionals but for amateurs too. This idea has been maintained ever since, shown by England's enormous footballing pyramid of professional, semi-professional and amateur clubs and leagues. The English FA, alongside the institutions in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, later created the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in 1886 - which has since served as the guardian of the laws.

The establishment of FIFA

FIFA was established in a meeting on the 21st of May 1904 in Paris, France. Its creation was certainly inspired by the earlier establishment of the FA and the IFAB. There was a desire to replicate the national standardised rules that English football had achieved on an international scale. The aim was for FIFA to be able to promote the game further across the planet, and for the standardised rulings to create a foundation for future international tournaments. FIFA's initial meeting featured representatives from seven countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The most significant figures in the creation of the governing body included Robert Guerin who was FIFA's first-ever president and Daniel Burley Woolfall who was his successor. These two oversaw vital operations for FIFA during its early days. They consistently invited more nations to join the governing body, and this eventually allowed for significant tournaments to be inaugurated such as the FIFA World Cup almost 100 years ago in 2030.

Ever since it was created FIFA has governed footballing rules all around the world. It has done so in collaboration with the British national associations since 1913 after it joined the IFAB. Ever since, the various organisations have worked together to constantly advance the sport. Ultimately, Morley was the catalyst for the creation of football with the standardised ruling, and his work inspired many more to drive forward the sport in the following years including the hugely prestigious FIFA footballing body. The game he was so passionate about also took key inspiration in its format and rulings from ancient versions of the game.

How soccer used to be

While football was officially set into place at a regulated level in the 1800s, the ancient origins of the game can be traced back through centuries, to other ball games that had similar features.

The earliest form of a football-like game was 'cuju' which was played in ancient China, it is considered to be one of the earliest roots of the modern game we call football or soccer. 'Cuju' translates to 'kickball' and was played between the years of 206 BC and 220 AD during the Han dynasty. This early form of football disallowed the use of hands, which has of course been a prominent feature of the modern format of the game.

The goal used for this game was not too different to the modern goals used today. Two poles made up the goalposts and a net was stretched between them - it only lacked a crossbar compared to its 19th century successor.

The game of 'Cuju' even had several different versions of itself. Some of them featured players using just their feet to keep the ball in the air and progress the play to their teammates, while others involved other parts of the body such as the chest.

The game was not just played for fun in China, but it was seen as an ideal form of physical exercise, and also an entertaining viewing for spectators. The sport also allowed people of various backgrounds to come together and participate.

Harpastum is another early form of football which was played during the Roman Empire. It featured a ball that was stuffed with feathers. There is little known about the rules of the game besides that the objective was to maintain possession of the ball, rather than the typical aim of scoring a goal, which has long existed in football.

The game was played on either a circular or a rectangular pitch and the ball used was smaller than a modern football but was much heavier. Harpastum seemingly had little fixed rules or formats and this allowed games to be fast-paced as anything applied, and there were rarely any stoppages. This ancient sport had features of the modern sports of rugby and American football, as well as association football. It can be considered the root of many global sports in the modern world.

Shrovetide football is an example of an earlier version of football that was played in England. The game was played as early as the 12th century, during the reign of Henry II. The games were remarkably lengthy, at eight hours per half, and there were few rules in terms of what players could and couldn't do. The goals were also three miles apart which means that building up play took a much longer period back then. It was also known as "mob football" due to the huge size of the teams. It was typically practised in many regions of England on Ash Wednesday and Shrove Tuesday as part of the festivities leading up to Lent.

The game often featured hundreds of players on each team, and sometimes even thousands. Entire towns often faced off against each other. A wooden ball was often the match ball or even an animal bladder if that was not available. Historical landmarks were even used as the goals sometimes, which meant it was incredibly meaningful to progress into a neighbouring town and score a goal. This form of the ancient game was firmly engrained into British sporting culture from the 15th to 19th century. However, in the 1800s there were attempts made to prohibit people from playing the game. Its lack of rules had created an increasingly violent game over the years.

We have discussed the creation of the modern game of football and looked at how far back the origins of the game can be traced. But focusing on modern times, how did the regulated game spread all over the planet and become adored by so many?

In the modern game, Argentina and Brazil are two of the biggest and most successful footballing nations in the world. However, quite a surprising fact is that two Scotsmen introduced the sport to the nations. The two heavyweight nations can have their footballing traced back to two men from Scotland, who simply wanted to spread their passion all over.

Alexander Hutton - Argentina

Regarding Argentina, Alexander Hutton created the first-ever league in the country, which was also the first league outside the British Isles.

Hutton was a school teacher and one of his strongest beliefs was that sports were fundamental to education. He introduced his students at the English High School of Buenos Aires to the sport when he moved to the country in the 1980s and his influence gradually grew and grew, which led to him having a permanent impact on the Argentinian football leagues.

The Scotsman was one of the founding members of the Argentine Football Association in 1893, who helped to set out the rules and format of national leagues and competitions across the country. Hutton founded the Argentinian Football League in 1893, which has built up a huge level of prestige in its 130 years of existence. It has birthed huge clubs that are well known worldwide like River Plate and Boca Juniors.

Charles Miller - Brazil

Born in Scotland to a Brazilian mother and a Scottish father, Miller received his education in England, first at Southampton's Bannister Court Grammar School and then at Bannister Court School. Miller developed an interest in association football during his childhood spent in England, as he regularly played the sport and gained comprehensive knowledge of the FA rulebook. He moved to his mother's native land in 1894 at the age of 10 and took his love for football with him and a copy of the English standardised rulebook.

Just the following year, he established the first-ever football game in Brazil. He organised an 11-a-side fixture between the São Paulo Railway Company and the Gas Company in 1895. Miller arranged a game between the employees of the two companies and used it as a way of introducing the game and its rules to the working population in Brazil. Miller consistently operated a similar approach of organising amateur matches, often between different companies and clubs which he helped to establish. This later led to him being the founder of the nation's first-ever footballing league. Miller founded the Liga Paulista in 1902. Miller can be credited as the single biggest factor in Brazil's modern passion and fascination with football. The sport is deep-rooted in Brazilian culture, and without Miller, this may never have been possible.

If not for Miller, the footballing world might have never been graced with generational talents like Pele and Romario. Modern football continues to advance with key figures at FIFA and UEFA alike regularly proving to be influential when it comes to determining new rules and new competitions for the top level of the sport. However, nobody present or future will ever have as big an impact on football as the inventors and teachers of football we have discussed here. Ebenezer Morley was the founding father of the first-ever form of regulated football. Hutton and Miller both acted as catalysts for the love of football in the nations where they introduced the sport.

Between the trio, the top three historical heavyweights were created. England, Argentina and Brazil are football's top dogs, although China and the Romans may have dabbled in a similar sporting concept before their time. Governing bodies like FIFA and the IFAB have helped to build on the work of Morley, Hutton and Miller way over a century since.

Football constantly evolves and is a staple of cultures all around the world. It is intertwined with millions of lives and many could not imagine life without it. Without the famous individuals, ancient forms of football, and the latter governing bodies discussed here, we may never have been graced with the wonderful form of entertainment that is the beautiful game.