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7
List of Tables
Table 1: Research Structure ... 16
Table 2: Significant Developments in the Rules of the Game ... 32
Table 3: Evolution of Humanitarian Activities at FIFA ... 86
Table 4: The Goals for Peace Project ... 94
Table 5: Age, Gender and Strata Distribution of Participants Goals for
Peace Project Ciudad Bolivar ... 99
Table 6: Activities and Objectives Goals for Peace Day 1 ... 102
Table 7: Activities and Objectives Goals for Peace Day 2 ... 103
Table 8: Goals for Peace in Bais City, Philippines. ... 107
Table 9: Olympic Truce Statement ... 111
8
List of Pictures
Picture 1: Safety First ... 76
Picture 2: Colombianitos in Action ...89
Picture 3: Girls and Boys Playing Football in Ciudad Bolivar ... ..100
Picture 4: Goals for Peace Bais City, Philippines ... 107
9
Acknowledgement
There are many people I would like to thank for their help during the research stage and
writing of this book. Foremost among these are Colonel Carlos Menéndez from the
Colombian National Police, Mr. Jerome Champagne, FIFA director for International
Relations, Mrs. Bettina Schulte, program officer for the United Nations Office on Sport
for Development and Peace and Mrs. Maria Elvira Garavito, director of the
Colombianitos foundation, for their valuable input during the interviews I conducted at
their respective organizations. For allowing me access to the FIFA library, thanks are also
due to Mrs. Marta Mulero. There are a number of other individuals to whom I owe my
gratitude: Mr. Alvaro Gomez from the Matiambolumba Foundation and Mrs. Carmenza
Trujillo, coordinator for Proseder for their help during the activities of the project Goals
for Peace in Ciudad Bolivar, Bogota, Colombia and to Ms. Karen Villanueva and her
staff as well the Elmaco family for their support in the second Goals for Peace project in
the Philippines. I would also like to express my gratitude to the members of the academic
body and staff of the EMGS program at the Universities of Leipzig and Vienna. To Dr.
Siegfried Mattl and to my classmates at both institutions for having contributed to my
personal and academic growth as well as to all those who made possible my participation
in the Global Studies program, and to Professor Tom Woodhouse at Bradford University
for his guidance, interest and support to further football-related research. To the
organization Peace and Sport, thanks are also due for their valuable support to Goals for
Peace in our new phase. On a personal note, I would like to thank my family for their
unconditional love and support and for instilling in me, the important values in life and to
Mrs. Jenn Elmaco, for her priceless support in this journey. My final gratitude goes to my
guides and to all the people in the football constellation I have come across over the
years.
10
Acronyms
AFC - Asian Football Confederation
BCE - Before Common Era
CAF - Corporación Andina de Fomento
CAF - Confédération Africaine de Football
CE - Common Era
CONCACAF - North and Central America Football Federation
CONMEBOL - Confederación Suramericana de Fútbol
EURO - European Football Championship
FA - Football Association
FARE - Football Against Racism in Europe
FC - Football Club
FIFA - Fédération Internationale de Football Association
INGO- International Non-Government Organization
MDG - Millennium Development Goals
NGO - Non-Government Organization
UN - United Nations
UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund
UNOSDP - United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace
UEFA - Union of European Football Association
UK - United Kingdom
11
Abstract
Keywords: Colombia, FIFA, Football History, Football and Globalization, Goals for
Peace, Hooliganism, Philippines, Sport for Development and Peace,
Football's consolidation as the world's most popular sport is a result of both the inherent
attributes of the game, that is, its simplicity and universality, as well as the historical
processes that have contributed to the unprecedented expansion of the geography of the
this sport throughout time. Today, football represents a professional activity, an
instrument to mobilize the masses, a profitable business, is also a focus of violence and
unrest, and most recently, is has emerged as a tool for social development and peace.
Although the sport has undergone very little structural transformation in the last decades,
one of most notable developments in the world of football has taken place in the new
application of the sport as a tool for social change. This has generated a true global social
movement encompassing a multitude of actors such as national governments, the private
sector, international organizations and NGOs around the issue of development and peace
through the capacity of sport. With this background, the purpose of this book is two-fold:
1) provide an overview of the history and evolution of football, and an analysis of the
processes that contributed to its emergence and consolidation as a global phenomenon
and, 2) bring to light the recent transformation experienced by football as a social
movement and as an agent of community change. This part includes the grassroots
project "Goals for Peace" in Colombia and the Philippines, which aims at assessing the
ways and extent to which this sport can be a transformative tool.
Dass der Fußballsport sich als beliebteste Sportart der Welt etabliert hat, liegt zum einen
in seiner Natur: Fußball ist einfach und universell. Zum anderen ist die Beliebtheit des
Fußballsports den historischen Prozessen geschuldet, welche zu seiner einzigartigen,
flächendeckenden geografischen Ausbreitung beigetragen haben. In der heutigen Zeit
nimmt der Fußballsport vielfältige Rollen und Funktionen ein: Fußball ist ein Berufsfeld,
lukratives Geschäft, und mobilisiert Massen, und ist zugleich dabei auch Brennpunkt von
Auseinandersetzungen und Gewalt. Die jüngste Entwicklung im Fußballsport ist sein
Einsatz als Instrument für gesellschaftliche Entwicklung und Frieden. Der Fußballsport
hat in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten im Grunde keine nennenswerten strukturellen
Veränderungen erlebt. Das einzige signifikante Novum in jüngerer Zeit ist die
Anwendung des Fußballsports als Instrument zur Unterstützung gesellschaftlicher
Transformation und Entwicklung. Diese Wendung hat weltweit eine regelrechte
gesellschaftliche Bewegung und damit eine Vielzahl von verschiedenen Akteuren auf den
Plan gebracht Regierungen, privatwirtschaftliche Akteure, internationale
Organisationen und Nichtregierungsorganisationen befassen sich seither mit dem
Themenkreis "Entwicklung und Frieden durch Sport". Diesen Hintergründen Rechnung
tragend hat das vorliegende Buch zwei Ziele: Zum einen, dem Leser einen Überblick
über die Geschichte und Entwicklung des Fußballsports zu verschaffen, und dabei eine
Analyse der Prozesse zu liefern, welche zur Entstehung und Konsolidierung des Fußballs
als globales Phänomen geführt haben. Zum anderen, die neuere Verwendung des
Fußballsports als ein Instrument sozialer Veränderung und gesellschaftlicher
Entwicklung zu beleuchten. Der zweite Teil setzt sich dabei mit dem grassroot Projekt
12
"Goals for Peace" in Kolumbien und den Philippinen auseinander, und versucht anhand
dieses Fallbeispiels Einsatzmöglichkeiten und -grenzen des Fußballsports als
Transformationsinstrument zu bewerten.
La consolidación del fútbol como el deporte más popular del planeta es el resultado de los
atributos inherentes al juego, es decir su simplicidad y universalidad, así como de los
procesos históricos que han contribuido a la expansión geográfica de este deporte a lo
largo de la historia. Hoy, el fútbol representa una actividad profesional y una plataforma
para movilizar a las masas, es un negocio muy rentable y puede ser también un foco de
violencia y de disturbios y más recientemente, ha llegado a posicionarse como una
herramienta para el desarrollo social y la paz. Aunque el fútbol ha experimentado muy
poca transformación estructural en las últimas décadas, uno de más notables desarrollos
en el mundo del fútbol ha tenido lugar en la nueva aplicación de este deporte como una
herramienta para el cambio social. Esto ha generado un verdadero movimiento social
global que convoca una multitud de actores tales como gobiernos nacionales, el sector
privado, organizaciones internacionales y organizaciones no gubernamentales, en torno a
temas relacionados al desarrollo y la paz a través del deporte. Con estos antecedentes,
este libro tiene un doble propósito: 1) proporcionar una visión general de la historia y la
evolución del fútbol y resaltar los procesos que contribuyeron a su aparición y
consolidación como un fenómeno global, y 2) poner de manifiesto la reciente
transformación experimentada por este deporte como movimiento social y como agente
de cambio comunitario. Esta parte incluye el proyecto "Goles por la paz" en Colombia y
Filipinas, el cual tiene por objeto evaluar las diversas formas en las que el deporte puede
llegar a ser una fuente transformadora.
13
Preface
The Christmas Truce of 1914
A hundred years ago, a remarkable event took place in the worlds of international
conflict, football and peace. Amid the horrors of war, a symbolic and practical act in the
form of a series of improvised football matches between the rival English and German
troops took place during World War I. The Christmas Truce of 1914, as this came to be
known, exemplifies the potential of sport to serve as an agent of transformation and
change, even during the most adverse of circumstances. Today, we want to honour those
who took part in the Truce, and who remind us of the enormous capacity of practices
such as sport to contribute to the creation of more peaceful communities.
The author
14
1. Introduction
In the summer of 2014, football's greatest event and perhaps, the most important
sporting gathering in the planet, the World Cup, will be celebrated for the second time in
Brazil. While critical voices argue that the billions of Reais spent on the World Cup
should have been channeled to solve pressing issues affecting the country today, -such as
poverty, lack of infrastructure, crime or education- preparations continue under way to
make Brazil 2014, the most memorable sporting celebration ever to have taken place on
this side of the globe. Regardless of the economic and social consequences this mega-
event will have on the host nation, the vote of confidence granted to Brazil by the
international community is before anything else, an acknowledgement of the recent
developments and achievements of this nation both within and outside the sporting arena.
The consolidation of football whether in Brazil, Africa or elsewhere in the planet,
nevertheless, is a result of both the appealing nature of the game itself, as well as it is a
consequence of the historical forces that have come into play to contribute to the
remarkable expansion of the geography of this sport throughout time. Simplicity and
universality are perhaps the most noteworthy elements that characterize the game. These
aspects of the sport have allowed football to cross languages and nations to make this
sport a pastime, a professional activity, a profitable business, a platform to summon and
mobilize the masses, as well as a source of violence and unrest. Through time, football
has transformed itself into a mechanism to join nations and most recently, it has served as
a tool to fight against social injustice and as an instrument for development and positive
change. It is the many issues associated with this sport, its universality and simplicity, its
appealing nature, the business it has become, the violence and the uncontrollable passions
it generates, as well as the rich historical processes it embodies, what validates a study of
the beginnings, spread and consolidation of football as the planet's most favorite sport. In
this connection, the purpose of this book is to provide an overview of the history and
evolution of football and to analyze the processes that contributed to its emergence and
consolidation as a global phenomenon. Furthermore, this paper attempts to bring to light
the recent transformation experienced by football as a social movement and as an agent
for transformation and change.
15
1.1 Book Structure
Chronologically ordered, this book is divided into three sections each dealing with
particular issues related to the development and consolidation of football in the global
arena (see table 1). Section one introduces the origins of football in different world
civilizations, that is, the prehistory and history of the sport to the advent of modern
football in England. This section also deals with the first bans imposed on football
through history and which almost led to its disappearance, as well as the earliest attempts
to codify the rules of the game. Additionally this section covers the emergence of football
as a professional activity. Section two examines the means by which football spread
across the globe as well as the main issues affecting the sport in recent times. The chapter
"Global Explosion of Football" illustrates how through imperial, educational and trade
routes, football became one of England's most notable export. Emphasis is placed on the
arrival of football in Colombia, and the establishment of the first football clubs in the
nation. This section also introduces the work of the International Federation of Football
Association (FIFA) as football's only governing body and its efforts to consolidate the
sport in the international scene. The business side of the sport is also elaborated upon
here as one of the most significant issues characterizing football today. Furthermore, this
chapter also deals with football-related violence. In order to address this pressing issue
affecting the sport today, interviews were conducted with delegates of the Colombian
National Police as well as with members of football clubs in the country and football
aficionados on issues related to security at football venues and the phenomenon of
hooliganism. The final section introduces the newly conceived concept of football as a
tool for social transformation. Section three examines the ways in which football may
contribute to the betterment of societies, especially of those experiencing conflict and
violence and introduces some of the most notable actors and strategic partnerships in the
era of football for change. The last part of this chapter is devoted to Goals for Peace, a
sport for peace project conducted in Colombia and the Philippines. Goals for Peace
serves as case study to analyze the potentiality of sport as a tool for social transformation.
This book ends with a set of conclusions and recommendations on the issue of football
for social change.
16
Table 1: Research Structure
Source: Own Table
Section
I
II
III
Topic
Prehistory and
History of Football
Global Explosion of
Football
Football for
Development and
Peace
Issues
· Ancient practice of
the game
· Banns on football
· Codification of the
rules in England
· Professional
football league in
Britain
· Trade, education and
football, global
expansion (South
America, Africa,
Asia, Europe)
· Int. Institutions
(FIFA)
· Globalization of
football
· Business, TV
· Hooliganism
· Emergence of
INGOs using
football as a
means for conflict
transformation,
development and
community
building
Metho-
dology
· Secondary
Sources
· Secondary Sources
· Primary Sources:
Documents
Interviews
FIFA, Colombian
National Police,
football aficionados
· Secondary
Sources
· Primary
Sources:
Documents:
UNOSDP
Interviews:
UNOSDP, FIFA,
Colombianitos,
Participatory
Observation:
Goals for Peace
Project
Timeline
2500
BCE
1600
BCE
1888
CE
1900s
1970s
1990
Late 1990s to Present
Place
and
Develop
ments
China
Meso-
Ameri
ca
Engla
nd
Trade
and
Educat
ion
routes
World
Cup
1974,
TV
Brand
sponso
rship
Premier
League
England
Partnerships between
National
Governments, UN,
Private sector and
INGOs on a world-
wide basis
17
1.2 Research Methods
Several research methods were applied in this investigation. Multiple sources of
data were used in order to create a triangulation of evidence: books, documentation,
archival records and relevant publications by key actors, particularly in the development
field, open ended interviews, participant-observation conducted during fieldwork and a
case study.
1.2.1 Data Triangulation
Data triangulation has been used as a fundamental application in this research.
Triangulation of data, as pointed out by Flick (2009) is a combination of a variety of
methods, local and temporal settings, study groups and theoretical perspectives in dealing
with a particular phenomenon. This method can also be used to describe the relation
between quantitative and qualitative research as well as a strategy to advance the quality
of qualitative research. Triangulation was initially conceptualized as a strategy to
validating results achieved with individual research methods. The focus of this research
strategy, however, has increasingly shifted towards enriching and complementing
knowledge and towards expanding and furthering the potential of individual methods.
Moreover, triangulation may be utilized as an approach to further expand and
complement the possibilities of knowledge produced or obtained with qualitative
methods increasing scope, depth and consistency of methodological undertakings.
Triangulation means that researchers take diverse perspectives on a chosen issue. These
perspectives can be validated using several methods or several theoretical approaches.
Furthermore, this approach refers to the practice of combining different kinds of data on
the background of the theoretical approach. Equally, the combination of different
methods should allow for a surplus of knowledge. That is, triangulation should generate
results at several levels which means, this knowledge obtained should extent far beyond
the knowledge achieved by the application of one approach alone. However, as Flick
points out, triangulation requires more resources and effort thus, the benefit if using this
technique must be evident (pp. 444-452). The following sources have been deployed for
this investigation:
18
1)
Secondary sources such as books, academic papers and magazine articles and
official documents and websites. In this regard, a visit was made to the
International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) library in Zurich,
Switzerland, which holds one of the most extensive collections on football
literature in the world. Additionally, special publications by the United Nations
Office on Sport for Development and Peace were accessed during the field trip to
Geneva, Switzerland in April 2009.
2)
Primary sources such as open ended interviews, participant observation and
photographs as a way to collect and analyze data.
1.2.2 Interviews
One of the principal methods used was open-ended interview with distinguished
people involved in the football constellation. Yin (1984) explains that open-ended
interviews expand the depth of data gathering as well as it increases the number of
sources of information. Interviews were conducted with the director for international
relations at FIFA (see annex 1) and a representative from the United Nations Office on
Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) (see annex 2) located in Zurich and
Geneva respectively in April of 2009. In Colombia, interviews were carried out with
Coronel Carlos Alberto Melendez in order to address the efforts made by the Colombian
National Police to face football-related violence (see annex 3) and with the director and
staff of Colombianitos, an organization that promotes social inclusion in the country
through sport as a component (see annex 4). Additionally, football aficionados and fan
clubs members were interviewed between February and March of the same year.
1.2.3 Photographs
Photographs are used in this research as a way to present recording of facts and to
represent in a holistic manner, the lifestyles and circumstances of people and situations
involved in the football constellation. Collier and Collier (1986) indicate that photographs
are accurate proof of material reality that can be fitted into diagrams as well as extracted
into statistical designs proving in this way, their validity as a research tool (p. 10).
19
1.2.4 Participant Observation
Participant observation is a research method appropriate for studies in which
human meaning and interaction are imperative. As explained by Jorgensen (1989),
through participant observation it is possible to depict what is gong on, where and when
things take place, why and how they occur and what and who is involved in a particular
situation. Participant observation constitutes a form of stressing interpretation and
understanding of human existence (p. 12). The methodology of participant observation,
for the purpose of this investigation took the form of a case study for which a project was
developed.
1.2.5 Case Study
Case studies accentuate the holistic inspection of a phenomenon as they seek to
avoid the separation of particular components from the larger context to which they are
related. As pointed out by Jorgensen (1989), case studies conducted through participant
observation attempt to describe a phenomenon that requires intense and exhaustive
investigation (p. 19). In this connection, a project was designed to serve as a case study
aiming at assessing the viability of football as a tool for social transformation and change.
The research project Goals for Peace was developed in Ciudad Bolivar, Colombia on
February 28
th
and March 7
th
, 2009 and Bais City, Philippines on August 22
nd
and 23
rd
of
the same year. The results of the project, mainly of qualitative nature, are thus presented
at the later part of this book. Two main research methods were deployed within case
study: open-ended interviews, and participatory observation. In addition, photographs are
used as a valuable research tool in interpreting and recording the people and situations
involved during the course of the project. With regards to interviews, Yin (1984) explains
that open-ended interviews expand the depth of data gathering as well as it increases the
number of sources of information. The interviews were conducted with participants of
Goals for Peace, both children and adults, during and after the course of activities (see
annex 5). Participant observation provides several advantages as this method combines,
according to Denzin (1989b), document analysis, interviewing of respondents and
informants, direct participation and observation and introspection (pp. 157-158).
Interviews yielded significant qualitative results and therefore, not all results were
20
amended to statistical analysis. This allowed for analytical conclusion to be drawn
regarding the assumption that football is indeed a tool for social transformation.
However, a few quantitative figures that provided information about the project
participants were generated in the form of tables and charts.
21
Prehistory and History of Football
22
2. Origins of Football
2.1
The Initial Kick: Prehistory and History of Football
"Whoever invented football should be worshipped as a God".
Hugo Sánchez
Mexican football player and coach
"The roots of our football tribe lie deep in our primeval past".
Desmond Morris
British writer and artist
The origins of football can be traced back to almost every major civilization
throughout the world. Although the earliest forms of the sport and the rules that applied
may be radically different from the modern practice of our days, the act of kicking a ball -
or whatever object that may resemble one- for recreational or ritualistic purposes is, as
archaeological evidence suggests, virtually as old as civilization itself. Among complex
societies the earliest records of the game come from the Chinese civilization. David
Golblatt (2006) in his book "The Ball is Round", provides a comprehensive history of the
game from its beginnings, which he opines most likely to originate in ancient China, to
the advent of modern football in England. Caju, which translates kick ball, a game very
similar to modern football was widely practiced during the Han dynasty (206 BCE 221
CE). Caju was played using a leather ball filled with feathers or fur and is believed to
have emerged as early as the third millennium BCE. There was a marked pitch and two
teams attempted to score through the goals located at opposite ends of the field. Kicking
was the main means to move the ball around the pitch and, as some accounts suggest, the
goal would take the form of two bamboo posts holding a silk net with a small hole in the
middle. To score a goal the ball had to pass through the hole. Although the game was
widely played by the imperial family, it was particularly popular among army personnel
as it became not only a recreational activity, but most importantly a military training
element (p. 5). The act of scoring alone suggests the complexity of the game and the
mastery the players should have reached to achieve, given the relatively reduce size of the
hole, the difficult task of scoring.
Technical and tactical changes in the way the game was played were experienced
during the subsequent Tang (618-907 CE) and Song (960-1279 CE) dynasties. The
23
players adapted to the lighter and more easily controllable hollow ball which allowed for
a more stylized way of playing. The ball would be passed among the members of a team
until it reached a designated player who was the only one allowed shooting at the target.
The possession of the ball, which meant another chance at shooting, was achieved only if
the shooting team was able to keep the ball in the air regardless of whether they had
scored or not in their previous attempt. If the ball touched the ground, however, the
shooting turn would be passed on to the other team (Goldblatt 2006, p. 6).
In Japan, a game called Kemari, which resembled the Chinese Caju, was played in
medieval times. Although Japanese historians claimed the indigenous roots of the game
to go as far back as the sixth century BCE, earliest written records of Kemari date from
the twelfth century (Goldblatt 2006, p. 7). The game of Kemari was played in a dirt pitch
marked by four trees placed on every corner of the field. Eight players would stand in
pairs next to the trees. The ball was hollow, made of deerskin and the game's objective
was trying to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible and using the trees themselves
to bounce the ball. Kemari became a more stylized game than its Chinese predecessor. In
fact, the officials in charge of the game would allocate additional points for impressive
and innovative kicks. Etiquette and decorum were equally as important in Kemari as the
skills and the aptitude shown by the players on the pitch. Kemari became an important
hobby of the ruling elite in medieval Japan. Soon after its appearance, the rules of the
game were written down and the first true masters of the game emerged. Houses of
Kemari, schools that would teach particular techniques and stiles of playing, developed
throughout the empire. The game remained popular and widely played for approximately
six centuries. By the time the wave of industrialization hit Japan, Kemari started a rapid
decrease both in the popularity of its practice, as well as in importance within the social
life of the Japanese ruling elite. In spite of the imperial efforts to keep the game alive
Kemari had virtually disappeared by the end of the Second World War (Goldblatt 2006,
p. 8).
Indigenous peoples around the world also played their own version of the game.
When the colonizers of the new world arrived in present day North America they found
the Iroquois and Seneca Indians playing with a ball made of deerskin. Teams of six to
team members were chosen to test their skill on the field. The game was played by
24
periods and it consisted of throwing and kicking the ball between stools which served as
goal posts. There were apparently few set rules to follow which must have allowed for a
great deal of improvisation (Dewey 1930, pp. 736-739). Football, among the peoples of
the Connecticut and Rhode Island tribes was called Pasuckuakohowanog. According to
Foulds and Harris (1979) this may be translated as "they gather to play football" (p. 8).
Painting the players' faces before the game was common which could have meant an
association of the game to a war-like activity (Dewey 1930, pp.736-739).
In Mesoamerican cultures the game was taken into a superior ritualistic stage: Not
only was the ball game the center of the political and social life, but most importantly, it
was an earthly representation of the cosmological vision of the highly advanced
civilizations that once occupied present day Mexico
1
and Central America. By playing
the ball game harmony and cosmic order were maintained, life was regenerated and the
connection with the underworld established. Every time the ballgame was played life
itself was sustained and perpetuated, the gods were appeased and the certainty of the
future life guaranteed.
Spencer and Wren (2005) point out that although the game was played for many
reasons including competition and entertainment it also served as a way to reenact war as
practices of human sacrifice
2
were also associated with the ball game. But above all the
game was charged with cosmological meaning: The motion of the Sun, Moon and Venus
which rise in the sky and sink in the underworld were represented by the trajectory of the
ball. The ring through which the ball had to pass exemplified the ways in which the
underworld could be accessed. The cosmological relevance of the ball game was recorded
in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayas. Participants of the ball game were able
to recreate the heroic crusade of the hero Twins who had defeated the lords of Xibalba on
the underworld ball court. The game itself was an earthly representation of life, death and
rebirth. The ball court, the place where theatrical representation of the battle for life took
1
The opening ceremony of the 1986 Football World Cup celebrated in the Estadio Azteca of
Mexico D.F. presented a multicolor reenactment of the ancient ball game. Today, football is by
far in Mexico, as in most of Latin America, the most popular sport.
2
There are contrasting opinions among researchers of the human sacrifice aspect of the ball game
in Mesoamerica. Some authors argue that it was the losers and captives or war who were
sacrificed as a ritualistic offering to the gods so that life itself could continue. Other explanations
of this practice present the winners of the game as the victims of sacrifice. In this regard, paying
the ultimate price was the highest honor a ball player could be bestowed upon.
25
place, was seen as an entry point to the underworld. The most famous and spectacular of
these fields known in Mesoamerica is found in the archaeological complex of Chichen
Itza. The court is located in present day Southern Mexico and measures 156 meters long
and 36 meters wide, almost twice the size of a modern football field (pp. 195-196).
The Mesoamerican ball game was unique in its nature as it was a game of life and
death. Moreover, it possessed other characteristics that made this early football ancestor,
the only one in its kind in this part of the world. The ball, the most important element of
the game, bounced like no other thanks to the mastery of the Mayan artisans but most
importantly, due to the materials used in the elaboration of the ball. Galeano (2007)
highlights the fascination expressed by the Emperor Charles and his court when
conqueror Hernán Cortez bounced a Mexican ball high in the air (p. 20). The Spanish
were both delighted and struck by the way the Mesoamerican ball moved and bounced.
The answer for such an enigmatic behavior was not the reasoning the Spanish invaders
applied to explain the unexplainable that is, sorcery or witchcraft or perhaps, the devil
living inside the ball, but rather rubber, a material only to be found, or at least used, in
this part of the world. According to Goldblatt (2006), archaeological records suggest that
the manufacturing of the ball dates back as early as 1500 BCE thanks to the Olmecs. The
ball varied in size between softball and a basketball and like the Mayans, the ball game
was played in squares or in large areas of temple complexes. Later, the game spread east
to the present days islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola and north where the Indian
cultures of Arizona took up the Mesoamerican game (pp. 11-12).
The Romans
3
also played an early version of football and it is believed that with
the expansion of their empire, the game was introduced to the peoples they conquered.
They were particularly attracted to the indoor version of the game which was played in a
court called Sphaerista for Expulsum Ludere. This competitive game was characterized
by catching, throwing and dodging the ball. Variations of the game were also played
outdoors in fields or Palaestras. (Goldblatt 2006, p.13).
In the British Isles, Sugden and Bairner (1993) point out that folk football
emerged approximately a thousand years ago being the game particularly popular among
3
The comedies of prolific Greek writer Antiphanes contain records of the ball game being played
by the early Romans. They argue that Emperor Julio Caesar was fast with both his feet and that
Nero was not able to score at all. See Galliano 2007, P.22.
26
the Celtic tribes in Ireland. Evidence suggests that Celtic tribes may have played a large
scale and very violent form of the sport (p. 71). The game was played between two teams
formed by innumerable participants, usually members of nearby villages, and consisted of
trying to get the ball into a designated area across open fields under a few set rules.
(Goldblatt 2006, p.16).
Folk football was also played on continental Europe. Bromberger (1995b) points
out that the violent ball game of Soule
4
was being played by the French since medieval
times. (p. 276). In Florence, the ball game was called Calcio
5
as it is known today in
Italy. Both Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci were enthusiastic followers of the sport.
Matches were held in the largest plazas as well as on frozen rivers. Players were allowed
to use both hands and feet to manipulate the ball. Calcio was a popular sport not only
among ordinary people but it proved to be an attractive pastime among members of the
influential Catholic Church: Popes Clement VII, Leo IX and Urban VIII succumbing to
the earthly charm of the game played Calcio on the holy Vatican gardens (Galeano 2007,
p. 23).
2.2 Bans on the Game
The practice of football, although a game widely accepted and practiced
worldwide, has also encountered opposition and resistance especially in its early days.
With the exception of the great Mesoamerican cultures, the game generated disbelief and
unrest among the ruling elites, resulting in occasions of violent and aggressive practice.
Due to both the lack of set rules and organization, the game defied the established order
and generated animosity among players, spectators and authorities alike.
4
In his anthropological writings of 1929, W.B. Johnson associates the origins of football with an
early pagan rite. In his view, it was common for primitive cultures to relate the Sun with a
spherical object to represent the "giver of life, the provider for all living beings". His view is
supported by the fact that Soule, the early form of football played in Brittany and Normandy, is
the Latin world for Sun. In an earlier hypothesis proposed by E.K.Chambers, football represents
not the Sun but rather the head of a beast which the participants of the game have to capture and
bury to guarantee successful crops. This practice still survives in Lincolnshire, UK. See Erick
Dunning, 1994, P.1.
5
The ancient game of Calcio is played yearly in Florence during the June Festival where three
exhibition matches are held.
27
In 1314 a decree by king Edward II condemned the game as unruly and
uncontrollable: " Forasmuch as there is there is great noise in the city caused by hustling
over large balls, from which many evils may arise which God forbids" (Galeano 2007, p.
22).
In 1349 Edward III classified the game as senseless and stupid and laws to
prohibit it were signed by Kings Henry IV and Henry VI in the fist half of the15
th
century
(Galeano 2007, p. 22). Dunning (1994) asserts that between 1330 and 1660 the British
authorities issued at least 30 orders prohibiting football. Apart from the argument that the
practice of football posed a threat to public order it was argued that the game was causing
undesirable effects on military preparedness. It was suggested by the authorities that the
people should focus their energies into what they thought would be a more noble and
useful activity such as military training (p. 3). Marples (1954) presents a 1365 prohibition
act enacted by Edward III which read as follows:
To the Sheriff of London. Order to cause proclamation to be made that
every able bodied man of the said city on feats days when he has leisure
has in his sports use bows and arrows or pellets and bolts... forbidding
them under pain of imprisonment to meddle in the hurling of stones,
loggats and quoits, handball, football...or other games of no value; as the
people of the realm... used heretofore to practice the said art in their sport
when by God's help came forth honor to the kingdom and advantage to the
king in his action of war; and now the said art is almost wholly disused
and the people engaged in the games aforesaid and in other dishonest,
unthrifty or idle games, whereby the realm is likely to be without archers
(Cited in Ekblom 1994, p. 6).
Although the game was still practiced by minority groups, the banned imposed on
football was successful in suppressing its practice in urban areas. By the eighteen-century
football had been replaced by sporting activities such tennis and cricket. Moreover,
boxing and horse racing had by then became the sport of the masses as well as the
favorite gamblers pastime (Goldblatt 2006, p. 18).
The world was entering into a new era. The global empires were experiencing a
rapid transformation affecting every aspect of the lives of millions of people across the
globe. The gap between the civilized people and the barbarians became more evident and
the European powers of the time consolidated themselves as the model for the rest to
28
follow. In this light, football became the sport of the uncivilized, the barbarians, the
ignorant that, due to the lack of clear rules and the absence of a formal body that
supervised the development of the games, appealed to violence as the only arbiter of the
vicious encounters. The football pitch had become, in the eyes of the civilized, a
battlefield where countless numbers of warriors would defend the honor of their
territories. Some of them would not survive the battle to divulge their achievements or to
narrate the way in which they made their way to the goal marching across the field while
kicking and knocking down enemies they would encounter. For some others, marks and
scars left on the body would be the only testimony of the sanguinary battles. Little by
little, the game became less practiced and more condemned. But the fervor with which
the early players participated in the games would bring back to life the almost extinct
practice. It was in England, the place that more ferociously condemned the early sport,
where modern football as we know it today was to be born.
2.3 Modern Football: Britain's Contribution to the World
"Rugby is a beastly game played by gentlemen; football is a gentlemen's
game played by beasts; football (American) is a beastly game played by beasts".
Henry Blaha
Rugby Player
The transition of football's early rough and violent form into the almost
homogeneous, global sport of our days started in England in the 19
th
century, a period
characterized by numerous cultural and political upheavals particularly in Europe and the
U.S. England, the leading industrial and economic global power at that time, was a
society in the making. During this period, England was experiencing the multiple
economic and political outcomes derived from the advent of the industrial revolution
during the late 18
th
century. High levels of economic growth as well as an urbanization
process never experienced before characterized this era which was also marked by the
emergence of a massive working class. New principles aimed at guaranteeing the superior
education of Britain's youth elite were developed to include sports as a crucial
component of the country's educational system. And it was precisely in the teaching
institutions where some of football's greatest transformation took place.
29
At the time when cultural marginalization of football had reached its peak in
England, new forms of the game, more suitable to the emerging social conditions of the
newly industrialized nation, began to evolve in public schools. Central to this
transformation are the processes of the initial writing of the rules of football, the
delimitation of the size of the pitch, the reduction of the number of participants and the
imposition of restrictions regarding both the duration of the matches and the kind of
physical force to be used in the game. From this period of modernization of the game two
distinct ways of playing emerged: On the one hand the Rugby style of playing which
allowed carrying of the ball. And on the other, the Association Football way which did
not permit hand manipulation of the ball (Dunning 1994, p. 10).
Giulianotti (1999) identifies the splitting currents of the game as the students
forming the clubs known as the Old Rugbeians and Etonias which favored a hackling and
handling game, and the Harrovians which prohibited these actions. The first official
football club, Sheffield FC, a team formed by students as well as by the emerging
industrial and merchant class adopted the rules of the Harrovians in 1854 (p. 18). Murray
(1996), however, points out that the first attempt to establish a standardized set of rules
came from a Cambridge initiative in 1848. Representatives of various schools who held a
formal meeting in Trinity College were asked to write down their own school's rules. The
"Cambridge Rules" provided the basis for football rules later to be enacted by the
Football Association (pp. 4-5).
In November 1863 in a meeting held at the Freemason's Tavern in central London
representatives from eleven teams, among which were the Kennington School, Cristal
Palace and Blackheath School, intended to establish, once and for all, a set of definitive
rules to govern the game of football. Although the game has been subject to
modifications since the year 1863, this historic meeting marked the birth of modern
football as we know it today. The Football Association (FA) created during the meeting,
came to be the entity in charge of the regulation and development of the game. This
development away from Rugby proved to be an irrevocable one: by 1871 the clubs
advocating handling and hackling created the Rugby Football Association. The final split
between the once-same sports had taken place (Goldblatt 2006, pp. 31-32). The new rules
30
adopted by the FA in 1863, according to Green (1953), marked a decisive development in
the homogenization of the game. Among the most significant laws of the FA were these:
1. The delimitation of the size of the pitch. The maximum length of the field should be
200 yards long (168 m) by 100 yards wide (84). The pitch shall be properly marked by
flags. The goals shall be defined by two upright posts eight yards apart.
2. The winner of the toss will have the choice of goals. The game will begin by placing
the ball in the center of the field. Members of the opposite team shall not approach within
ten yards until the ball is finally kicked off.
3. After a goal is won, the losing team shall kick off and goals shall be changed.
4. A goal shall be won when the ball passes between the goal posts.
5. No player shall carry the ball.
6. Neither tripping nor hacking shall be allowed.
7. No player shall take the ball with his hand from the ground while it is still in play.
8. No player should be allowed to wear projecting nails or iron plates on the soil of his
boots.
9. The concept of off side was introduced
6
.
(pp. 36-38)
Although rules 5 and 6 clearly marked a considerable development away from the
"Rugby school", the norms continued to be modified and new ones are introduced to
provide the game with the necessary framework to guarantee that it stays true to its roots,
while giving football an identity of its own.
The number of players being fixed at eleven on each side was already a familiar
development by the 1870s. However, there were only two officials called empires who
were confined to the sidelines of the field. A third official was introduced in the late
1870s in case of a disagreement between the two empires. In 1881 the third official was
to be known as the referee but only until 1881 was he given total control of the game. The
compulsory marking of the football field was introduced in 1882 and well as the halfway
line to locate both the area in which each goalkeeper could control the ball as well as the
6
The early offside law penalized any attacking player ahead of the ball. This law made it very
difficult for both advancing and the passing of the ball. Later the rule was modified so that an
attacker was in offside only when positioned in front of the third-last defender. See FIFA website:
www.fifa.com/classicfootball/history/law/summary.html.
31
kick off point; it was only until 1912 the goalkeeper was restricted to handle the ball
within his own area. By 1887 the penalty line was presented and the penalty kick was
awarded for fouls committed within this area. The central circle was introduced at the
same time to demarcate the necessary distance the opposition team should keep before
the initial kick off and after a goal was scored. The size of the ball was stipulated in 1872
to be limited between 27 and 29 inches (68.5 73.6). Players' uniforms also experienced
a transformation in the 1870s. Up until this decade players had based their dressing code
on cricket kits which was replaced by shirts of different colors, designs and patters. Shirts
were not numbered and goalkeepers did not wear yet a distinct uniform from the other
members of his team. Shirt numbers were first used in 1928 and only became compulsory
until 1938. Cup designs became popular as they were by then the only way by which
players could be distinguished on the pitch by spectators and colleagues. Football boots
were made of tough leather often featuring metal toecaps. (Goldblatt 2006, pp. 33-35).
Having succeeded in developing a homogeneous set of rules for the game, the
Football Association consolidated itself as football's governing body to which every club
had to be affiliated. This great "leap forward" led not only to the spread of football all
over Britain but the enormous popularity enjoyed by the sport proved to be a vital factor
in establishing a new sporting culture that, all throughout identified itself less with the
students and the ruling elites and more with the emergent working class.
The first FA Cup, known as "The Challenge Cup", a natural way to introduce the
game in Britain, was first held in 1871. Golblatt (2006) points out that although fifty
teams were qualified as members of the FA to play in the cup, only fifteen due to diverse
reasons, entered into the competition. Some teams declined the invitation due to the high
costs involved in traveling across the nation to attend the challenge while some others did
not go beyond the registration process. The Wanderers, a team composed mostly by
upper-class players, was crowned in front of two thousand spectators as the brand-new
FA Cup champion. A year later, the Wanderers retained the title when they beat Oxford
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