Origins of Soccer

In researching the origins of soccer and how soccer affects societies around the world today, I found that there is

varying information. The origins of soccer date all the way back to 300 BC in China to a game called tsu-chu. Several

hundred years later, tsu-chu evolved in Japan into a game called kemari. The Romans and The Greeks also claim to be

founders of soccer in a game called harpastrum for Rome and a game called episkyros for the Greek (Higginbotham).

The game tsu-chu consisted of kicking a leather ball filled with feathers and hair through an opening, measuring only

30-40cm in width, into a small net fixed onto long bamboo canes (FIFA). Then the game kemari, which was created in

Japan 500-600 years later, consisted of players standing in a circle and trying to keep the ball up in the air without using

their hands. This game is still very popular today. Finally, the last of the ancient games, harpastrum and episkyros, were

played out with a smaller ball by two teams on a rectangular field marked by boundary lines and a centre line. The

objective was to get the ball over the opposition's boundary lines and as players passed it between themselves (FIFA).

When soccer really evolved into a sport however was in England in the 1800s and 1900s. In 1863, the rugby football

and association football separated creating the Football Association in England. This was the first official soccer

organization. Then in 1904, FIFA was created as the first global soccer association (FIFA). FIFA later organized the first

World Cup in Uruguay in the summer of 1930 (History.com).

 Since then the game of soccer has immensely grown. More than 3.2 billion people tuned in to watch the World Cup in

2014. That is nearly half the population of the entire world. The reason that many people watched the World Cup is

because there are many benefits other than just watching the World Cup, as "the tournament actually makes people

happier by creating a collective event that helps us value relationships with family, friends, and the world" (Hooper).

When Brazil lost 7-1 to Germany on their home turf in the World Cup, it devastated the entire country. This loss

devastated them so much that it even affected their politics. Dilma Rousseff was president of Brazil when they had that

awful 7-1 loss to Germany in 2014. After that, everyone put some of the blame on her for the loss and everybody hated

her. This caused her to not be re-elected later that year. (Romero)

Kids around the world are brought up in soccer. It is their family's culture and way of life. A recent survey showed that

there are 265 million actively involved in soccer around the world, roughly about 4 percent of the worlds population

(Kruschewsky). That is a lot of people. People in every part of the world can be brought together by one simple thing, their

passion for the beautiful game of soccer.