Soccer

Soccer, also known simply as football, is the biggest sport in the entire world, and is played by millions of people from every continent on the planet.  Football is especially popular in England, where it is considered the national sport and plays an important role in national culture, recreation, and entertainment.  English soccer has a long history and a proud culture, from its first codification as a sport in 1863 to the huge football industry of today.  England and English teams play an important role in a number of national and international football competitions, both throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

The history of football goes back a lot further into England’s past than the games’ official codification however, and was played at least as far back as medieval times.  The first evidence of a football match is from 1170 – where William Fitzstephen writes “After dinner all the youths of the city goes out into the fields for the very popular game of ball”.  There are many other accounts of the game and its ancestral relatives throughout the centuries, as soccer slowly developed the set of rules that we associate with the modern game.  The Cambridge rules written up at Cambridge University in 1848 were very influential in the development of the modern game, as was the beginning of the Sheffield & Hallamshire Football Association in 1867.

The Football Association (The FA) first met on 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons’ Tavern in Great Queen Street, London, and this saw the beginnings of a standardised, national set of rules for the game of soccer.  A very significant event took place on 8 March, 1873, when the English national team took the first ever victory in international football, and won 4-2 against Scotland.  In 1885 the FA legalised professionalism, leading to the formation of the English Football League in 1888.  Throughout the early part of the 20th century, the association continued to expand and contribute more and more to English sporting culture.

The England national football team have had a number of highlights throughout the years, with their only World Cup win at the 1966 final being the top of most lists.  Geoff Hurst is one of the most well remembered players from that final, where he scored what is still the only hat-trick at a football World Cup final ever.  There are football teams all across the nation of England that are training young players in the wish that maybe one day another world cup will belong to England.

Football coaches from all around England store their soccer equipment in garages (Garagen) and dedicated sports store rooms to ensure that it is always ready for young players when they need it.  There is a lot of love for football in the nation of England, and a lot of hope for the current national team at the next World Cup in South Africa.  In the carports, parking lots, and street corners across the country;  hopefully the next generation of English soccer stars can be found and trained to compete for their nation.