The Birth of Football: Curiosities, Unbelievable Stories and Myths

Football. Millions of fans, billions of views, cosmic contracts. Today it is an industry with rules honed to a crystal pitch. But it was not always like this. The path to modern football is strewn with curiosities, human errors, outright frauds, and such coincidences that it is impossible to believe them. Let's wind the clock back and look at the birth of the great game without rose-tinted glasses.

The Round Object and the Crowd: Where It All Really Began

If you think football was born in England, you are only half right. Games where you kick a ball around existed in all ancient peoples. The Chinese played \"chuzhou\" three centuries before our era. The Japanese chased \"kemari\". The ancient Greeks and Romans fought each other for an oval ball in \"harpastum\". Even the Aztecs had their own version with a rubber ball.

But the main surprise is that all these games were more a mix of rugby, wrestling, and street brawls. The rules changed from village to village. In medieval England, for example, \"mob football\" (folk football) was a real scourge for the townspeople. The number of players was not limited, the field was the entire street, and the gates could be the city gates at opposite ends of the city. Scoring a goal meant delivering the ball to the town hall, and any grabs were allowed. Historians have found records where townspeople complained about doors being knocked out, stalls being crushed, and drunk players mistaking gates for other people's homes.

The Legend of the Dissected Ball and the Orange Slice

One of the most vivid myths says that the first round football was made from the decapitated head of a Danish prince. The English, they say, avenged the invaders by kicking the enemy's skull. It sounds impressive, but it is just a beautiful fairy tale that was loved to tell in taverns in the 19th century to stir patriotic spirit.

In fact, leather balls of that time were terrible. They got soggy in puddles, became leaden-heavy, and were inflated with... pig bladders. This is where the real surprise lies. The balls were not perfectly round, but rather pear-shaped. One of the incredible stories is about how during a match between Eton and Rugby schools, the ball burst. One of the students, William Webb Ellis (legend has it that he \"invented\" rugby), grabbed the ball in his hands and ran. But few people know that footballers of that era often used this trick — if the ball lost its shape, it was allowed to be carried until it was fixed.

Football Without Rules: Chaos as the Norm of Life

Up until the middle of the 19th century, football remained a wild beast. Each school played by its own code. In one, they allowed kicking at the legs, in another, they allowed catching the ball. This was not a sport, but a war of survival. The most incredible story of that time happened in 1846 in London. Representatives of several schools gathered to unify the rules, but the discussion turned into a mass brawl. The secretary of the meeting, in a rage, wrote in the minutes: \"We cannot agree even on the shape of the field, because the gentlemen from Chelsea think that the corners should be straight, and the rest do not care\".

The surprise was that the main enemy of football was not the opponents, but... cows. Games often took place on public pastures, and the herd could cross the field at any moment, knocking over an attacker. To somehow organize the process, the Football Association of England was founded in 1863. But there were scandals even here.

The Great Split: How Football Lost Its Hands

The most significant event in the history of the birth of football happened right at the negotiating table in the Freemasons Tavern. Rules were discussed for seven years until finally a set of 13 points was adopted. But one point almost buried football in its cradle.

Representatives of the Blackheath club insisted that a player has the right to grab an opponent below the waist and run with the ball in his hands. When they were refused, they got up and demonstratively left the meeting. This is how rugby was born. But the main surprise is that in the first years after the split, many teams still continued to play with their hands. Referees (who did not exist at that time, their place was taken by team captains) simply did not know how to interpret the ban. Often disputes were resolved by flipping a coin or a fistfight between the captains right on the grass.

Interestingly, but a fact: in the 1870s, goalkeepers were allowed to hit opponents in the hands if they got too close to the goal. This was considered a \"manly move\". Only in 1912 did this wild law be abolished.

The Strangest Match in History and a System Failure

When talking about myths, one cannot help but remember the 1888 match between Preston North End and Stock City. This was the first official game in the history of the professional league. And what happened? On the 35th minute, a dog ran onto the field, grabbed the ball, and ran off with it to the neighboring park. There were no spare balls. The game had to be stopped for three hours while the police searched for the dog. Interestingly, when the ball was returned, the teams continued the match with the same score, and the dog was declared an \"honorary member of the club\".

But this is not the only case. History remembers a match where the referee was disqualified... himself. In 1905, the referee was so engrossed in running around the field that he accidentally scored a goal for one of the teams by deflecting the ball off his head. Since there were no rules concerning a referee who scored a goal, the goal was counted. The team protested, but lost the appeal. Then the protesters simply left the field, and the match ended 1:0 in favor of the opponents.

The Myth of \"Dynamo\" and the Cannonball

There is a beautiful legend that in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century they played with cannonballs. Supposedly, they brought old cannons, and there were no balls. This is not more than a myth. But the real facts are no less surprising. In 1912, at the Olympic Games in Stockholm, the Russian national team lost to the Finns 1:2, but historians still argue whether this was even Russian football. The thing is that part of the players claimed to be in the team while on business trips. Due to confusion with documents, engineers and students who had never played together before came out on the field. This was pure improvisational chaos that would now be called a \"star hour of dilettantes\".

Symbols and Money: How the Game Turned into Business

The birth of professional football was marked by another curiosity — the first transfer. In 1893, Aston Villa player William Grove moved to another club for 100 pounds. But the amount was not paid in cash! It was handed over in the form of... coal certificates and barrels of beer. Clubs then settled with natural products. It was only a decade later that the first paper contracts appeared, which lawyers wrote so poorly that players managed to interpret them in their favor, receiving double salaries.

One of the incredible stories concerns the uniform. The first shirts were woolen, with high collars and long sleeves. In the rain, they absorbed up to three liters of water, and players began to drown in their own clothes. Only in the 1920s did they come up with lightweight cotton jerseys. And this was due to the fact that one of the players of Everton refused to go out on the field in wool, claiming he had an allergy. Doctors confirmed this — and that's how modern equipment was born.

Judges with Canes and Whistles Made of Bird Bones

Until the invention of the whistle in 1878, referees led the match... with shouts and waves of handkerchiefs. The first police whistle used in football was borrowed from a constable who was dispersing the crowd. But referees were so afraid of making mistakes that they took canes with them to the field. If a player broke the rules, the referee would hit the ground with a stick. When the sticks broke, the match was stopped and a new branch was searched for. Imagine how it looked?

The surprise was that the whistle was initially met with hostility. Fans were scared by the sound, thinking it was a fire alarm, and began to run away. It took several seasons for fans to get used to the piercing sound and not panic.

Myths About the First World Cup

There is no conspiracy theory without. The first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930 was shrouded in mystery. It is said that the golden statue of Nike (the FIFA World Cup) was carried on a ship and almost sank in the ocean during a storm. This is true only half the time. The cup did indeed sail across the Atlantic, but it was hidden in a box of oranges to prevent pirates from stealing it. And, most incredibly, two different balls were used in the final between Uruguay and Argentina — one for the first half (Argentine, heavier) and the second for the second half (Uruguayan, lighter). This was prescribed in the regulations so that no one had an advantage. Each half was played with its own ball. This was absurd, but it was a fact.

Offside: An Error That Became Law

The most difficult rule in football — offside — was born by accident. Initially, it was forbidden to pass the ball forward at all. Players had to lead the ball only by dribbling or passing it back. This made the game boring and sticky.

In 1866, the rule was changed: passing forward was allowed, but only if there were three defenders between the receiver and the goal. Only in 1925 was the number reduced to two. But why exactly two? The surprise is that this number was voted on under the influence of emotions after one match where 17 goals were scored. Everyone was tired of running, and someone shouted: \"Give us two!\" And that's how it stayed.

The English are still arguing whether they did the right thing. But the funniest thing is that due to the complexity of interpreting offside, referees appointed it by smell — if they seemed to be breathing down the defender's back. Only with the appearance of video replays did the passions subside, but the spirit of the absurd birth of offside still hovers over the field.

The Birth of the Word \"Goal\" and Other Language Curiosities

Do you know where the word \"goal\" (goal) came from? There is a version that it is a distorted Old English word \"gol\", meaning \"limit\" or \"boundary\". But there is also an incredible story about how a commentator in the 1890s, when the ball went into the net, shouted \"Go all!\" (Go all!), calling for the team to advance. Later, the phrase was shortened to one word.

And what about the names of clubs? \"Arsenal\" is because the founders of the team worked at an armaments factory in Woolwich. \"Liverpool\" is named after the bird liver (locally — pelican). But the most absurd case is with the club Sheffield Wednesday. They were called this because the players met only on Wednesdays (Wednesday — Wednesday), on their day off. Genius and simple.

Unbelievable Coincidences and the Magic of Numbers

The history of the birth of football is full of mysticism. For example, the first official goal in the history of the Football League was scored by Preston North End player John Gordon. A hundred years later, on the centenary of the league, the same club scored a goal by a player named... John Gordon (a cousin). They played on the same date, at the same stadium. The chances of such a coincidence are one in a billion, but it is true, documented in the archives.

Or take the story of the Real Madrid uniform: the white color was chosen because there was only white fabric left on the storage in 1902. The blue and red stripes were finished. If the storeroom manager had ordered the material in time, the \"royal club\" could have played in pink.

The Dark Side: Wars, Politics, and Fraud

Let's not idealize the past. Football was often used as a weapon. In 1942, a \"death match\" took place in occupied Ukraine, where local footballers refused to lose to the fascist team and paid with their lives. This is not a myth, it is a tragic lesson.

But there were also comical cases of political interference. In 1969, between El Salvador and Honduras, a \"football war\" broke out — an armed conflict caused by a series of matches. Politicians inflated passions to such an extent that they bombed stadiums. But the most incredible thing is that the peace treaty was signed 10 years later... after the teams met in a friendly match in a neutral country. Football won again.

The Evolution of the Ball: From Skin to Space

If you think the modern ball is perfect, you haven't seen the ball of the 1950s. It had a thick leather seam that hurt the legs when hit. During the World Cup in Switzerland in 1954, the balls were torn apart by heavy rain. The organizers brought new ones, but they were... a different shape. Teams played with different balls in different matches. This was chaos.

And the first official ball with black and white markings appeared only at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. It was thought up by an Italian on the advice of television viewers. They complained that on black and white televisions, the usual brown ball was not visible. So the white panels on the black background became the standard. Here is a surprise created not by football, but by technology.

The Funniest Rules That Were Abolished

Let's laugh at what was in the regulations:

• In 1891, penalties were introduced. But they were allowed to be hit from any point in the penalty area, not from the point. Players simply approached the goal closely. Only 11 years later was the distance limited to 11 meters.
• Corner kicks were previously awarded from the flag. But the flag was so low that players constantly fell, tripping over it.
• Referees were allowed to send off a player only for murder or serious bodily harm. For spitting or cursing, they were not sent off, but only fined with a coin.
• Players were allowed to drink water on the field only during breaks. If someone drank during the game, they were sent to the doctor. Now this sounds absurd, but then it was believed that drinking slows down reflexes.

What Did We Learn from This History?

The birth of football is not a neat theory, but a continuous series of experiments and mistakes. It is a kindergarten that grew into a huge business. We laugh at the curiosities of the past: over pig bladders, judges with canes, arguments at meetings, and matches with dogs. But it is this lively, human, imperfect chaos that made the game great.

Football was not created by geniuses in quiet offices. It was born on dirty fields in the rain, in arguments to the point of shouting, and in moments of pure chance. And this is its main magic. When we watch a modern match with video replays and referees with earpieces, we must remember: a hundred years ago, everything was decided by the captain with a coin in his pocket and a strong fist.

Myths make history more beautiful. Curiosities are funnier. And incredible stories make us love this game even more. Because football is a mirror of our own lives, just as absurd, unpredictable, and beautiful.

Permanent link to this publication: