Throwback Thursday: Way Back

You can find hints of football throughout history and around the globe. For instance in 300 B.C. the Chinese played a ball game called Tsu Chu. Tsu meaning "to kick the ball with feet" and Chu meaning "ball made of leather and stuffed." Sounds a bit like football. This game never moved to the west so it never touched the evolution to football. The Greeks played a game called Harpastron that might have kick started the football path. Harpastron is usually cited as the Greek word for football but it actually means "handball." Wrong body part. Most scholars group Harpastron with a half dozen other Greek games to the category of ball games, but not kicking games. These games still likely played a role in football evolution in that the Romans stole them from the Greeks and eventually took them to England in the early A.D.'s. The games they brought to their new northern friends involved kicking a ball more by chance than by rule. When the Romans finally went home they left their games behind for the English. That's when they started kicking. They also started brawling. Many of their kicking games more resembled riots. Destroying property and each other. The mayhem got the attention of the Monarchy and the church. Neither liked it much. In 1314, Edward II banned the game, now considered football. Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV all continued the ban of football. Even Henry VIII found time in his busy schedule to enact still another law against football. By the 17th century, the game started popping up, gaining popularity. So much so that James I finally gave the "ok" to play again. The church too. In 1633, the Church of England issued formal approval of playing football. Everything was splendid in the football world. Early in the 19th century all that changed. Someone had the bright idea to run with the ball. Some think that guy was William Webb Ellis of Rugby School in 1823. Others think that it might have been a kid named Mackie fifteen years later. Whoever caught the ball and ran created a new sport. Rugby. The path from what we now call soccer to American football was cleared.

Up Next: The ball bounces across the Atlantic. or The colonies take over.