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Several codes of football. Images, from top 

down, left to right: association football, 

Australian rules football, international rules 

football, a rugby union scrum, rugby league, 

and American football.

Football refers to a number of sports that 

involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with 

the foot to score a goal. Unqualified, the word 

football is understood to refer to whichever 

form of football is the most popular in the 

regional context in which the word appears: 

association football (known as soccer in some 

countries) in the United Kingdom; gridiron 

football (specifically American football or 

Canadian football) in the United States and 

Canada; Australian rules football or rugby 

league in different areas of Australia; Gaelic 

football in Ireland; and rugby football 

(specifically rugby union) in New 

Zealand.[1][2] These different variations of 

football are known as football codes.

Various forms of football can be identified in 

history, often as popular peasant games. 

Contemporary codes of football can be traced 

back to the codification of these games at 

English public schools in the eighteenth and 

nineteenth centuries.[3][4] The expanse of the 

British Empire allowed these rules of football to 

spread to areas of British influence outside of 

the directly controlled Empire,[5] though by the 

end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional 

codes were already developing: Gaelic football, 

for example, deliberately incorporated the rules 

of local traditional football games in order to 

maintain their heritage.[6] In 1888, The 

Football League was founded in England, 

becoming the first of many professional football 

competitions. During the twentieth century, 

several of the various kinds of football grew to 

become some of the most popular team sports 

in the world.[7]

Contents   [hide] 

1 Common elements

2 Etymology

3 Early history

3.1 Ancient games

3.2 Medieval and early modern Europe

3.3 Calcio Fiorentino

3.4 Official disapproval and attempts to ban 

football

4 Establishment of modern codes

4.1 English public schools

4.2 Firsts

4.3 Cambridge rules

4.4 Sheffield rules

4.5 Australian rules

4.6 Football Association

4.7 Rugby football

4.8 North American football codes

4.9 Gaelic football

4.10 Schism in Rugby football

4.11 Globalisation of association football

4.12 Further divergence of the two rugby codes

5 Use of the word "football"

6 Football codes board

6.1 Football codes development tree

7 Present day codes and families

7.1 Association football and descendants

7.2 Rugby school football and descendants

7.3 Irish and Australian varieties

7.4 Surviving medieval ball games

7.5 Surviving UK school games

7.6 Recent inventions and hybrid games

7.7 Tabletop games, video games and other 

recreations

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

Common elements

The various codes of football share certain 

common elements. Players in American 

football, Canadian football, rugby union and 

rugby league take up positions in a limited area 

of the field at the start of the game.[8] They 

tend to use throwing and running as the main 

ways of moving the ball, and only kick on 

certain limited occasions. Body tackling is a 

major skill, and games typically involve short 

passages of play of 5–90 seconds.[8] 

Association football, Australian rules football 

and Gaelic football tend to use kicking to move 

the ball around the pitch, with handling more 

limited. Body tackles are less central to the 

game, and players are freer to move around 

the field (offside laws are typically less 

strict).[8]

Common rules among the sports 

include:[citation needed]

Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 

players; some variations that have fewer 

players (five or more per team) are also 

popular.

A clearly defined area in which to play the 

game.

Scoring goals or points, by moving the ball to 

an opposing team's end of the field and either 

into a goal area, or over a line.

Goals or points resulting from players putting 

the ball between two goalposts.

The goal or line being defended by the 

opposing team.

Players being required to move the 

ball—depending 

Ancient games

According to FIFA the competitive game 

cuju is the earliest form of football 

for which there is scientific 

evidence.[9] It appears to be the first 

competitive game that involves kicking 

a ball through an opening into a net and 

occurs namely as an exercise in a 

military manual from the third and 

second centuries BC.[9] Documented 

evidence of an activity resembling 

football can be found in the Chinese 

military manual Zhan Guo Ce compiled 

between the 3rd century and 1st century 

BC.[10] It describes a practice known 

as cuju (蹴鞠, literally "kick ball"), 

which originally involved kicking a 

leather ball through a small hole in a 

piece of silk cloth which was fixed on 

bamboo canes and hung about 9 m above 

ground. During the Han Dynasty (206 

BC–220 AD), cuju games were 

standardized and rules were 

established.[citation needed] Variations 

of this game later spread to Japan and 

Korea, known as kemari and chuk-guk 

respectively. Later, another type of 

goal post emerged, consisting of just 

one goal post in the middle of the 

field.[citation needed]

The Ancient Greeks and Romans are 

known to have played many ball games, 

some of which involved the use of the 

feet. The Roman game harpastum is 

believed to have been adapted from a 

Greek team game known as 

"ἐπίσκυρος" (Episkyros)[11][12] or 

"φαινίνδα" (phaininda),[13] which is 

mentioned by a Greek playwright, 

Antiphanes (388–311 BC) and later 

referred to by the Christian theologian 

Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215 

AD). These games appear to have 

resembled rugby 

football.[14][15][16][17][18] The Roman 

politician Cicero (106–43 BC) describes 

the case of a man who was killed 

whilst having a shave when a ball was 

kicked into a barber's shop. Roman ball 

games already knew the air-filled 

ball, the follis.[19][20] Episkyros is 

recognised as an early form of football 

by FIFA.[21]

The Japanese version of cuju is kemari 

(蹴鞠), and was developed during the 

Asuka period.[citation needed]This is 

known to have been played within the 

Japanese imperial court in Kyoto from 

about 600 AD. In kemari several people 

stand in a circle and kick a ball to 

each other, trying not to let the ball 

drop to the ground (much like keepie 

uppie). The game appears to have died 

out sometime before the mid-19th 

century. It was revived in 1903 and is 

now played at a number of 

festivals.[citation needed]

There are a number of references to 

traditional, ancient, or prehistoric 

ball games, played by indigenous 

peoples in many different parts of the 

world. For example, in 1586, men 

from a ship commanded by an English 

explorer named John Davis, went 

ashore to play a form of football with 

Inuit (Eskimo) people in 

Greenland.[22] There are later accounts 

of an Inuit game played on ice, called 

Aqsaqtuk. Each match began with two 

teams facing each other in parallel 

lines, before attempting to kick the 

ball through each other team's line and 

then at a goal. In 1610, William 

Strachey, a colonist at Jamestown, 

Virginia recorded a game played by 

Native Americans, called 

Pahsaheman.[citation needed] On the 

Australian continent several tribes of 

indigenous people played kicking and 

catching games with stuffed balls 

which have been generalised by 

historians as Marn Grook (Djab 

Wurrung for "game ball"). The earliest 

historical account is an anecdote from 

the 1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, 

The Aborigines of Victoria, in which a 

man called Richard Thomas is quoted as 

saying, in about 1841 in Victoria, 

Australia, that he had witnessed 

Aboriginal people playing the game: 

"Mr Thomas describes how the 

foremost player will drop kick a ball 

made from the skin of a possum and 

how other players leap into the air in 

order to catch it." Some historians 

have theorised that Marn Grook was 

one of the origins of Australian rules 

football.

The Māori in New Zealand played a 

game called Ki-o-rahi consisting of 

teams of seven players play on a 

circular field divided into zones, and 

score points by touching the 'pou' 

(boundary markers) and hitting a 

central 'tupu' or target.[citation 

needed]

Games played in Mesoamerica with 

rubber balls by indigenous peoples are 

also well-documented as existing since 

before this time, but these had more 

similarities to basketball or 

volleyball, and since their influence on 

modern football games is minimal, 

most do not class them as 

football.[citation needed]Northeastern 

American Indians, especially the 

Iroquois Confederation, played a game 

which made use of net racquets to 

throw and catch a small ball; 

however, although it is a ball-goal 

foot game, lacrosse (as its modern 

descendant is called) is likewise not 

usually classed as a form of 

"football."[citation needed]

These games and others may well go 

far back into antiquity. However, the 

main sources of modern football codes 

appear to lie in western Europe, 

especially Engl

century Historia Brittonum, which describes "a 

party of boys ... playing at ball".[24] 

References to a ball game played in northern 

France known as La Soule or Choule, in which 

the ball was propelled by hands, feet, and 

sticks,[25] date from the 12th century.[26]

An illustration of so-called "mob football"

The early forms of football played in England, 

sometimes referred to as "mob football", would 

be played between neighbouring towns and 

villages, involving an unlimited number of 

players on opposing teams who would clash en 

masse,[27] struggling to move an item, such 

as inflated animal's bladder[28] to particular 

geographical points, such as their opponents' 

church, with play taking place in the open 

space between neighbouring parishes.[29] The 

game was played primarily during significant 

religious festivals, such as Shrovetide, 

Christmas, or Easter,[28] and Shrovetide 

games have survived into the modern era in a 

number of English towns (see below).

The first detailed description of what was 

almost certainly football in England was given 

by William FitzStephen in about 1174–1183. He 

described the activities of London youths during 

the annual festival of Shrove Tuesday:

After lunch all the youth of the city go out into 

the fields to take part in a ball game. The 

students of each school have their own ball; the 

workers from each city craft are also carrying 

their balls. Older citizens, fathers, and wealthy 

citizens come on horseback to watch their 

juniors competing, and to relive their own 

youth vicariously: you can see their inner 

passions aroused as they watch the action and 

get caught up in the fun being had by the 

carefree adolescents.[30]

Most of the very early references to the game 

speak simply of "ball play" or "playing at ball". 

This reinforces the idea that the games played 

at the time did not necessarily involve a ball 

being kicked.

An early reference to a ball game that was 

probably football comes from 1280 at Ulgham, 

Northumberland, England: "Henry... while 

playing at ball.. ran against David".[31] Football 

was played in Ireland in 1308, with a 

documented reference to John McCrocan, a 

spectator at a "football game" at Newcastle, 

County Down being charged with accidentally 

stabbing a player named William Bernard.[32] 

Another reference to a football game comes in 

1321 at Shouldham, Norfolk, England: 

"[d]uring the game at ball as he kicked the ball, 

a lay friend of his... ran against him and 

wounded himself".[31]

In 1314, Nicholas de Farndone, Lord Mayor of 

the City of London issued a decree banning 

football in the French used by the English upper 

classes at the time. A translation reads: 

"[f]orasmuch as there is great noise in the city 

caused by hustling over large foot balls 

[rageries de grosses pelotes de pee][33] in the 

fields of the public from which many evils might 

arise which God forbid: we command and 

forbid on behalf of the king, on pain of 

imprisonment, such game to be used in the city 

in the future." This is the earliest reference to 

football.

In 1363, King Edward III of England issued a 

proclamation banning "...handball, football, or 

hockey; coursing and cock-fighting, or other 

such idle games",[34] showing that "football" 

— whatever its exact form in this case — was 

being differentiated from games involving other 

parts of the body, such as handball.

A game known as "football" was played in 

Scotland as early as the 15th century: it was 

prohibited by the Football Act 1424 and 

although the law fell into disuse it was not 

repealed until 1906. There is evidence for 

schoolboys playing a "football" ball game in 

Aberdeen in 1633 (some references cite 1636) 

which is notable as an early allusion to what 

some have considered to be passing the ball. 

The word "pass" in the most recent translation 

is derived from "huc percute" (strike it here) 

and later "repercute pilam" (strike the ball 

again) in the original Latin. It is not certain that 

the ball was being struck between members of 

the same team. The original word translated as 

"goal" is "metum", literally meaning the "pillar 

at each end of the circus course" in a Roman 

chariot race. There is a reference to "get hold of 

the ball before [another player] does" (Praeripe 

illi pilam si possis agere) suggesting that 

handling of the ball was allowed. One sentence 

states in the original 1930 translation "Throw 

yourself against him" (Age, objice te illi).

France circa 1750

King Henry IV of England also presented one of 

the earliest documented uses of the English 

word "football", in 1409, when he issued a 

proclamation forbidding the levying of money 

for "foteball".[31][35]

There is also an account in Latin from the end 

of the 15th century of football being played at 

Cawston, Nottinghamshire. This is the first 

description of a "kicking game" and the first 

description of dribbling: "[t]he game at which 

they had met for common recreation is called 

by some the foot-ball game. It is one in which 

young men, in country sport, propel a huge ball 

not by throwing it into the air but by striking it 

and rolling it along the ground, and that not 

with their hands but with their feet... kicking in 

opposite directions" The chronicler gives the 

earliest reference to a football pitch, stating 

that: "[t]he boundaries have been marked and 

the game had started.[31]

Other firsts in the mediæval and early modern 

eras:

"a football", in the sense of a ball rather than a 

game, was first mentioned in 1486.[35] This 

reference is in Dame Juliana Berners' Book of St 

Albans. It states: "a certain rounde instrument 

to play with ...it is an instrument for the foote 

and then it is calde in Latyn 'pila pedalis', a 

fotebal."[31]

a pair of football boots was ordered by King 

Henry VIII of England in 1526.[36]

women playing a form of football was first 

described in 1580 by Sir Philip Sidney in one of 

his poems: "[a] tyme there is for all, my 

mother often sayes, When she, with skirts tuckt 

very hy, with girles at football playes."[37]

the first references to goals are in the late 16th 

and early 17th centuries. In 1584 and 1602 

respectively, John Norden and Richard Carew 

referred to "goals" in Cornish hurling. Carew 

described how goals were made: "they pitch 

two bushes in the ground, some eight or ten 

foote asunder; and directly against them, ten or 

twelue [twelve] score off, other twayne in like 

distance, which they terme their Goales".[38] 

He is also the first to describe goalkeepers and 

passing of the ball between players.

the first direct reference to scoring a goal is in 

John Day's play The Blind Beggar of Bethnal 

Green (performed circa 1600; published 1659): 

"I'll play a gole at camp-ball" (an extremely 

violent variety of football, which was popular in 

East Anglia). Similarly in a poem in 1613, 

Michael Drayton refers to "when the Ball to 

throw, And drive it to the Gole, in squadrons 

forth they goe".

Calcio Fiorentino

An illustration of the Calcio Fiorentino field and 

starting positions, from a 1688 book by Pietro 

di Lorenzo Bini.

Main article: Calcio Fiorentino

In the 16th century, the city of Florence 

celebrated the period between Epiphany and 

Lent by playing a game which today is known 

as "calcio storico" ("historic kickball") in the 

Piazza Santa Croce. The young aristocrats of 

the city would dress up in fine silk costumes 

and embroil themselves in a violent form of 

football. For example, calcio players could 

punch, shoulder charge, and kick opponents. 

Blows below the belt were allowed. The game is 

said to have originated as a military training 

exercise. In 1580, Count Giovanni de' Bardi di 

Vernio wrote Discorso sopra 'l giuoco del Calcio 

Fiorentino. This is sometimes said to be the 

earliest code of rules for any football game. The 

game was not played after January 1739 (until 

it was revived in May 1930).

Official disapproval and attempts to ban football

Main article: Attempts to ban football games

There have been many attempts to ban 

football, from the middle ages through to the 

modern day. The first such law was passed in 

England in 1314; it was followed by more than 

30 in England alone between 1314 and 

1667.[39]:6 Football faced armed opposition in 

the 18th Century when used as a cover for 

violent protest against the enclosure act. 

Women were banned from playing at English 

and Scottish Football League grounds in 1921, 

a ban that was only lifted in the 1970s. Female 

footballers still face similar problems in some 

parts of the world.

Establishment of modern codes

Part of a series of articles on

Sports

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Summer Sports

Track and field athletics

Football (soccer)

Basketball

Rugby

Gymnastics

Baseball

American football

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Field hockey·Handball

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Fencing·Weightlifting

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Swimming· Diving

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Snowboarding·Biathlon

Ice sledge hockey

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - Portugal vs 

Argentina, 9th February 2011.jpg

Football is the name for many sports. The most 

popular type of football is Association football, 

which is also named "soccer". Football can also 

mean American football (gridiron), rugby union, 

rugby league, Australian Rules Football, Gaelic 

football or Canadian football.

American football

Soccer

The name football comes from the two words 

"foot" and "ball". It is named football because 

the players of the game walk and run (on foot) 

while playing, as opposed to polo and other 

games played on horseback. The ball is often 

kicked with the foot, but depending on the 

game, it can also be hit using other parts of the 

body (in association football) and handling the 

ball is a part of many other football variants.

The game started in Medieval times in England 

although some elements of it have been seen in 

a wide variety of countries dating back to the 

second and third century in China.[1]

In football, the ball is almost always shaped like 

a sphere or an ellipsoide.

Types of football include;

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