Football in Russia and Great Britain

 

Content

 

Introduction                                                                                                  2

Chapter 1 Football

1.1 What is football?                                                                                   3

1.2 Game rules and regulations                                                                     4

Chapter 2 History

2.1 History of football                                                                                6

2.2 Oldest football clubs                                                                              10

2.3 Oldest football competitions                                                                11

2.4 The Football Associations History                                                      12

2.5 History of FIFA                                                                                    14

Chapter 3 Football in Russia and Great Britain

3.1 Football in Russia and Great Britain                                                     15

3.2 Leagues in Russian and Great Britain                                                    20

3.3 Cup competitions in both the countries                                                 23

Conclusion                                                                                                    26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Modern football began its journey in the XII century medieval England. Then the football played in the market places and even on the crooked, narrow streets. They played from morning till night. The number of players exceeds 100, with almost no restrictions existed.

Now, football in England - the sport of national significance, which plays an important role in English culture and English way of life.

In this work we also consider the development of football in Russia and its place in the lives of citizens.

In this work we are going to describe one of the favorite plays in the world. It is football. At first we give some information about this game, rules and regulations for the game in order to give you some sense of understanding of play features. Then we describe the position of this play in two countries - Russia and England. From the third point of our work we compare football features, football efforts, league system and system of cup competitions in both the countries. And in the conclusion we resume my conclusions about football position in both these countries.

Relevance of this work stems from the fact that football is the most popular kind of sport worldwide.

 Research of this problem allows better understanding basic principles of football by comparing this game in different countries, the example of England and Russia. The aim of this work to investigate and compare football in Russia and England considered all aspects of the game.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1 Football

 

1.1 What is football?

Football may refer to one of a number of team sports which all involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union and other related games. These variations of football are known as football "codes".

Football as a game involving “kicking a ball” has been around for more than 100 years. Many of the previous games in the past were said to be played differently from the football people know today. A football-like game emerged in China in the 2nd or 3rd centuries wherein a leather ball was used for kicking into a small net made of bamboo. A similar game was also played in Japan by Kemaris. This Japanese version is not played competitively and the players just pass the ball to each other hoping that it will not touch the ground.

Today, football is a global sport governed by FIFA. Many countries around the world have their own leagues and football clubs that follow international rules on the sport. Every 4 years, FIFA organizes the biggest prize in football which is the “World Cup”. This particular tournament is participated by many countries from all continents to gain football supremacy.

 

 

 

 

1.2 Game rules and regulations

 

Size and marks of a football field under regulations. Matches can be conducted both in the fields of natural and in fields with artificial turf. According to the official rules of the game of football artificial turf should be green. The field of play is rectangular in shape. The lateral line has to be longer than the goal line. On each side of the field is marked goal area - an area beyond the borders of which the goal kick. On each side of the field is marked penalty area - an area in which the goalkeeper can play with his hands, and the gates of the team that committed in his own penalty area violation, punishable by a direct free kick will be assigned to the 11-meter kick. The gate should be placed in the center of each of the lines of the gate. They consist of two upright posts equidistant from the corner flag poles and connected at the top horizontal crossbar.

In football teams consist of 11. The match may not start if either team consisting of fewer than seven players. Maximum number of reserve players, who may take part in the match, set rules of competitions, but must lie in the range from three to seven. Team consists of goalkeeper, forwards and backs.

Goal of the game is to get the ball into the opponent’s gate by legs or other parts of the body (except hands) more times than the opposing team.  Match consists of two halves of 45 minutes. Pause between the first and second halves of 15 minutes, during which teams of rest, and at its end change gates.

In football, players are prohibited to enter the field with different types of chains, bracelets and rings. Football players wear T-shirts on the backs of which are numbers proxy authentication. Besides T-shirts, numbers are usually posted on the shorts. Names or nicknames of the players are on the back of the shirts, above the number. Equipment required elements are: shirt or t-shirt that has sleeves, shorts, socks, pads and boots.

    Pads shall be completely covered socks. They should be made of suitable material (plastic, rubber) and shall provide sufficient protection.

The form of the goalkeeper must be different by the color of the form of other players and referees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2 History

 

2.1 History of football

 

The contemporary history of the world's favourite game spans more than 100 years. It all began in 1863 in England, when rugby football and association football branched off on their different courses and the Football Association in England was formed - becoming the sport's first governing body.

Both codes stemmed from a common root and both have a long and intricately branched ancestral tree. A search down the centuries reveals at least half a dozen different games, varying to different degrees, and to which the historical development of football has been traced back. Whether this can be justified in some instances is disputable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that people have enjoyed kicking a ball about for thousands of years and there is absolutely no reason to consider it an aberration of the more 'natural' form of playing a ball with the hands.

On the contrary, apart from the need to employ the legs and feet in tough tussles for the ball, often without any laws for protection, it was recognised right at the outset that the art of controlling the ball with the feet was not easy and, as such, required no small measure of skill. The very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise from a military manual dating back to the second and third centuries BC in China.

This Han Dynasty forebear of football was called Tsu' Chu and it 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. According to one variation of this exercise, the player was not permitted to aim at his target unimpeded, but had to use his feet, chest, back and shoulders while trying to withstand the attacks of his opponents. Use of the hands was not permitted.  
 

Another form of the game, also originating from the Far East, was the Japanese Kemari, which began some 500-600 years later and is still played today. This is a sport lacking the competitive element of Tsu' Chu with no struggle for possession involved. Standing in a circle, the players had to pass the ball to each other, in a relatively small space, trying not to let it touch the ground.

The Greek 'Episkyros' - of which few concrete details survive - was much livelier, as was the Roman 'Harpastum'. The latter was 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, trickery was the order of the day. The game remained popular for 700-800 years, but, although the Romans took it to Britain with them, the use of feet was so small as to scarcely be of consequence.

The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. The game played in England at this time may have arrived with the Roman occupation, but the only pre-Norman reference is to boys playing "ball games" in the 9th century Historia Brittonum. Reports of a game played in Brittany,Normandy, and Picardy, known as La Soule or Choule, suggest that some of these football games could have arrived in England as a result of the Norman Conquest.

These forms of football, 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 in a heaving mass of people, struggling to move an item such as an inflated pig's bladder, to particular geographical points, such as their opponents' church. Shrovetide games have survived into the modern era in a number of English towns (see below).

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" .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. Another reference to a football game comes in 1321 at Shouldham, Norfolk, England: "during the game at ball as he kicked the ball, a lay friend of his... ran against him and wounded himself".

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: "forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large foot balls [rageries de grosses pelotes de pee] 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", showing that "football" — whatever its exact form in this case — was being differentiated from games involving other parts of the body, such as handball.

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".

 

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: "the 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: "the boundaries have been marked and the game had started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.2 Oldest football clubs

Sports clubs dedicated to playing football began in the 18th century, for example London's Gymnastic Society which was founded in the mid-18th century and ceased playing matches in 1796. The first documented club to bear the title "football club" is one in Edinburgh, Scotland, during the period 1824–41. The club forbade tripping but allowed pushing and holding and the picking up of the ball.

Two clubs which claim to be the world's oldest existing football club, in the sense of a club which is not part of a school or university, are strongholds of rugby football: the Barnes Club, said to have been founded in 1839, and Guy's Hospital Football Club, in 1843. Neither date nor the variety of football played is well documented, but such claims nevertheless allude to the popularity of rugby before other modern codes emerged.

In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football. This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game. For instance, Dublin University Football Club—founded at Trinity College, Dublin in 1854 and later famous as a bastion of the Rugby School game—is the world's oldest documented football club in any code.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.3 Oldest football competitions

 

One of the longest running football fixture is the Cordner-Eggleston Cup, contested between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College, Melbourne every year since 1858. It is believed by many to also be the first match of Australian rules football, although it was played under experimental rules in its first year. The first football trophy tournament was the Caledonian Challenge Cup, donated by the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne, played in 1861 under the Melbourne Rules. The oldest football league is a rugby football competition, the United Hospitals Challenge Cup (1874), while the oldest rugby trophy is the Yorkshire Cup, contested since 1878. The South Australian Football Association (30 April 1877) is the oldest surviving Australian rules football competition. The oldest surviving soccer trophy is the Youdan Cup (1867) and the oldest national soccer competition is the English FA Cup (1871). The Football League (1888) is recognised as the longest running Association Football league. The first ever international football match took place between sides representing England and Scotland on March 5, 1870 at the Oval under the authority of the FA. The first Rugby international took place in 1871.

Modern balls

In Europe, early footballs were made out of animal bladders, more specifically pig's bladders, which were inflated. Later leather coverings were introduced to allow the ball to keep their shape. However, in 1851, Richard Lindon and William Gilbert, both shoemakers from the town of Rugby(near the school), exhibited both round and oval-shaped balls at the Great Exhibition in London. Richard Lindon's wife is said to have died of lung disease caused by blowing up pig's bladders.

 Lindon also won medals for the invention of the "Rubber inflatable Bladder" and the "Brass Hand Pump".

2.4 The Football Association History

 

During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various public school games. In 1862, J. C. Thring, who had been one of the driving forces behind the original Cambridge Rules, was a master at Uppingham School and he issued his own rules of what he called "The Simplest Game" (these are also known as the Uppingham Rules). In early October 1863 another new revised version of the Cambridge Rules was drawn up by a seven member committee representing former pupils from Harrow, Shrewsbury, Eton, Rugby, Marlborough and Westminster.

At the Freemasons' Tavern, Great Queen Street, London on the evening of October 26, 1863, representatives of several football clubs in the London Metropolitan area met for the inaugural meeting of The Football Association (FA). The aim of the Association was to establish a single unifying code and regulate the playing of the game among its members. Following the first meeting, the public schools were invited to join the association. All of them declined, except Charterhouse and Uppingham. In total, six meetings of the FA were held between October and December 1863. After the third meeting, a draft set of rules were published. However, at the beginning of the fourth meeting, attention was drawn to the recently published Cambridge Rules of 1863. The Cambridge rules differed from the draft FA rules in two significant areas; namely running with (carrying) the ball and hacking (kicking opposing players in the shins).

At the fifth meeting it was proposed that these two rules be removed. Most of the delegates supported this, but F. M. Campbell, the representative from Blackheath and the first FA treasurer, objected. He said: "hacking is the true football". However, the motion to ban running with the ball in hand and hacking was carried and Blackheath withdrew from the FA. After the final meeting on 8 December, the FA published the "Laws of Football", the first comprehensive set of rules for the game later known as Association Football. The term "soccer", in use since the late 19th century, derives from an abbreviation of "Association".

The first FA rules still contained elements that are no longer part of association football, but which are still recognisable in other games (such as Australian football and rugby football): for instance, a player could make a fair catch and claim a mark, which entitled him to a free kick; and if a player touched the ball behind the opponents' goal line, his side was entitled to afree kick at goal, from 15 yards (13.5 metres) in front of the goal line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.5 History of FIFA

 

The need for a single body to oversee association football had become apparent by the beginning of the 20th century, with the increasing popularity of international fixtures. The English Football Association had chaired many discussions on setting up an international body, but was perceived as making no progress. It fell to associations from seven other European countries: France, Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, to form an international association. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was founded in Paris on May 21, 1904. Its first president was Robert Guérin. The French name and acronym has remained, even outside French-speaking countries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3 Football in Russia and in Great Britain

 

 

3.1 Football in Russia and in Great Britain

 

When the USSR broke down into 15 different countries, the once renowned sports structure collapsed as well. Football was one of the most popular sports in the Soviet Union. While the national teams and the clubs used to be linked to state institutions or mass organizations, in 1991 they became private enterprises. Just like in many other spheres of business, corrupt and sometimes bloody division of power began. Furthermore, many teams of the erstwhile Soviet Top League, which was once considered to be one of the strongest and was able to compete with those of England and Italy, were now in divided between the national football associations of the newly independent republics. Many of the top brand names lost their financing from the government and were left to rot, waiting for some forms of sponsorship. Citizens of Russia are interested mostly in the national team that gets to compete in the World Cup and the European Championship, and in the Premier league, where clubs from different cities look to become champions of Russia. There are also competitions considered less important, such as the Russian Cup. Some of the most famous clubs include Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg, Dynamo Moscow. There are in fact six teams in the Premier League from the city of Moscow as it was the first city to recover from the destruction of the old system.