History of Soccer:
The word football is used to mean any game played on foot where you kick the ball, such as rugby, American football and soccer. Most people in the USA do not call football, American Football, so to distinguish it from football as the rest of the world calls it, we call it soccer, as do a few other countries. Both have their origins from ancient games played with a type of ball and using primarily ones feet to move the ball up and down a playing field or court. The earliest known game of football was an ancient Chinese game called cuju that was being played around 476 BC. This game involved kicking a ball through a hole which had been cut in a silk cloth which was hung or tied between two poles. But it seems that many people all over the world have played some type of a football game for centuries. The common theme of all these football type games was two teams moving a ball up and down a field to score without using your hands or not using your hands very much. These games often had their own set of rules which varied from country to country and even from city to city. It was not until fairly modern times that rules began to be more standardized, which eventually led to a full league or association for each of the respective games of football. The Rugby Football Union was first formed in 1871, soccer formed the International Football Association in 1886 and in America the American Professional Football Association was formed in 1920 and then just two years later in 1922 the name was changed to the National Football League or NFL. Every four years there is an International Football or Soccer competition for the World Cup, where millions of fans all over the world tune in to either watch their countries team or another favorite team play and hopefully take the Cup home.
Soccer Ornaments:
With millions of soccer fans around the world there are a variety of gifts and ornaments that can be used around the holidays to decorate your home or tree. As soccer for youth seems more popular in the US than the professional teams there are also youth ornaments and even ornaments for the soccer mom. So be sure to find something for your soccer fan for the holiday season.
Playing the Game:
The field upon which a soccer or football game is played is called a pitch, it is usually about 110 to 120 yards long and about 70 to 80 yards wide. Each team is made up of eleven players with one of them being the goalie or goalkeeper. There are three officials or referees, one head referee and two assistants. A match or game is made up of two 45 minute halves with a 15 minute half time break. In case of a tie at the end of regular play, the game can go into two extra time periods of 15 minutes each. Soccer was first played in the Summer Olympics in 1900 and has been played at each Olympic since with the exception of the 1932 Olympics which were held Los Angeles, California. Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world, with thousands of teams across the globe, from youth teams to professional teams, with the World Cup having a larger viewing audience than the Summer Olympics.
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