Ask-Bob.com

By Earl Hunsinger

An athlete moves across a field, trying to keep a ball away from a team of opponents. His own teammates move with him, heading toward the goal. As he scores, the crowd cheers.

This contest might be taking place this year, or 2,000 years before the birth of Christ. The game might be soccer, American football, rugby, or perhaps Episkyros, an ancient game played by the Greeks. In fact, it seems that people the world over have been playing similar games for thousands of years.

For example, according to an article on the Chinese website Shanghai Star, the ancient Chinese game of Cuju was developed over 2,300 years ago in Shandong province. This game was originally played with a leather bag filled with hair. Later, during the Tang dynasty, a hollow ball made of eight pieces of leather began to be used, along with two goals made of netting, making it very similar to modern soccer. In fact, in 2004 the Federation of International Football Associations declared that it was the origin of modern soccer.

The Greek game of Episkyros began around 2000 B.C.E. It was played using a ball made of linen and hair, which were wrapped in string and sewn together. Later, a follis or inflated ball began to be used. These were made from inflated pig bladders wrapped in leather or sponges wrapped in string and cloth. The website Expert Football (www.expertfootball.com) has a picture of a carved relief from the National Museum of Archeology in Athens showing an athlete balancing this type of ancient ball on his leg. In fact, according to this website, this is the image used on the European Cup trophy today.

People have always taken football seriously. In the many versions of the game played down through the ages, it was often viewed as military training. The teamwork and athleticism involved helped prepare the players for war. The shame suffered today by a losing team is nothing compared to the consequences to the losing team in the ancient Aztec game of Tlachtli. It seems that this game was sacred to the Aztecs, with deep religious overtones. It was played in virtually every major city of the ancient Aztec world, often in a walled court near a temple. It was a mixture of volleyball, basketball, and football, with the players moving a hard rubber ball toward a goal without using their hands or allowing it to touch the ground. Spectators would place large bets on the outcome, but not as large as the players, since the losers were sacrificed to the gods.

Violence has also been a part of the game in Europe from the early days. According to the website Soccer Training Info (www.soccer-training-info.com) the modern game of soccer is Anglo-Saxon in origin and was first played using the severed head of a Danish prince as the ball. It was played at that time with very few rules and an unlimited number of players.

According to All Soccer Info, football became more organized in 1863 when two football associations went their separate ways (association football and rugby football). The popularity of football spread slowly, but because of the influence of the British Empire, eventually football (the soccer version) was to spread to virtually every country of the world. Other forms of football, such as rugby and American football, have still not spread very far, but are immensely popular in some countries.

So while you may never have heard of the ancient games of Cuju, Episkyros, and Tlachtli, they live on in the modern games being played today.