Elias

   Tlachtli court from aztechistory.com

   Tlachtli, Cuju and Football

English

Elias

Since ancient times, dating back to over 3,000 years ago, the most popular sport has been changed many times in the last thousands of years. Not only have the rules changed but the ball, the field, the object of where the ball goes, and the way we play and the reason we play.

The first appearance of a soccer sport  was 3,000 years ago in Mesoamerica played by the Aztecs and they called their game Tlachtli, which in English means the ball court. Jaime C. Cottrill, a Mexican historian, says “ Around the court was a slope, surrounded at the outer edge by walls about 8-11 feet high. The court was usually between 100 and 200 feet long, with a centerline, and six markers along the sloping walls. At center court against the walls were two stone-carved rings, roughly 35 inches in diameter, often carved in the form of an animal.” They used round round rocks as the ball and threw them through the rings on the walls. Depending on the two parties who were playing, the two kings of the tribe would put wagers or gamble on the game as was tradition, but the winner would most normally get assassinated because the other king didn’t really want to pay the other king so it was easier to pay someone to kill them instead of paying. In some religions the captain of the team would be sacrificed to the sun god if they lost, because it was unhonourable to lose because they had disrespected the god they were playing for.

The first sport like soccer that involved kicking was in the 2nd and the 3rd century China called Cuju. Cuju, in English means kick ball. The ball was made out of leather and was filled with fur or feathers. It is meant to look like a Yin Yang, the Chinese symbol of balance in the between darkness and light in the universe. Cuju was less of a form of entertainment and more of a military training as some sort of a metaphor for “leading a good life,” because of the training and discipline it takes to dribble the ball. Cuju itself has changed the court about twice, the first court had six semi-circle holes on both sides. The other court has no holes in the walls but rather there are two poles that are ten to eleven meters tall that had a net in between them the two poles with a hole in the center of the net for the players to score in. The game was meant to demonstrate skill by juggling the ball and scoring without letting it hit the ground. It can be played individually or up to ten players. Cuju was banned by the Ming Dynasty for no apparent reason, but in 1980 universities brought it back to play. 

In 1862 Ebenezer Morley wrote to a newspaper called “Bell’s Life”, where he suggested that the soccer clubs meet up together to set up regulated rules like cricket had. The FA (Football Association) was made on 1863, October, 26 on a Monday evening. Many captains represented their clubs with the goal for setting a standard on how they played the game. The FA says “The clubs represented were: Barnes, War Office, Crusaders, Forest (Leytonstone), No Names (Kilburn), Crystal Palace, Blackheath, Kensington School, Perceval House (Blackheath), Surbiton, Blackheath Proprietary School and Charterhouse.” The FA had six meetings over a span of 44 days before anything had been decided. They decided the ball and field size we use today.

The way that soccer has been played and the way we have played it has changed throughout all different kinds of people ,playing styles and cultures , from Ancient South American’s Tlachtli, to Ancient China’s Cuju, from 19th century football England to modern day soccer.

Basias, Dimitris, et al., “Football History.” Football History.org, 2024,  www.footballhistory.org/.  Accessed 22 Feb, 2024.

"The History of Soccer." Bundeslinga, Bundeslinga, 2023, www.bundesliga.com/en/faq/all-you-need-to-know-about-soccer/the-history-of-soccer-10560. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Cottrill, Jaime C. "Aztec-history.com." aztec-history.com, Jaime Cottrill C., www.aztec-history.com/about-aztec-history.html. Accessed 23 Feb. 2024.

Cuju, FIFA Museum AG, 2024, www.fifamuseum.com/en/blog-stories/editorial/origins-cuju-in-china/.

What We Do, The Football Association , 2024, www.thefa.com/about-football-association/what-we-do/history.