Inquiry #3

FOOTBALL INQUIRY REPORT

INTRODUCTION

Football has been the most popular sport in the world for the last two centuries. With many exciting competitions such as The World Cup, which is held every 4 years, bringing families and friends together, watching the game with intense excitement as they hope their national team will win. 

But do you ever wonder where football came from? Which country did it originate from? How has it evolved over time, Or even how did the sport itself affect the world? Causing war to break out? Well, in this report, I will tell you about football and how it has impacted on global society.

Where did football originate from?

Football has been played in many parts of the world over time. However, it originated from China, Greece, and Rome. A childhood game, kids would use sticks to set up the goals and used balls either made out of strings or leather where air was filled inside. They would kick these around. Later on during the medieval period, the Britains used animal bladders to resemble a ball and posts as goals. I think they either blew the bladder up or stuffed it with cotton, wool, or hay to make it soft and light. The game started to spread all over Britain. I think it became popular because not only was it fun, you didn’t need a lot of equipment, and it could be played almost anywhere. People played by their own rules, but when it spread the community started to make up rules for everyone to play along.

When was football internationally established?

Since then football got more popular over the years, clubs started to form and people started to sign up. But there was a problem. Since the game never had any ‘official rules’, clubs started to make up their own rules, leading to an argument before each game. After The Government saw the problem, in 1863 they decided to form The first ever Football Association, or more commonly known as FA. With now rules being established, the sport started to grow even more, having each game attracting more fans, the game started to spread across Europe.

Now with the game being introduced all over Europe, and the amount of clubs and fans growing, The Football Association decided to launch the first ever professional football league, The Bundesliga, in Germany. 

What was the first ever change in the rules of football?

Now with football being introduced over many countries around the world, there are still arguments about the rules of football. So with many complaints received about the rules of football, The Football Association decided to make their first ever change on rules of football. In 1866, the offside rules were introduced. The offside rule is when you are in the form of attacking on the opposition half, you are not allowed to pass a ball to someone on your team that is passed to the second last defender on their team. With this rule being invented, this gave the defending team some time to retreat and stop the attack. A few years after that in 1870, the handball rules were changed. Back then you could catch the ball in midair and drop it to your feet, that rule has now changed and you are not allowed to use your hands at all times (except during a throw-in). With these rules being added to football, the way the game is now played changed, creating new intensity in the way the game is being played.

When was the World Cup first hosted?

After many years with FIFA founded in 1904, Jules Rimet, the 3rd president of FIFA, proposed the idea of having an international competition where the best national teams would compete for a trophy, where winning it would determine them to be the best country for football. And after years of preparation, FIFA decided to launch the first ever World Cup in Uruguay, with Argentina winning the trophy. With the success of the first world cup, bringing fans from all over the world, they’ve decided to host it again every 4 years.

What makes a country good at football?

Most of us would judge a country on how good they are at football based on their trophies, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that a country is bad if they don’t have any trophies. Regardless of where a team is from, the basics always remain the same. Whether a team is good or not, the most important aspect for a good team is the level of interest. If a country mainly focused on football as their number one sport, they would put in more effort and money. Such as having scouts all over the country, finding the best players in order to recruit, building high quality stadiums, hiring top class coaches and much more. With this much effort being put into football, that country will usually have a higher chance of winning than countries that don’t have as much interest, where they wouldn’t focus on football that much.

What possible injuries can happen during football?

Even when football seems fun and exciting, it can sometimes cause you injuries, where some could change your whole life. Some of the most common injuries in football are ankle sprains. Ankle sprains would oftenly happen when a player suddenly changes their direction of sprinting, causing the ligaments of the ankle to be stretched or torn, which can cause pain, swelling, and instability. Another injury that can commonly happen in football is the ACL. ACL stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament, where the ligaments in the knees that connect the thigh bone and the shin bone together, are damaged or torn. The injury often needs surgeries and a prolonged rehabilitation process where it could happen to affect the player’s performance or participation in football. 

Conclusion

Although football has changed over the years, with many arguments and debates about rules and trophy, I think the reason why football can make such a huge impact on global society because it’s the time to reunite people together, bringing joy to all of us whether we are on the pitch, or enjoying the game at with our mates.