File 008: How Did Street Fight Became Football?

Before football had a pitch, a referee or even a crossbar, it was a riot. Whole villages played, the goals were miles apart, and kings kept trying to ban it. So how did that chaos turn into the world's most-watched game? In this Eureka File: ancient cuju in China, medieval mob football, the 1314 London ban, the English schools that each wrote their own rules, the great argument over kicking shins, the 1863 pub meeting that created the Football Association (and accidentally helped create rugby), the first match under the new rules (0–0), how strange 1863 football looked, the first international, Scotland v England in 1872 (also 0–0), and how the game spread from England to the first World Cup in 1930. Chapters 0:00 A game with no rules 0:18 Everyone kicked something 0:47 The king bans football 1:12 Every school, its own rules 1:47 The shin question 2:03 A London pub, 1863 2:43 The first match 3:04 1863 vs today 3:49 The first international, 1872 4:30 Football spreads 5:02 Football today 5:20 The mob learns to pass Photo credits (Wikimedia Commons): Mob football engraving, c. 1750, unknown artist (public domain) Shrovetide football dated 1887, Adrian Roebuck (CC BY-SA 3.0) Emperor Taizu playing cuju, Qian Xuan (public domain) Edward II of England, unknown artist (public domain) Ebenezer Cobb Morley, 1913, "L.N.A." (public domain) Original laws of the game 1863, Adrian Roebuck (CC BY-SA 3.0) Football Association plaque, Great Queen Street, Spudgun67 (CC BY-SA 4.0) England v Scotland 1872 match notice (public domain) England v Scotland 1872 engraving, William Ralston (public domain) Victorian football engraving, after William Small (public domain) Uruguay national football team 1930 (public domain) Music and sound effects: HeyGen library. Voice: Kokoro TTS (af_sarah). history of football, how football was invented, first football match, first international football match, Scotland v England 1872, Football Association 1863, Ebenezer Cobb Morley, mob football, cuju, Cambridge rules, rugby vs football, first World Cup 1930, Eureka Files