Soccer

In China football(soccer) were first played. But as recently as in the mid 19 century football was played modern in English puplic schools. They have just good ideads to widespread this game.

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Football is the most widely played ball game in the world and the most popular as a spectator sport.

Answering the 'why':
the simplicity of the rules and the fact that it can be played practically everywhere has contributed to this popularity.

And 'how':
during the Middle Ages, footbal was really rough, and a violate sport in England and Scotland.
When laws and rules came in practise from the 17th century onwards, and football arose especially within public schools [= private schools!] in England, football became more and more popular. Rugby was now left out of the newly founded Football Association.
When then Football Leagues were developed, this system was copied on the European continent as well.

And then the idea spread over all other continents ...

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

Answering the 'why':
the simplicity of the rules and the fact that it can be played practically everywhere has contributed to this popularity.

Nope, other sports are also practically to play and simple rules have they,too.

That's a matter of opinion,too.

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I can tell you why I love to play it. The possible combinations and strategies are endless. You can play with a full team, or with as few as two people. All you need is a ball and a somewhat level playing field.

It's gratifying to watch. Some people complain about the low scoring but I think that's a strong point of the game. You have to love the process and the working up to it, and when they finally score it's hard work paying off.

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I think (but I really don't know) that every country had some kind of game involving getting a ball through goal before being exposed to soccer. There were probablymany diffent local variants and no agreed-on set of rules. Soccer provided an organized game with a history and so took root.

The fact that you could play it against teams from other countries added to its popularity. National "styles" developed. The Brazilian style was distinct from the German or English style, for example.

In some places, soccer is very much a niche sport, especially if that country has its own game called "football" - the USA or Australia for example.

But no other sport has an event quite like the World Cup, a truly international competition.

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Thok wrote:

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Answering the 'why':
the simplicity of the rules and the fact that it can be played practically everywhere has contributed to this popularity.

Nope, other sports are also practically to play and simple rules have they,too.

Well, at least this is the main opinion of many sport historians, like eg. Müller from the University of Mainz, or Lämmer from the German Sport University Cologne - I admit that I shortened there various papers on this quite a lot :wink: .

Some good reading (not only in English :wink: but mainly about English football) are found in these recently published books by Matt Taylor (a social historian from the University of Portsmouth, who focused his works a lot on football):
- The Leaguers: The Making of Professional Football in England, 1900-1939, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2004
- The Association Game: A History of British Football, 1863-2000, London: Longman, 2004

To which team sports are you referring at?

Thok wrote:

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Answering the 'why':
the simplicity of the rules and the fact that it can be played practically everywhere has contributed to this popularity.

That's a matter of opinion,too.

Yes.

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I would imagine it is most popular and has such universal appeal because it requires so little in terms of equipment and space and offers such great
exercise, camaraderie. Plus its a great spectator sport. Also, soccer can be played from a very young age, and it seems that skill development is limitless.

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Interesting Answers
I teach English as a Second Language to adults. We were discussing how Amercian culture (music and movies) is popular throughout the world, but soccer surpasses baseball, basketball, and American football.

My students thought soccer's popularity might be attributed to the fact that it is inexpensive to play, needing very little equipment.

Sincerely,
Alan

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

I admit that I shortened there various papers on this quite a lot

That's right,indeed.

Walter Hinteler wrote:

To which team sports are you referring at?

e.g. Basketball. Also practically to play it.

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Re: Interesting Answers

acohen843 wrote:

...My students thought soccer's popularity might be attributed to the fact that it is inexpensive to play, needing very little equipment...

Or even a decent place to play as eveidenced by the Brazilian "street soccer" culture

Quote:

1970 World Cup hero Rivelino recently published his autobiography. It is named after the phrase he most heard from his mother in his childhood - "Get out of the street, Roberto!" As often as he could, he stayed, and now he has no regrets. "The street formed me as a man and as a footballer," he says.

Like many ex-players in Brazil, Rivelino has a football school where youngsters go after their normal lessons. Some see these schools as the breeding ground for future stars, performing the role that the streets and wastelands performed in earlier times. Rivelino disagrees.

"I'm not trying to fool anyone," he says. "I'm not producing great players here. You can't teach someone to play football. You are born with talent, and you develop your skills playing out in the street, like I did. My school is more of a social project, giving the kids something to do and keeping them away from drugs."

footballculture.net

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Thok wrote:

Walter Hinteler wrote:
I admit that I shortened there various papers on this quite a lot

That's right,indeed.

So, just add your summary of their works.

Thok wrote:

Walter Hinteler wrote:

To which team sports are you referring at?

e.g. Basketball. Also practically to play it.

Hmmmh - basketball was invented on or about December 1, 1891 by James Naismith.

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

Thok wrote:
Walter Hinteler wrote:
I admit that I shortened there various papers on this quite a lot

That's right,indeed.

So, just add your summary of their works.

Well, your summary was good. I just confirmed it.

Walter Hinteler wrote:

Hmmmh - basketball was invented on or about December 1, 1891 by James Naismith.

So what? As I said it is practically to play,too.

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With basketball, you need a basket and a ball. With soccer you only need to big rocks, trash cans, etc. and a ball.

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I think that soccer has become the most popular sport because it doesnt cost a lot of money to play, easy to pick up, can be played in so many countries and is a very fun game to play.

by soccer playing kid of shepaints

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Soccer playing greats such as Pele, Ronaldo, and
Beckham have contributed greatly to its world-wide
popularity.

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My competitive level daughter scored a goal and assisted on another last Saturday in a 4-1 win. Now that was fun to watch!!!

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Brandi has helped with the popularity, at least here in the US.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/images/9328430.jpg

I have a pic of my daughter meeting Brandi at a Cyberrays game. She's a very nice young lady in real life.

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JoeFX wrote:

With basketball, you need a basket and a ball.

Not if you can improvise.

But soccer is just the best sport.

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Well, yeah, but improvisation works way better with soccer.

Ah, I just came home after some nightly soccer round. I really needed the exercise.

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