Why is Piazza della Novere in Florence considered by some to be the cradle of European soccer?
In the sixteenth-century in Florence, Italy, there emerged an early European cousin of soccer called calcio. It was played in the city’s Piazza della Novere by teams of 27 using the feet and hands to try to kick, throw, or carry a ball over a designated spot on the perimeter of a playing pitch covered in sand. The first official rules of calcio were published in 1580 AD by Giovanni Bardi. Originally, calcio was only reserved for the rich aristocrats, who played every night between Epiphany and Lent.
What is the oldest record of a soccer club in existence?
The title of the world’s oldest soccer club is often disputed, or is claimed by several different clubs, across several different codes of soccer. It is possible that an organization of soccer players existed in London between 1421 and 1423. The records of the Brewers’ Company of London, a guild, mention the hiring out of their hall “by the ‘ffooteballepleyers’ for 20 pence,” under the heading “Trades and Fraternities.” The listing of such players as a “fraternity” is the earliest allusion to what might be considered a soccer club.
Quickies
Did you know …
• on February 17, 1530, while the troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, were besieging Florence, a game of calcio was organized in the city as a show of defiance?
What is the oldest national soccer team in the world?
That would be a tie. Both Scotland and England were the first countries to put forward national teams in 1872. In fact, they did so for a match against each other, which also allows them to share the credit of holding the first international match. The game was held at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Scotland, on November 30 that year, and, appropriately enough, it ended in a goal-less tie.
Quickies
Did you know …
• in the 1930s the fascist party of Italy, under Mussolini, so despised British soccer that they invented an alternative sport for the masses, called volata, which was a hybrid of soccer and rugby? The new game never caught on.
Who drew up the first set of soccer rules?
During the eighteenth century, the game of mob football evolved into a codified sport at England’s public schools like Eton, Westminster, Rugby, Charterhouse, and Harrow. The first-ever set of formal soccer rules were written at Eton College in 1815, though each school tended to have their own set of rules.
What is the world’s oldest soccer club?
The Sheffield Football Club was founded in 1857 in Sheffield by Nathaniel Creswick and William Prest, and is now recognized as the world’s oldest club. The club initially played its own code of football: the Sheffield rules. Players were allowed to push or hit the ball with their hands, and there was no offside rule at all, so that players known as “kick throughs” could be permanently positioned near the opponents’ goal.
Quickies
Did you know …
• records at Cambridge University show that a sixteenth-century soccer match between “town and gown” (locals and students) ended in a brawl which caused the school’s vice-chancellor to forbid students from playing “footeball” outside of college grounds?
What are the Cambridge Rules?
In 1848, representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, and Shrewsbury schools gathered at Trinity College, at Cambridge University, for a meeting to codify the rules of soccer. These were the first set of rules to be used collectively by multiple school teams. When the country’s leading clubs and schools got together to form the Football Association in 1863, they used the Cambridge Rules as the basis for a new set of FA rules.
The Cambridge Rules as of November 1863
Rule 1: The length of the ground shall be not more than 150 yards (137 metres). The ground shall be marked out by posts, and two posts shall be placed on each side line, at a distance of 25 yards (23 metres) from each goal line.
Rule 2: The goals shall consist of two upright poles at a distance of 15 feet (4.5 metres) from each other.
Rule 3: The choice of goals and kickoff shall be determined by tossing, and the ball shall be kicked off from the middle of the ground.
Rule 4: In a match when half the time agreed upon has elapsed, the sides shall change goals when the ball is next out of play. After a change or a goal is obtained, the kickoff shall be from the middle of the ground in the same direction as before. The time during which the match shall last and the numbers on each side are to be settled by the heads of the sides.
Rule 5: When a player has kicked the ball, anyone of the same side who is nearer to the opponent’s goal line is out of play, and may not touch the ball himself, nor may in any way whatsoever prevent any other player from doing so.
Rule 6: When the ball goes out of the ground by crossing the sidelines, it is out of play, and shall be kicked straight into the ground again from the point it is first stopped.
Rule 7: When a player has kicked the ball beyond the opponent’s goal line; whoever first touches the ball (touchdown) when it is on the ground with his hands may have a free kick, bringing the ball 25 yards (23 metres) straight out from the goal line.
Rule 8: No player may touch the ball behind his opponent’s goal line; who is behind it when the ball is kicked there.
Rule 9: If the ball is touched down behind the goal line and beyond the line of the side posts, the free kick shall be from the 25-yard (22.8-metre) post.
Rule 10: When a player has a free kick, no one of his own side may be between him and his opponent’s goal line, and no one of the opposite side may stand within 10 yards (9.15 metres) of him.
Rule 11: A free kick may be taken in any manner the player chooses.
Rule 12: A goal is obtained when the ball goes out of the ground by passing between the posts had they been of sufficient height.
Rule 13: The ball when in play may be stopped by any part of the body, but may not be held or hit by the hands, arms, or shoulders.
Rule 14: All charging is fair; but holding, pushing with the hands, tripping up, and shinning are forbidden.
Where is Parker’s Piece?
Parker’s Piece is in the city of Cambridge, England. The 10-hectare (25-acre) park, which is a roughly square and completely flat plot of grass, has long been used as a playing pitch for soccer and cricket. In the 1800s it was owned by Trinity College and it was on the trees bordering this common that the Cambridge Rules of football were first posted.
