There is no activity as massive in the world as soccer. Billions of people gather in stadiums around the world or sit in front of their televisions to watch the different leagues of the well-called “King Sport.”
When was it invented? Official data marks two important dates: 1857, the creation of the first football club, the Sheffield Football Club, and 1863, for the foundation of the first association of this sport, the Football Association (FA).
Both organizations, from Great Britain, attest that the English are the creators of football. However, a recent archaeological finding suggests that, despite the British still claiming the invention of this sport, it may have been much earlier than we thought.
The statements are based on a discovery made in Kirkcudbrightshire county, Scotland. Archaeologists have analyzed finding a description of a football field with dimensions and markings similar to what we know as the modern sport, in letters written between the years 1627 and 1638, two centuries before the mentioned organizations were created.
There are also details about the activity, ball, and number of players who participated in this sport, which was played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, just as it is customary today.
The letters revealed the location of the field
According to a review by National Geographic, the letters were written by Samuel Rutherford, a minister of the Church of Anwoth in a part of the 17th century.
Rutherford speaks of football as a disturbing activity, as it was carried out very frequently by the parishioners. In the letter, the minister reveals the exact location of the field where they played and notified the central authorities of the former government that they were going to place huge stones to prevent the continuation of these activities.
Ged O’Brien, a sports archaeologist, prepared a team to excavate and they found the rocks described in the religious letter. It was initially thought that these stones were used to mark territory, but it has now been discovered that they were actually placed to prevent people from playing football, much like how your elderly neighbor was bothered by you playing in the neighborhood.
“I have always thought that football had been played in Scotland for centuries. Not the mass football, but real football. Of course, it has always been very difficult to prove it because working people never kept records,” O’Brien said in an interview with the BBC.
The description of the sport was dozens of people running, chasing, and kicking a pig’s bladder, just like soccer in its origins.