Soccer History

Although the statement - "Famous Athletes" is subjective a few that I think deserve mention. Feel free to add.

Baseball

Stan Musial - St Louis Cardinals

Steve Garvey- LA Dodgers/San Diego Padres

Al Kaline - Detroit Tigers

Tony Oliva - Minnesota Twins

* Micky Mantle wore #6 during his rookie season but felt to much pressure to follow Ruth #3, Gehrig #4, & DiMaggio #5. He was sent down and when he was recalled from the minors later in the season he switched to the #7.

Basketball

Bill Russell - Boston Celtics

Julius Irving (Dr. J) - Philadelphia 76ers

Walter Davis - Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets, & Portland Trailblazers

Hockey/Football

N/A (Although it could be argued, I don't think anyone that wore/wears the #6 would be considered "Famous.")

According to FIFA, the "very earliest form of the game for which there is scientific evidence was an exercise of precisely this skilful technique dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries B.C. in China (the game of Cuju)." In addition, the Roman game Harpastum may be a distant ancestor of football. Various forms of football were played in medieval Europe, though rules varied greatly by both period and location

These games, whilst perhaps slightly resembling football, are not the fathers of the modern game. That was in England, where a game played in streets was given proper laws to make it suitable to be played by public schoolboys.

Answer

"Soccer" was created in 1863 but the evolution of Soccer or "Association Football" can be traced back hundreds of years to a ball game known as "Shrovetide football". The word "football" is from the English language and from early medieval times the term "fote-ball" (first recorded c.1400) was used to describe a 'ball game played on foot' not necessarily with the foot. Early football games were not only played by the English but also by other European peoples groups under different names with localised innovations. Other forms include Irish "Caid" meaning 'Ball' the ancestor of Gaelic football, Cornish Hurling "Hyrlîan", Welsh Hurling "Cnapan", "Knattleikr" a Viking ball game. A game called "La Soule" meaning 'The Ball' was played in France), "Ba" pronounced baw meaning 'Ball' played in Scotland and "Ball play" or "Playing at ball" or significantly "fote-ball" games played in England. These medieval ball games are the ones from which all modern football codes evolved and the Shrovetide ball game referred to as "fote-ball" is the version from which all modern football games take their name. These games may have evolved from a game played by the Romans called "Harpastum" which itself was an adaptation of an Ancient Greek game called "Episkyros" or "Phaininda" which, dating back to at least the 4th century BC, is the Worlds oldest known ball game that matches the medieval definition of football. It is worth noting that Harpastum was later recreated in 16th centaury Italy as "Calcio". Although there is a strong possibility the Roman and Greek ball games evolved into Shrovetide football and other similar ball games played in Europe as yet there are no verifiable connections. The Ancient Chinese also played a game called "Cuju" that dates back to the late 3rd centaury BC which has similarities to Association football. However, despite attempts by FIFA to infer an historical link between Cuju and Association Football there are no connections between Cuju and early ball games played in medieval Europe.

The creation of Soccer: For century's football was played by various different rules in Public school and villages in the UK. Then in 1848 Cambridge University attempted to create a standard set of rules for Public schools. Two former students of Shrewsbury School Mr. H. de Winton and Mr. J.C. Thring organized a meeting at Trinity College, Cambridge with 12 representatives from other schools namely Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury. In the eight hour meeting these men created what became the 'blue print' for Soccer. These rules became known as the "Cambridge Rules" which unlike "Rugby School Rules" (1823) favours a game in which the ball would be kicked more than carried. In 1863 a solicitor from Hull called Ebenezer Cobb Morley wrote an article for Bell's Life newspaper promoting the idea of a new regulatory body for football. This led to the formation of the "Football Association" whose main aim was to standardise the rules of football nationally. This new code was to be based on the Cambridge Rules. The 'Laws of the game' for Soccer or Association football were drafted by E. C. Morley along with other founder members of the Football Association. They agreed the rules at a public house called the Freemasons Tavern in London on 26th October 1863. Morley became the Football Associations first secretary. He also founded the Barnes Football Club in 1862 which he captained against Richmond football club in the first ever soccer match. The game ended 0-0 but in a return game he scored the first ever goal. He died in 1924 and is buried at a Cemetery on Barnes Common not far from where he drafted the Laws of the game at 26 The Terrace, Barnes, London. A blue plaque commemorating his life's work was placed on the wall of this address by English Heritage in 2009.

Entomology of the word soccer: The word soccer is a phonetic abbreviation of the word 'Association' coined by English public school students who took the 'soc' from 'Association' and put an 'er' on the end. That is why prior to 1863 the word soccer did not exist. It is probably worth noting the same students called Rugby football 'Rugger' but this word fell out of use.

Northern Ireland club football team Linfield have won over 200 trophies making them winners of more trophies than any other club team i can find records on.

UPDATE:

Scottish Premier League giants Rangers have won 111 senior trophies as of the end of the 2008/09 season. This is recognised by UEFA as being the world record as these are all UEFA sanction competitions.

Rangers were the first club in the world to win 50 league titles, they now hold the world record for number of domestic league championships won after racking up 52 titles in 2008. Rangers also hold the record for domestic trebles with seven so far.

Linfield's achievement while still tremendous includes many no sanctioned competitions such as the obscure: Blandixt Cup, Tyler Cup and many more. The official UEFA sanctioned haul is 96 trophies (still outstanding).

1GKPaul Robinson2DFMíchel Salgado3DFMartin Olsson4DFChristopher Samba (team captain)5DFGaël Givet6DFRyan Nelsen (club captain)8MFDavid Dunn10MFMauro Formica11MFVince Grella12MFMorten Gamst Pedersen13GKMark Bunn14MFRadosav Petrović15MFSteven N'Zonzi16DFScott Dann19FWJordan Slew20FWRubén Rochina22FWNick Blackman23MFJunior Hoilett24FWYakubu25FWDavid Goodwillie28GKJake Kean29MFSimon Vukčević30FWJason Roberts31DFGrant Hanley32DFBruno Ribeiro33DFJosh Morris35MFJason Lowe36FWMicah Evans37FWZac Aley38DFMyles Anderson39DFAdam Henley40MFRobbie Cotton

1GKMark Schwarzer

2DFStephen Kelly3DFJohn Arne Riise4MFSteve Sidwell5DFBrede Hangeland6DFChris Baird8FWAndy Johnson9FWOrlando Sá10MFPajtim Kasami11FWBryan Ruiz13MFDanny Murphy (captain)14DFPhilippe Senderos15MFMarcel Gecov