Steady rain falls over Polenca and we have not gone to Palma, an hour's drive, to watch RCD Mallorca play Barcelona B. It is West Brom and Burnley on the tele but it is unlikely that the local bar will show it, so we invent a game of football involving a 2.95 Euros plastic football, four sun loungers and three immobile 60 year olds on a flooded pateo near the pool. Most of the original game of football included the use of hands, feet and even sticks to control a ball. The Roman game of ‘Harpastum’ was a possession based ball game where each side would attempt to retain possession of a small ball for as long as possible. The Ancient Greeks competed in a similar game entitled ‘Episkyros’, but both of these pursuits reflected rules closer to rugby than modern day soccer.
The most relevant of these ancient games to our modern day ‘Association Football’ is the Chinese game of ‘Tsu-Chu’ or ‘kick ball’ as it translates. Records of the game begin during the Tsin Dynasty (255-206BC) and represent a game in which soldiers competed in a training activity featuring a leather ball being kicked into a net strung between two poles. The main difference between Tsu-Chu and soccer was the height of the goal, which hung about 30 feet from the floor.
From the introduction of Tsu-Chu onwards, soccer-like games spread throughout the world, with many cultures having activities that centred on the use of their feet. The Native Americans had ‘Pahsaherman’, the Indigenous Australians ‘Marn Grook’ and the Moari’s ‘Ki-o-rahi’ to name a few.
Soccer began to evolve in modern Europe from the 9th century onwards and in England entire towns would kick a pig’s bladder from one landmark to another. The game was often seen as a nuisance and was even banned for some periods of Britain’s history.
Our "game" did not upset anyone, it kept our minds of the next glass of Rioja for a while and the rain continues to fall and apparently will do for few days yet.
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