With the FIFA Women's World Cup Finals being currently contested and the American Women's team doing so well, I got to thinking about the sport of soccer. About its possible beginnings and the historical journey it must have gone through to spring forth the mass and emotional appeal it embodies today.
Soccer has been around for approximately 3,500 years in the form of the Mesoamerican Ball Game. Archeologist have found massive ball courts in central Mexico that have been carbon dated to 1,500 BCE. Previous to this finding, a Chinese military drill manual of the 2nd & 3rd centuries BC, which described drill exercises much like soccer, was believed to be the earliest form of soccer played. Meaning the Game of the Gods has been around much longer than anyone had previously imagined.
In fact, all team sports that have a rubber ball in play owe that sports' existence to Central American Indians; specifically the Mayas and the Aztecs. "The games, which combined elements of modern basketball, football and soccer, were great public spectacles in which art played a central role"... also ..."We learn that the marvelous qualities of rubber, extracted from native American plants, led to the development of the games; that Olmec and Maya rulers played the ball game as part of their ceremonial duties; that the ball courts were dynamic public spaces where great pageants were enacted; and elaborate rituals of human sacrifice often concluded a great game." The Sport of Life & Death: The MesoAmerican Ballgame; Thames & Hudson, publisher; E. Michael Whittington, author.
The sport of balancing and mastering a rubber ball first originated, for fun; but it soon became something much more ominous than the neighborhood kids trying to out maneuver each other with their athletic skills. Political and religious implications soon enveloped the reason the games were played and, henceforth, land disputes, debts and even human enslavements were decided upon the outcome of a game.
As an acceptable human sacrifice to their many Gods, only the best player, the Captain of the winning team, was given that particular honor. In the Mayan and Aztec cultures, it was indeed a great honor to be sacrificed to the Gods, in the case of the Mesoamerican games, it was believed that this great hero would return as a God. Great prestige was granted to his family upon his death and needless to say, the victim's family became the beneficiaries of the whole community once they were proclaimed "relatives of a God."
In present day Central America, the Mesoamerican Ball Game has survived in a game called ulama. It is from this game that we imagine what the ancient Mesoamerican games must have been like. Ulama players do not use their hands when handling the ball. Only their heads, hips, knees, thighs and feet can be used. The ball is approximately 9 lbs. Same as in the Mesoamerican game. Some protective gear is used, as in extra padding added to the extremities allowed, but not much other than that. Death as been known to occur playing this game if the player is hit with the ball in his mouth or in the stomach.
Although, stone vertical rings are now a common fixture associated with the ancient ball courts, these were actually added latter by the Mayas and are not part of the first ball courts constructed, nor monumental to the first games played. In fact, it is so hard to score by shooting the ball threw the stone ring, that doing so, would automatically win the game. It is believed that markers on the ball court and showing skills, such as, keeping the ball from touching the ground the longest, were ways of winning points and, therefore, a more common way of winning the game.
Of course, if you research soccer, no mention of the Mesoamerican Ball Game will come up. What will come up is Association Football. Translation? The european definition of soccer. The modern rules of football (soccer) are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football (soccer) played at the public schools of England. The history of football (soccer) in England dates back to at least the eighth century. Wikipedia With the standardizing of "football" came The Cambridge Rules (1848), J.C. Thring Rules (1862), Sheffield Football Association (1867) and FIFA-Federation Internationale de Football Association (1904); all very instrumental and influential in today's soccer.
At the turn of the 21st Century, the game was played by 250 million players in over 200 countries making it the world's most popular sport. Wikipedia.
Soccer has been accredited with starting a war; Central American nations of El Salvador and Honduras, in 1969; also known as the 100 Hours' War; with delaying a war; both sides of the Biafran War, also known as the Nigerian Civil War, declared a two day truce in September, 1967, so that they could watch Pele and his touring Santos team play in two exhibition matches; and with countless riots after a game resulting in casualties and injuries. Could Mayan and Aztec deities still be extracting their blood demands from modern tragedies?
Perhaps in getting a better perspective of where the game originated from, it is not so far fetched in concluding that this game somehow brings to the surface a primal, hard to control urge in its participants. Perhaps it does have something to do with the Divine; with the Sacred; and need be approached with great respect and reverence. Good Luck U.S. Women's Soccer Team!
Soccer has been around for approximately 3,500 years in the form of the Mesoamerican Ball Game. Archeologist have found massive ball courts in central Mexico that have been carbon dated to 1,500 BCE. Previous to this finding, a Chinese military drill manual of the 2nd & 3rd centuries BC, which described drill exercises much like soccer, was believed to be the earliest form of soccer played. Meaning the Game of the Gods has been around much longer than anyone had previously imagined.
In fact, all team sports that have a rubber ball in play owe that sports' existence to Central American Indians; specifically the Mayas and the Aztecs. "The games, which combined elements of modern basketball, football and soccer, were great public spectacles in which art played a central role"... also ..."We learn that the marvelous qualities of rubber, extracted from native American plants, led to the development of the games; that Olmec and Maya rulers played the ball game as part of their ceremonial duties; that the ball courts were dynamic public spaces where great pageants were enacted; and elaborate rituals of human sacrifice often concluded a great game." The Sport of Life & Death: The MesoAmerican Ballgame; Thames & Hudson, publisher; E. Michael Whittington, author.
The sport of balancing and mastering a rubber ball first originated, for fun; but it soon became something much more ominous than the neighborhood kids trying to out maneuver each other with their athletic skills. Political and religious implications soon enveloped the reason the games were played and, henceforth, land disputes, debts and even human enslavements were decided upon the outcome of a game.
As an acceptable human sacrifice to their many Gods, only the best player, the Captain of the winning team, was given that particular honor. In the Mayan and Aztec cultures, it was indeed a great honor to be sacrificed to the Gods, in the case of the Mesoamerican games, it was believed that this great hero would return as a God. Great prestige was granted to his family upon his death and needless to say, the victim's family became the beneficiaries of the whole community once they were proclaimed "relatives of a God."
In present day Central America, the Mesoamerican Ball Game has survived in a game called ulama. It is from this game that we imagine what the ancient Mesoamerican games must have been like. Ulama players do not use their hands when handling the ball. Only their heads, hips, knees, thighs and feet can be used. The ball is approximately 9 lbs. Same as in the Mesoamerican game. Some protective gear is used, as in extra padding added to the extremities allowed, but not much other than that. Death as been known to occur playing this game if the player is hit with the ball in his mouth or in the stomach.
Although, stone vertical rings are now a common fixture associated with the ancient ball courts, these were actually added latter by the Mayas and are not part of the first ball courts constructed, nor monumental to the first games played. In fact, it is so hard to score by shooting the ball threw the stone ring, that doing so, would automatically win the game. It is believed that markers on the ball court and showing skills, such as, keeping the ball from touching the ground the longest, were ways of winning points and, therefore, a more common way of winning the game.
Of course, if you research soccer, no mention of the Mesoamerican Ball Game will come up. What will come up is Association Football. Translation? The european definition of soccer. The modern rules of football (soccer) are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football (soccer) played at the public schools of England. The history of football (soccer) in England dates back to at least the eighth century. Wikipedia With the standardizing of "football" came The Cambridge Rules (1848), J.C. Thring Rules (1862), Sheffield Football Association (1867) and FIFA-Federation Internationale de Football Association (1904); all very instrumental and influential in today's soccer.
At the turn of the 21st Century, the game was played by 250 million players in over 200 countries making it the world's most popular sport. Wikipedia.
Soccer has been accredited with starting a war; Central American nations of El Salvador and Honduras, in 1969; also known as the 100 Hours' War; with delaying a war; both sides of the Biafran War, also known as the Nigerian Civil War, declared a two day truce in September, 1967, so that they could watch Pele and his touring Santos team play in two exhibition matches; and with countless riots after a game resulting in casualties and injuries. Could Mayan and Aztec deities still be extracting their blood demands from modern tragedies?
Perhaps in getting a better perspective of where the game originated from, it is not so far fetched in concluding that this game somehow brings to the surface a primal, hard to control urge in its participants. Perhaps it does have something to do with the Divine; with the Sacred; and need be approached with great respect and reverence. Good Luck U.S. Women's Soccer Team!
UPDATE: The 3,500 year old Rubber Ball that changed Sports Forever, by Christopher Klein, URL www.history.com/news/the-3,500-year-old-rubber-ball-that-changed-sports-forever. (Written in 2016; 5 years after my article)
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