Football: History and Importance

Football is an important sport that have imparted positively to the lives of people all over the world. Football has history, though many spectators are careless and ignorant about it. It is the most popular and the king of all the sports that have existed on the planet earth. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defined Football as any of a number of forms of team game involving kicking a football. Lovers of football feel as if something great is missing in their lives when they are so busy that they cannot figure out time to watch an ongoing football match.

As there is a saying that “music heals the soul”, so is there a current saying that “football heals the soul and the sick”. Do you believe in that? It is so because those who have been sick and loved football sometimes forgot about the pains they were passing through once they find themselves in football viewing centres at the scheduled time for a particular time. Those patients who were in hospitals suffering from broken legs sometimes do not know when they jump up in expression of their joy when football matches were being broadcasted on the hospital televisions irrespective of their conditions (only for those that have high passion for football sport). The power of football when it comes to health issues cannot be overemphasized.

There is nothing that has been adopted into this world that has no history. Even the internet that gives room to the reader of this piece to have access to it has history. Added to that, you as a reader of this piece of write-up has a history, or do you think what the author is trying to communicate is not true? The variation may be that how your sister tells your history may not be exactly the same with how your relations that live in far place will tell it.

The Ancient Greeks and Romans were known to be the first that played ball games. This was reported by Greek playwright called Antiphanes around 388-311BC. These are the first two groups that are believed to be the first to play ball game. The introduction of football from the report shows that football as a game existed long time before the birth of Jesus Christ. It is believed that the Roman’s adopted their game from the Greek based on documentation. Greek first ball game is called Episkyros while that of the Romans called Harpastum.

According to FiFA, the competition game of cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence (FIFA 2012). Cuju means an ancient Chinese ball game.

Though history told were the playing of football came from, but the modern football as a sport originated from England. It is from the modern football played in England that other parts of the world came to know about it. Till today, England, which is housed in Europe, is known for football. Any player that features from his country to England is well respected by his local teammates. Before migrating to the importance of football, it is essential to know that the first football used is was made from animal bladder, specifically the bladder of pig.

The soccer or football has been of great help to the universe. In the beginning of its origin, it was just used as something that is used for having fun for college students and youths, but in the recent time, soccer has pass beyond that. Things that people think were not important in the past have contributed to progress in the world of today even to the extent of promoting the economic standard of many nations. Hence, the importance of football are but not limited to:

• Employment creation;
• Economic growth;
• Health promoter; and
• Gives joy.

How does football generate employment for people? Can you count the number of players that pick playing of football as their career all over the world? How many footballers play in England alone not to talk of those that play in other parts of the world?

Football has been the career of many young and married men and women all over the world. These are people that have their business as playing football and nothing else. They enter the football pitch at every moment they have match with opposition team and contribute their best to ensure they win at the end of the game. As businessmen work very hard to ensure that their businesses keep booming, so do footballers learn all the necessary skills to ensure that their teams come out victorious at the end of every match.

There are many notable footballers who have taken football career as their biological sibling and have been paid huge for the work they perform in the football pitch. Examples of such footballers are Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal, Lionel Messi of Argentina, Bale of Real Madrid, Luis Suarez of Uruguay, Benzema of France, and many others. In Europe alone, a lot of footballers from different countries have been playing for the clubs who are paid well.

The employment generation or creation as one among other importance of football does not end in creating employment for footballers who have it as their profession. The importance of football in employment generation goes beyond that. How many football referees’ officiates football matches all over the globe? These men and men when accessed count in thousands. This is to say that football as a game has provided thousands of jobs to people through refereeing during football matches. Their sole function is just to make sure that the football rules are obeyed on every match and are being paid by the football association they work for. Can you imagine the number of unemployed the world will have if football is put to stop?

In the world of coaching profession, many have been employed by national teams and clubs to take care of football teams. The work of these men is to ensure that accurate information and training is given to the players so that they perform well in every encounter they have with any team. Football managers that have made names for themselves by winning trophies for the teams they take care of are being hired at higher price because of the value they will add to any football club or team they find themselves. Examples of such managers are Jose Mourinho the Portuguese, Sir Alex Ferguson (now retired), Ottmar Hitzfeld, Jupp Heynckes, Josep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and so many others. Out of these lists, Carlo Ancelotti is the most successful because he has won the European Champions League for three good times. These are men who have their employment as coaching of footballers and they are being paid.

Furthermore, in the world of real marketing, there are businessmen who deal on selling of the jersey of footballers. The only occupation they have is to sell customized football wears to football fans and make their money from the business. Is that not another arm through which football has generated employment to many people all over the world? There are many industries all over the world that deal on manufacturing of footballers jerseys. These industries have large number of employees that assist during the manufacturing processes and are paid at the end of every production.

What of those that sell edible materials in football stadiums? They have no other employment rather than to package their products properly so that spectators can come and buy foods whenever they are in need. The good thing is that these sellers make huge profit from the business as thousands of spectators come for football matches on every scheduled day of matches.

Many will be surprised on how football propels or increases economic growth of any country. This point may be confusing and scarce when compared with those found all over the web or on textbooks. The truth remains that before you read to the end of this sub-heading, you will understand how football games have contributed to the economic growth of some locations especially Europe and world cup hosted countries.

Economic growth occurs when there is increase in the production, consumption of goods and services, and when there is increase in supply of money in a particular area. For instance, if students who were born in Zambia travel from their country to India to be equipped properly in medicine because their country does not have enough accessories thereby spending a total of two billion U.S dollars ($2000, 000, 000) each year for such study in India, what it implies is that Zambia adds a total of two billion dollars to the economy of India in each year. Because of the added money, the economy of India increases.

In almost every weekend, people travel from all parts of the world to Europe to watch English Premier League, European Champions League or any football competition in Europe. When these lovers of football arrive, they always pay for tickets before they have access to watch the football. The amount of money generated from these viewers always promotes the growth of the economy of the countries/locations they travel to. Spain and England have had their economy grown as there are lots of football competitions that go on in their countries and people travel from far and near to watch these games.

On the televisions, newspapers, internet, social media sites, and other channels, we see adverts showcased on how to lose fats and become fit and healthy. Many have been working on themselves on daily basis to ensure that they lose fats and maintain healthy body. People have fasted day and night just to ensure that they lose fats, yet they have experienced little improvement.

Football is a form of sporting activity and many people have had their health standard improved through it. It is an exercise and doctors advice that exercise is good to the body. So, when people play football on the football pitch, their health state becomes improved as they burn out fats which might cause sickness in future. In communities, lots of youths do not only play football for fun but to also exercise their body system.

Personally as the author of this write-up,one of the reasons that makes me appreciate football is because it gives joy.Most times, some people (especially women) wonder why men should go to viewing centres and pay for them to be able to have access to watch the ongoing matches. The women and some other men see this as madness and waste of money. Some men sometimes prefer to watch football matches and forget about food.

Football is fun and gives joy to people. People take the game as a means of having leisure. Some men who have been in sad mood all of a sudden see themselves laughing and happy when they watch football. They forget all their worries at the point they watch interesting matches.

Conclusion

When football first emerged in some continents, it was banned because of the noise it usually raises and misunderstanding. But with time, the ban was lifted as many persons began to protest against that before codes were established. A brief history of football and the importance were discussed to the comprehension of the reader. Football has specific history on how it originated depending on the particular location. The importance of football cuts across so many areas.

References

• FIFA (2012), History of Football, retrieved Jan 28, 2015.
• Henry G. L, and Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus Digital Library, retrieved on January 28, 2015.
• Wikipedia (2015), Football, retrieved Jan 28, 2015.