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Quickies

Did you know …

that the first instance of the modern spelling of football appeared in 1608, in act 1 scene 4 of Shakespeare’s King Lear: “Nor tripped neither, you base football player”?

What was

Around 2000 B.C., the Greeks played episkyros (also known as phaininda), a kicking and throwing game played primarily by men, usually in the nude. Early balls were made of linen and hair wrapped in string and sewn together, though it is believed inflated balls — inflated pig bladders wrapped in pigskin or deerskin — were used by later practitioners of the game.

Quickies

Did you know …

that an ancient Greek marble relief housed in the National Museum of Archeology in Athens shows an athlete balancing a ball on his thigh as a young boy looks on? This very same image is featured on the European Cup trophy.

Who was Richard Mulcaster?

Richard Mulcaster, who lived from 1531 to 1611, was headmaster of the Merchant Taylors’ School and St. Paul’s School in London. Not only was he a prominent educator of his time, he was also one of the greatest sixteenth-century advocates of soccer. In his 1581 publication titled “Positions Wherein Those Primitive Circumstances Be Examined, Which Are Necessarie for the Training up of Children,” he argued that “Footeball” was beneficial “both to health and strength” of students, and he advocated for, organized, and refereed matches to counteract the craze of mob football.