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The Indians played a game called pasuckuakohowog, which means, "they gather to play ball with the foot." Played on beaches a half a mile wide with goals one mile apart.
1000 people played at a time. Games were often rough, resulting in broken bones, but no one could be identified because players disguised themselves with ornaments and war paint, making retaliation close to impossible.
It was common for games to be carried over from one day to the next with a feast for all at the end.
The Eskimos played "aqsaqtuk" or "soccer on ice." Balls were stuffed with grass, caribou hair, and moss. One of the legends tell of two villages playing against each other with goals ten miles wide. No one knows the date.
The earliest mention researchers have found of a soccer like game is in China. The ball was made of animal skin that were kicked through a gap in a net stretched between poles 30 feet high. Records indicate that "tsu chu" was played as a part of the emperors birthday celebration. The Chinese also played some form of the game to train soldiers during the Ts'in Dynasty (255 BC- 206 BC.) According to the records, Tsu chu was also played extensively during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD.).
One story speaks of using the enemies skull as a ball. Another story tells of a brave village defeating a Roman team and running them out of town. That was in 217 AD. Nonetheless, the history of the game in England during the 5th through 11th centuries is a bit vague. By the 12th century. the game had become a violent mob sport with no rules and any sort of behavior allowed. This earned a succession of royal bans. Nevertheless, the sport grew in popularity. Formal rules of today's game were adopted in England in 1863.
Pacific Island inhabitants developed games using hands and feet early on. They used coconuts, oranges, and pig bladders as balls.
Ancient Egypt and the Near East
Historians have suggested that fertility rights in Ancient Egypt and religious ceremonies in the Ancient Near East may have been linked to the development of the games.
Mexico and Central America-600 AD-1600 AD
The creation of the rubber ball was in Mexico and Central America. These people played games on a recessed court shaped like a capital "I". The court was 40-50 feet long with vertical walls several feet high. In the middle of each wall was a mounted stone or wooden ring and the object was to project the hard rubber ball through the ring.
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