Its almost impossible to say where the game of football first started but it is recorded in history that the Ancient Greeks included a ball in their military training exercises this idea was adopted and adapted by the Romans who spread it through their Empire eventually reaching this country two Thousand years ago.

I can imagine the baying crowds shouting “Come on Maximus Ferdinandus get stuck in lad “ as they marched on Londinium.

The basic principle of the game all those years ago involved at least two opposing teams trying to get the ball to the oppositions home base and it didn’t matter if it was carried, kicked or thrown sometimes resulting in violent clashes.

I believe a similar game is still played in the Ashbourne area of Derbyshire where the town divides into two teams and it can sometimes take all day before a winner is announced with the odd bloody nose on the way!

Football if you can call it that was played in one form or another around the time of the Norman Conquest and by the time of William the Conquerors death the game was played without any set rules or organisation this was the case for at least another 600 years.

It was early in the nineteen century that the game started to develop into what it is now it but it started off as a rugby type game where the players carried the ball under their arm and scored when the ball was dropped in their opponents goal.

There were various rules adopted by different teams which consequently made the game difficult to play but eventually the game divided into two separate sports Rugby and Football (Soccer) the only real difference being the legitimate handling of the ball during play.

The game of football has come a long way since then and with the introduction of standardised rules and regulations, it doesn’t matter where in the world a game of football is played the rules are the same