THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL

         I am going to tell you about the history of football, one the most popular sport games all over the World.

         Football is a popular sport played all over the world. It is the national sport of most European and Latin-American coun­tries and of many other nations. Millions of people in more than 140 countries play football. Football is played in the Olym­pics. Games similar to football were played in China as early as 400 BC. Egyptians played a kind of football too. They played games involving the kicking of a ball. In about 200 AD the Romans played a game in which two teams tried to score by advancing a ball across a line on the field. The Romans passed the ball to one another but they never kicked it. London chil­dren in about 1100 played a form of soccer in the streets. Du­ring the 1800’s the people of England played a game similar to football. Many rules changed and each person interpreted the rules differently. Now, the sport has grown to a global scale, including men’s and women’s teams and the World Cup and European Championship competitions, which is played every four years. Also there is League of Champions and FIFA Cup competitions which take place every year in Europe.

        Football originated with kicking games played by people in ancient times. The modern version came from England. Football was not that popular kind of game until the mid- 1900s.

         It started as a game involving kicking and handing, but later this branched off into two separate sports: rugby and football, which is what the Americans call soccer. Around the late nineteenth century, English football began spreading over Europe. The United States was one of the last to implement football as a national sport. The Canadian Soccer Association was established in 1912 while the United States Soccer Fede­ration was set up in 1913. The first World Cup Championship was in Montevideo, Uruguay. Since then it has been played every four years except during World War II. The North Ame­rican Soccer League (NASL) was formed in 1968. But it didn’t gain popularity until the 1970’s.

        The rules of play for soccer are simple. The referee makes most of the decisions and attempts to encourage fair play. The game starts off With a kick off and the teams are allowed to pass, dribble, juggle, head, kick and shoot the ball to place it down the field, and (hopefully or eventually) into their opponent’s goal. If the ball is kicked off the field over the length of the field, the other team is given a throw-in, where the ball is thrown over the player’s head, and back onto the field. If the ball is kicked over the goal or across the width of the field, either a corner kick results, realizing by the offensive team, where the ball is placed on the corner of the field and kicked into play or the defensive team is awarded a kick, where the ball is placed on the corner Of the goal box, and kicked back into play. If a goal is scored, the ball is taken back to the centre of the field and the team, scored against, kicks off and keeps playing.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is football a very popular sport?

2. Is football a game of the Olympics?

3. Where and when were games similar to football played?

4. What competitions played every four years do you know?

5. Where did the modern version of football come from?

6. When did football become a very popular game?

7. Was the United States one of the first nations to imple­ment football as a national sport?

8. Where did the first World Cup Championship take place?

9. How often is the World Cup Championship played?

10. Who are engaged to make most decisions and to encou­rage fair play in football?

VOCABULARY:

similar — подобный, сходный, похожий

to involve — включать в себя, подразумевать

to kick — наносить удар по мячу ногой, пинать

to score — зд.забивать гол, открывать счет

to advance — продвигаться вперед; забивать гол

to interpret — переводить, интерпретировать

to grow (past grew, p.p. grown) — расти, вырастать, уве­личиваться

global scale — глобальный масштаб

to originate — возникать, происходить от

ancient — древний, старый

rugby — регби

to spread (past spread, p.p. spread) over — распростра­ниться

to implement — обеспечивать, выполнять

to set (past set, p.p. set) up — основывать, учреждать

referee — рефери, судья

to attempt — пытаться

to encourage — поддерживать, поощрять

fair play — честная игра

kick off — вводить мяч в игру из центра

to allow — позволять, разрешать

to dribble — вести мяч (в футболе, баскетболе и т. п.)

to juggle — обманывать

opponent’s goal — ворота противника

throw-in — вбрасывание, аут

corner kick — угловой удар

offensive team — нападающая команда

defensive team — защищающаяся команда

to award — присуждать