It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming…
We’ve all heard that a million times, a song designed to bring together England fans, players and the whole country and by sheer will power bring football home. Considering England have won one World Cup 60 years ago and no European Championships in over 100 years it seems rather arrogant to call England the home of football. So why do we say it?
(image credit – Wikimedia commons)
The short answer: The English invented it. Whilst that is sort of true, it doesn’t make a very interesting blog does it? So read on and enjoy as we have a flick through football history, from humble beginnings to the rich man’s sport to the biggest sport in the world and whether England is really the home of football.
Overseas origins
The idea of sport for entertainment in the ancient world won’t come as a surprise, combat games like those taken part in by Gladiators in Rome were popular, board games in Imperial China like Mahjong are still played today and the original Olympics were played in Ancient Greece. The idea of a kicking game with a ball actually started in multiple cultures across the planet in different forms independently from one another. Ancient China had Cuju, Japan had Kamari, Ancient American Natives had Pasuckuakohowog and Rome and Greece too had games played with balls. The balls were made out of animal skins, or animal bladders, some were inflated to give a bounce and some were stuffed to make sure the balls didn’t get lost.
(image credit- Wikimedia commons)
There seems to be an innate human desire to kick something that is ball shaped. Much like if there is a big red button that says don’t touch, we all want to touch it. If there is something resembling a ball, you best believe that someone is going to wallop it. This explains then, why there were so many ball games that resemble football cropping up throughout antiquity.
FIFA, the governing body of worldwide football, states there is no connection to these games and the foundations of modern football or Association Football as it usually described, although rules and regulations may have been transferred through trading routes. Instead, FIFA and many historians would agree, Association Football starts in England.
A game for gentlemen
There have been recordings of a game with a ball in England dating back to the eighth century, but the rules are unfortunately lost to time. We do know that it was played with a pig’s bladder though and there typically weren’t any goal posts. We also know that in the Plum Pudding rebellion in Canterbury, which led to the beginning of The Second English Civil War, rioters showed their displeasure with the Mayor of Canterbury and suppression of fun by the Puritans by playing football on Christmas Day.
(Image credit- Wikimedia Commons)
Coming up to the 19th Century, the game known as Foot Ball was played in public schools across England, as they were the only ones who had access to such large fields. However, the rules varied from school to school, so in an effort to bring them into one rule set, in 1848, The Cambridge Rules were written, which would inspire the first rule set in the modern game. The rules didn’t take off for a while and in an effort to make sure all schools, colleges and teams followed the same rules, The Football Association or the FA was formed in 1863 and in the same year, the Laws of the Game were published. The first teams were formed of colleges from universities like Cambridge and Oxford but also public schools like Eton.
(The original Laws of the Game, Image credit – Wikimedia Commons)
So now we have a comprehensive game and teams as well, all we need now is something to play for. Luckily in 1873 it came with The Football Association Challenge Cup or simply The FA Cup, contested between teams of the colleges, and usually played by board members of the FA itself. Truly a gentleman’s game. Arthur Kinniard, 11th Lord Kinnaird, Captain of the Old Etonians and Deputy Head of the FA is considered to be the world’s first football superstar who still holds the record for the most FA cup finals by a player.
(The Old Etonians and their captain, Arthur Kinniard as depreciated in the Netflix Drama, An English Game, Image source – Netflix)
Working Man’s game and the first professional player
As popularity in the sport grew, the game spread from gentlemen to mills, workhouses and working people. The working classes across the country led incredibly tough lives and so as a way of bringing people together, football teams began in local mills and workhouses across England, playing on Saturdays in an effort to unite people. These teams would also play in the FA Cup every year, which saw the amount of teams entering increase exponentially.
In the 1880s though, a struggle began to emerge between the working man’s teams and the upper classes. The Laws of the Game stated that the game was amateur, in the sense that no one was allowed to be paid to play football through fear that football would become ruled by money and not by the love of the game. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. After Darwen, a mill team from Lancashire made it to the FA Cup final only to be beaten by the people who wrote the rules, a concerted effort was made to knock the upper classes off their perch.
(Furgus Suter, front, and Darwen FC, 1879, Image credit – Wikimedia Commons)
Furgus Suter, a Scottish player and stonemason moved from his native Partick down to Darwen in the 1870s. He was officially there to join the workhouse and was being paid through the company but secretly he had been employed as he was an incredibly gifted footballer so could join the mill team. Accusations of professionalism were thrown and a hearing in front of the FA took place to determine the future of the sport. The FA and the gentlemen who ran in wanted it as an amateur sport, but the vast majority of teams were working men who wanted to be paid, and so if Suter was allowed to play, the balance of power would shift from the upper classes to the working classes.
Realising that they couldn’t gate keep football for themselves anymore the FA ruled that Suter was allowed to play. Blackburn Olympic won the FA Cup in 1883, becoming the first working men’s team to win. No amateur team would ever win the FA Cup again and the sport moved into professionalism officially in 1885. Suter would win the FA cup three times on the trot, from 1884-1886.
(The 1899 FA Cup final, Image source- wikimedia commons)
In 1888, the worlds’ first league competition was started, imaginatively called The Football League, this was contested between 12 clubs initially. More clubs joined and had to be separated into separate divisions which were numbered First, Second etc. morphing into the football pyramid that we know today.
The world’s first international game
Amid the popularity of the game at club level, the historical English-Scottish rivalry spilled onto the pitch and in 1872, the first official international game between England and Scotland took place in Glasgow, also kicking off the first international rivalry. After much anticipation the game settled at 0-0, which didn’t set the tone particularly well for future generations.
(image credit- Wikimedia commons)
The game officially marked the start of international football making England and Scotland the joint oldest international football teams in the world. For their first game, England wore white shirts with the red crest of King Richard I, three golden lions. This crest would become synonymous with the England team and their nickname henceforth would be The Three Lions. Although it is worth noting that the original crest of King Richard actually comes from the French duchy of Anjou.
(image credit – Wikimedia Commons)
From there the sport spread across the world and the instigation of a World Cup would soon begin. England didn’t take part in The World Cup until 1950 due to falling out with the organisers FIFA and it would take four tries to win the trophy famously in 1966 at Wembley.
Other football firsts
England is home to the oldest professional football team, Notts County, the oldest professional football ground, Field Mill ground, home of Mansfield Town and the world oldest football chant. On the Ball City, the opening chant of our very own Norwich City FC was first sung in the 1890s but really took off in 1905 when the composer became chairman of the club.
(Image Source – Wikimedia commons)
Has football already come home?
Although the success of the senior men’s team has been limited since 1966, only making their next final of a major tournament in 2021, other England teams have had success. In 2017, England won the Under-20s World Cup, they have also won the Under-21s Euros three times, most recently in 2023 and other successes too. The youth teams are playfully called The Young Lions.
Away from the men’s game, the women’s team known as The Lionesses have had incredible success. Reaching multiple World Cup finals again most recently in 2023 where they lost to Spain, but winning the Euros in 2022, against long time football rivals Germany at Wembley.
(The Lionesses, featuring Norfolk’s own Lauren Hemp, 9th from Left, Image Credit – Wikimedia commons)
I think we can safely say then, that England is the home of football. Considering England is the joint oldest international football team, home to the world’s first football league, first domestic trophy, first Football Association oldest team, oldest ground and oldest chant. Most historians and football fans would agree that England is the home of football. (We can ignore that they play with a French crest and that the first pro was Scottish for argument’s sake!)
(England manager Gareth Southgate and captain Harry Kane, Image source – Wikimedia commons)
The men’s team have a chance to do what the Lionesses and Young Lions have done, if they manage to beat Spain on Sunday and win a trophy on foreign soil. England is the home of football, but whether football will come home to England remains to be seen.
COME ON ENGLAND!