Love it hate it, like it or loathe it, there’s no denying that soccer is the most popular game on the planet.

Indeed, it’s origins stretch back to ancient China and Japan, where similar games are thought to have been played as far back as 1004 B.C. How can we possibly know such things? Well, Germany’s Munich Ethnological Museum has in their possession an archaic Chinese text dating back to around 50 B.C. which mentions the game. Initially played with a leather ball filled with hair, soccer seems to have long standing roots in the Far East.

There are other ancient culture who held similar contest, such as the Greeks and Romans. But nowhere in the history of the game has their been such a powerful enemy as England’s King Edward.

During his reign from 1307-1327, the British monarch made no secret of his distaste for the sport. He passed several laws against the game, which gave authorities the power to imprison anyone caught playing it.

“For as much as there is a great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls,” said the King, “from which many evils may arise, which God forbid, we command and forbid on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city future.”

And Edward wasn’t the only one. Kings Henry IV and Henry VIII forbade citizens from playing. It wasn’t only the men of the monarchy who were opposed to soccer: Queen Elizabeth I was known to have “had soccer players jailed for a week, with follow-up church penance.”

Yet despite all of these stringent limitations, the game would go on to enjoy immense popularity. Thanks to Great Britain’s far reach influence as a colonial empire, soccer was carried to countries all across the globe.

So, despite the efforts of Edward, the spirit of soccer remains indomitable.

- Taylor Maxwell

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tags | King Edward, Soccer