COLEGIUL NATIONAL "DECEBAL" DEVA

FOOTBALL:
THE KING OF
SPORTS


Coordinating teacher: Student:
Mariana Ruzisca Ban Fintina Ionut Daniel





-2014-


COLEGIUL NATIONAL "DECEBAL" DEVA




FOOTBALL:
THE KING OF
SPORTS


Coordinating teacher: Student:
Mariana Ruzisca Ban Fintina Ionut Daniel





-2014-


TABLE OF CONTENTS

ARGUMENT.................................................................................................... 1
SUMMARY...................................................................................................... 1
WHAT IS FOOTBALL?................................................................................. 2
FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND........................................................................... 2
REPRESENTATIVE TEAMS............................................................................................ 3
MANCHESTER UNITED..................................................................................................... 3
LIVERPOOL.......................................................................................................................... 4
CHELSEA.............................................................................................................................. 4
LIVERPOOL - MANCHESTER UNITED RIVALRY......................................................... 5
SOCIAL IMPACT OF FOOTBALL............................................................. 6
FIGHTING AGAINST RACISM....................................................................................... 6
ENCOURAGNG TEAMWORK........................................................................................ 7
HOOLIGANISM.................................................................................................................. 7
THE HEYSEL STADIUM DISASTER................................................................................ 8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................ 10
BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................... 11



1

ARGUMENT
Even though there are a lot of sports in this world, there is only one that is popular
worldwide and played by millions of people. That sport is football, and this is why it is called the
king of sports. One of the main reasons I chose this topic is because I am a huge football fan and
I think that it creates a passion and an energy that can not be compared to anything else. Football
can create great rivalries, but greater friendships. In the infamous words of Bill Shankly: Some
people believe football is a matter of life and death. Im very disappointed with that attitude. I
can assure you it is much, much more important than that.

SUMMARY
The first chapter, "What is football?" represents a brief introduction in the world of
football and consists of some general facts about football.
The second part is a presentation of the football form the country where it was born,
England. Apart from the first written evidence of a football match, the first professional football
club and the oldest football competition, this chapter also includes short descriptions of the most
representative english teams and the greatest rivalry in english football.
The last chapter, "Social impact of football", presents the positive and negative influence
of football on society.




2

WHAT IS FOOTBALL?
Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with
the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more
commonly known as just "football" or "soccer".
Various forms of football can be identified in history, often as popular peasant games.
Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English
public schools in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The influence and power of the British
Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside of the
directly controlled Empire, though by the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional codes
were already developing.
In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many
professional football competitions. During the twentieth century, several of the various kinds of
football grew to become among the most popular team sports in the world.

FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND
Association football is a national sport in England, where the first modern set of rules for
the code were established in 1863, which were a major influence on the development of the
modern Laws of the Game. With over 40,000 association football clubs, England has more clubs
involved in the code than any other country.
England is home to, amongst others, the world's first club (Sheffield F.C.), the world's
oldest professional association football club (Notts County F.C), the oldest national governing
body (The Football Association), the first national team, the oldest national knockout
competition (the FA Cup) and the oldest national league (The Football League). Today England's
top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in
the world. Due to all these facts, England is considered the home of the game of football.
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Football was played in England as far back as medieval times. The first written evidence
of a football match came in about 1170, when William Fitzstephen wrote of his visit to London,
"After dinner all the youths of the city goes out into the fields for the very popular game of ball."
He also went on to mention that each trade had their own team, "The elders, the fathers, and the
men of wealth come on horseback to view the contests of their juniors, and in their fashion sport
with the young men; and there seems to be aroused in these elders a stirring of natural heat by
viewing so much activity and by participation in the joys of unrestrained youth." Kicking ball
games are described in England from 1280.
England was the first country in the world to develop codified football, coming about
from a desire of its various public schools to compete against each other. Previously, each school
had its own rules, which may have dated back to the 15th or 16th centuries. The first attempts to
come up with single codes probably began in the 1840s, with various meetings between school
representatives attempting to come up with a set of rules with which all would be happy.
REPRESENTATIVE TEAMS:
MANCHESTER UNITED

Manchester United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Old
Trafford, Greater Manchester, that plays in the Premier League. Founded as Newton Heath LYR
Football Club in 1878, the club changed its name to Manchester United in 1902 and moved
to Old Trafford in 1910. Manchester United is the third-richest football club in the world for
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201112 in terms of revenue, and the second most valuable sports team in 2013, valued at
$3.165 billion. It is one of the most widely supported football teams in the world.
LIVERPOOL

Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool.
Liverpool F.C. is one of the most successful clubs in England and has won more European
trophies than any other English team with five European Cups, three UEFA Cups and
three UEFA Super Cups. The club has also won eighteen League titles, seven FA Cups and a
record eight League Cups. Liverpool was founded in 1892 and joined the Football League the
following year. The club has played at Anfield since its formation. The most successful period in
Liverpool's history was the 1970s and '80s when Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley led the club to
eleven league titles and seven European trophies.
CHELSEA

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Chelsea Football Club is an English football club based in Fulham, London. Founded in
1905, they play in the Premier Leagueand have spent most of their history in the top tier of
English football. Their home ground is Stamford Bridge stadium, where they have played since
their establishment. The club has enjoyed its greatest period of success in the past two decades,
winning 15 major trophies since 1997. Chelsea are the only London club to win the UEFA
Champions League,
[4]
and one of four clubs, and the only British club, to have won all three
main UEFA club competitions.
LIVERPOOL - MANCHESTER UNITED RIVALRY
The Liverpool F.C.Manchester United F.C. rivalry is a footballing rivalry between
English clubs Liverpool and Manchester United. It is considered to be one of the biggest rivalry
matches in Europe.
The clubs are also the two most successful teams in England; between them they have
won 121 honours: 59 for Liverpool and 62 for Manchester United. As well as competing on the
football pitch, both teams are also two of the biggest-earning, and widely-supported, football
clubs in the world.
Both clubs claim the title of 'the greatest English football club', having won over 50
major trophies each. Liverpool dominated English football from 1975 to 1990, winning 11
league championships and four European Cups. Likewise, Manchester United have dominated
English football since 1993, winning 13 league championships and two European Cups. During
their respective periods of dominance, both teams enjoyed several seasons in which they won
multiple trophies in both domestic and European competitions. The two clubs are thus the most
successful English sides in European and domestic competitions, with Liverpool having been
European champions five times (11 European trophies overall) while Manchester United have
been European champions three times (five European trophies overall); Manchester United have
also won the Intercontinental Cup/FIFA World Club Cup twice. Manchester United have won 20
English league titles, while Liverpool have won 18. Manchester United currently have 35
domestic honours, while Liverpool have 33.
The rivalry can be considered as a manifestation of one which already had existed
between the two cities since industrial times. During this time both were competing with each
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other for supremacy of the North West, with Manchester famous for its manufacturing prowess
while Liverpool was famous for the importance of its port.


SOCIAL IMPACT OF FOOTBALL
Football has qualities that bring people together in ways that often defy usual barriers.
People engage across geographic boundaries, age spans or even across the street where otherwise
they can struggle to say hello to each other. The potential to harness this for the benefit of
communities seems immense. Of course arguably football also brings disharmony and conflict
when groups come together but perhaps this is not where football is a game of qualities but a
medium, where anger and disrespectful behaviour can be unearthed, as well as positive traits
such as togetherness and cohesion.
FIGHTING AGAINST RACISM

Article 3 of FIFA Statutes states: "Discrimination of any kind against a Country, private
person or group of people on account of race, skin, colour, ethnic, national or social origin,
gender, language, religion, political opinion or any other opinion, wealth, birth or any status,
sexual orientation or any other reason is strictly prohibited and punishable by suspension or
expulsion."
As the globe's most popular sport, football has a particular role to play in confronting
prejudice. Football is honour-bound, by virtue of that very popularity, to promote values which
are able to make society more tolerant of diversity. Over recent years, UEFA and its global
football counterpart FIFA have increased the severity and number of punishments able to be
7

imposed for racist offences. Among them are fines and ordering matches to be played behind
closed doors, while referees have the power, albeit little-used, to halt games marred by racist
chanting.
The most well known organisations that fight against racism in football are FARE
(Football Against Racism in Europe) and "Kick It Out".
ENCOURAGING TEAMWORK
Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct
individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common
people to attain uncommon results. In football, nearly every player's success depends on
someone else doing his job. For example, a striker may score a lot of goals, but he would not be
able to do it if he does not recieve good passes from his team mates.
HOOLIGANISM
Football hooliganism refers to unruly, violent, and destructive behaviour by overzealous
supporters of football clubs, including brawling, vandalism and intimidation. Football
hooliganism normally involves conflict between gangs, often known as football firms, formed
for the specific purpose of intimidating and physically attacking supporters of other teams.
Certain clubs have long-standing rivalries with other clubs and hooliganism associated with
matches between them, is likely to be more severe. Conflict may take place before, during or
after matches. Participants often select locations away from stadiums to avoid arrest by the
police, but conflict can also erupt spontaneously inside the stadium or in the surrounding streets.
Football hooliganism has factors in common with juvenile delinquency and what has
been called "ritualized male violence". Involvement in football violence can be explained in
relation to a number of factors, relating to interaction, identity, legitimacy and power. Football
violence is also thought to reflect expressions of strong emotional ties to a football team, which
may help to reinforce a supporters sense of identity.
There are records of football hooliganism in the UK from the 1880s, and from no later than the
1960s the UK had a worldwide reputation for it the phenomenon was often dubbed the English
8

Disease. From the 1970s, many organised hooligan firms sprang up. In the 1980s and well into
the 1990s the UK government led a major crackdown on football-related violence. While
football hooliganism has been a growing concern in some other European countries in recent
years, British football fans now tend to have a better reputation abroad. Although reports of
British football hooliganism still surface, the instances now tend to occur at pre-arranged
locations rather than at the matches themselves.
Police and civil authorities in various countries with hooligan problems have taken a
number of measures, including:
banning items that could be used as weapons or missiles in stadia, and searching suspected
hooligans
banning identified hooligans from stadia, either formally via judicial orders, or informally by
denying them admittance on the day
moving to all-seated stadia, which reduces the risk of disorderly crowd movement
segregating opposing fans, and fencing enclosures to keep fans away from each other and off
the pitch
banning opposing fans from matches and/or ordering specific matches to be played behind
closed doors
compiling registers of known hooligans
restricting the ability of known hooligans to travel overseas.
THE HEYSEL STADIUM DISASTER
The Heysel Stadium Disaster is probably the worst tragedy caused by hooligans. It
occurred on 29 May 1985 when escaping fans were pressed against a wall in the Heysel
Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of the 1985 European Cup Final between Juventus
of Italy and Liverpool of England. Thirty-nine Juventus fans died and 600 were injured.
Approximately one hour before the Juventus-Liverpool final was due to kick off, a large
group of Liverpool fans breached a fence separating them from a "neutral area" which contained
Juventus fans. The Juventus fans ran back on the terraces and away from the threat into a
concrete retaining wall. Fans already seated near the wall were crushed; eventually the wall
9

collapsed. Many people climbed over to safety, but many others died or were badly injured. The
game was played despite the disaster in order to prevent further violence.
The tragedy resulted in all English football clubs being placed under an indefinite ban
by UEFA from all European competitions (lifted in 199091), with Liverpool being excluded for
an additional year and fourteen Liverpool fans found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and
each sentenced to three years' imprisonment. The disaster was later described as "The darkest
hour in the history of the UEFA competitions".












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CONCLUSION
In my opinion, football in England is almost a religion. Even though it has its negative
parts and some people think that it is played and watched by uneducated people, football, due to
its huge popularity, is one of the most powerful weapons to fight against racism. Good or bad,
football is clearly a language within communities across the UK and internationally, and
provides something that very quickly brings people together and engages them. For the 24
national teams, the 55 county football associations, the 125,000 FA affiliated teams in over 2,000
leagues, and over 7 million people playing and countless supporters across England alone, there
is undoubtedly a significant social impact of football.
In addition, football is also a form of entertainment and, if you play it, a very good way
of maintaining body health, as well as learning to work in a team and help others. It can create
great friendships and develop your skills.
Football brings people together. It is also a source of joy and hope to those affected by
conflict. Indeed, governments of countries in which war zones exist or have existed use the sport
as a means to unite and inspire their people.
I would like to end with FIFA President Joseph Blatter's quote: "Football is the last
bridge when society has broken down, but it is also the first bridge when life begins to bloom
again. Football is hope. Football is life."






11

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_England
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_hooliganism
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heysel_Stadium_disaster
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_F.C.%E2%80%93Manchester_United_F.C._rivalry
5. http://www.manutd.com/
6. http://www.liverpoolfc.com/welcome-to-liverpool-fc
7. http://www.chelseafc.com/
8. http://www.supporters-direct.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/5.-SD-Social-Value-Working-
Paper-Measuring-The-Social-Impact1.pdf
9. http://www.fifa.com/