The Origins and Development of Football (Soccer) Part Three

1888 saw the formation of the world's first league consisting of 12 clubs which were of sufficient size and stature required for membership. Preston North End won the league in its first year and then went onto victory in the F.A. Cup final completing the first ever double. Preston North End's home, Deepdale, provided a fitting home for the National Football Museum from 2001 until April 2010 as one of the oldest professional football grounds in the world. The museum is due to reopen its doors in Manchester in early 2012 where more visitors can be catered for.

By now professionalism was well established in the game after the Football Association sanctioned the payment of so called expenses to certain players, and the cash transfer of players between clubs soon followed. Controversy exploded in the press with the first £1000 transfer fee when Alf Common departed Sunderland for Middlesbrough in 1905.
The arrival of the railways providing cheap transport for the masses was pivotal in turning the game into a massive spectator sport with some matches attracting six-figure attendances. At this time the fan base was being established with geographical allegiances and the beginnings of hero worship for certain favoured players. And the first ever international football match was played in 1872 with Scotland hosting England at the West of Scotland Cricket Club's ground. The game finished goalless and this fixture soon became an annual event.

In the meantime football was being exported by British traders, colonials and the armed forces, and by 1920 was being played across the globe with two noticeable exceptions. Australia and America preferred their own handling versions of the game which are still dominant in those two countries to this present day with football (soccer) still in the ascendency.

Europe had adopted the game whole heartedly with Juventus forming in 1897. Barcelona, seen by many as the greatest club in the world, was created after a match against the Royal Navy. Argentina succumbed to the delights of football when the British were building railways there in the 1860s, and the craze soon spread across South America following in the wake of the British Expatiate community.

Global popularity saw the need for an international regulatory body to support the ever increasing number of international sides playing against each other. FIFA was formed in Paris in 1904, but England refused to join during the first year once again displaying the island mentality. Perhaps it was a control issue because the home of modern football was still refusing to play ball with FIFA right up to the staging of the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930. The host nation defeated Argentina 4-2 and became the winner of the first World Cup.

Perhaps it was payback time for England's intransigence because during the fourth World Cup in Brazil in 1950, the USA sensationally beat England 1-0. This was England's first time at the event, and the defeat was seen as a humiliation by fans and the media back home. International teams had improved vastly during the years England was sulking on the periphery of international regulations and suffered as a consequence. Nothing seems to have changed on that score with England's early exit from the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Television bought football to the armchair spectators and with it the desire for more foreign competitions. Players were now moving between countries and not just clubs and the emergence of star players was not far away. George Best is usually credited as being the first footballing icon, and for me personally, is still the greatest player that ever was. Pele was humbled by Best's skills on the field and has always acknowledged George Best a better player than he (Pele) ever was.

The modern game's future is precariously balanced with the commercial requirements of individual clubs taking centre stage over the sporting spectacle which after all is the heart of good football. Clubs globally are going bust financially as bad commercial management drags once great clubs into the debtors courts and receivership. UEFA are taking action on this issue at long last in order to bring sound financial housekeeping once again to European clubs; but the latest bribery and corruption allegations levelled against certain FIFA officials, once again undermine the integrity of the Beautiful Game.
Football should be run by footballers, and I use Michael Platini as a fine example who is doing an excellent job as the current president of UEFA. Fill the regulatory and administrative bodies with football people, and the game will be in safe hands.