Learning to Kick the Ball: The beginnings of football and the English Premier League

England invented modern football a long time ago and it’s come a long way since. Gone are the days when you would kick your opponent as hard as possible in the shin and it was a fair tackle, when teams played with eight men up front, or when goalkeepers would use spit and chewing gum on their hands to catch the ball. Football has been around for centuries in some form or other. Back in the old days of 1424 the Scottish Parliament even made football illegal, probably after being knocked out by England in ye olde World Cup. But back then there weren’t many rules to the game and being a footballer was somewhat of an insult, as only commoners played the game. As an example, Kent in Shakespeare’s King Lear trips Oswald, calling him a ‘base football player’. Football has come a long way from being played for the sake of kicking other people as hard as possible. After everyone agreed some rules would be good, the leagues and competitions started and football took over the world. The English Top Flight Football grew rapidly in the early years and each new season in English football brought with it incredible revolutions to the game like strategy, formations and passing. At one point the aim of the game was to get the ball and dribble through as many players as possible and try to score. The first team who figured out that you could pass the ball to a teammate won the league several times using this tactic until everyone else caught on to the idea of ‘passing’. Basics In the Premier League, 20 teams play each other twice throughout the season. The top club in terms of points wins the league as there are no playoffs. The top four teams qualify for the Champions League and the bottom three get relegated to the second tier of English football, now ironically called the Championship. History English football is historically split between Manchester United and Liverpool who are vying for the most successful club in history, Manchester United just overtaking Liverpool’s record tally of 18 league titles last season with their 19th title. Since the English league reorganized itself back in 1992 into the English Premier League, only Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and my childhood team Blackburn Rovers have won the top division. Blackburn are also the only Premier League winners to be relegated - and will probably become the only former champions to be relegated again. Manchester United has won twelve out of nineteen titles since the Premier League began and have also won two Champions Leagues during that time. The first was in 1999 after a late and dramatic comeback against Bayern Munich in their treble winning year, scoring twice in injury time, and then in the first ever English-only Champions League final in 2008, defeating Chelsea on penalties. The best season in English history, though, probably belongs to Arsenal who in the 2003-04 season went unbeaten to earn the moniker ‘Invincibles’. The Arsenal Invincibles not only won the league undefeated, but did so playing attractive football, somewhat unusual for the English system which tends to be dominated by the physical aspects of the game. This Season For several years, the big four were Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. But since becoming the richest club in the world, Manchester City has flown up the league and are now at the top, having bought the best talents from around the world, such as defender Vincent Kompany, midfielders David Silva and Yaya Toure, attacker Sergio Agüero and token Englishman Joe Hart. The Sky blues will be difficult to beat with a deep squad and quality players. Only Manchester United look to be able to keep up at the moment in what may become the biggest rivalry of the future. Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal are all struggling to regain their foothold in the league as their legends have retired or moved on. Thierry Henry and Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal for Barcelona, John Terry and Frank Lampard are waning for Chelsea, as are Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carraghar for Liverpool. In addition, the Tottenham Hotspurs are playing the most attractive football now, climbing to third in the process. How long that will last once Manager Harry Redknapp finally gets the England National team job he’s been working his whole life for will remain to be seen. National Side Under Harry Redknapp the England National team may start to recover and a bit of no-nonsense managing could do them good, as is the English way. Fabio Capello did well as England manager until retiring recently, losing only six games out of forty eight, but he ultimately failed to live up to English fans’ expectations of winning every single game. It’s those unrealistic expectations which have kept the National team back while the Premier League has become the most watched in the world. It’s still ironic, though, that after all the dramatic discussion on racism, the Football Association, the body that regulates football in England, is insisting on having an English manager next. -- AMD/OMG, GMA News