College Soccer: the Beginnings

Students try out in college soccer recruiting for aand lost hats."
spot in college soccer teams. Soccer is a sport playedThe documentation of the development of soccer in
between two teams consisting of eleven players,England shows Eton College with the earliest known
and is thought by many to be the most popularrules of the game in 1815. This supports the
sport in the world.implication that, until then, chaos prevailed during
As the games got more and more violent, soccermatches, as evidenced by the recorded laws that
was at times suppressed by English sheriffs whowere meant to stem the violence that resulted
followed royal orders decrying the sport as a uselessduring the matches.
activity. King Henry IV and Henry VIII passed lawsSoccer is now a regulated sport with countless fans
against the sport, and King Edward III passed lawsacross the world. Countless capable young athletes
that threatened imprisonment to anyone caughtare overlooked every year simply because they
playing soccer.didn't submit their athletic resume to the colleges
These laws, however, failed to curtail the popularitysuited for them, or left out vital information that
of the sport, which earned official sanction in Englandwould have otherwise caught the attention of college
by 1681. The game had become so popular by 1800scoaches and representatives of college soccer teams.
that, in certain annual contests in the northern andMoreover, many colleges simply don't bother to
middle regions of England, large mobs roamed andallocate all of their soccer recruiting funds because
raged through towns and villages during play. In 1829,fitting athletes failed to approach them during college
an account of such a match in Derbyshire describedsoccer recruiting.
people with "broken skins, broken heads, torn coats