Answer the questions in groups.

Football

The ball game similar to football is first mentioned in the chronics of Han Dynasty which are 2000 years old. The Ancient China is a forefather of football.

Japan has declared that 14 centuries ago people of this country played kennutt – a ball game similar to modern football. The rules of this game considerably had changed for so many centuries, but it’s undeniable that many people had been playing the variations of the game that we presently call football for centuries. This game seems the most popular sport entertainment in the world.

The Ancient Greece and the Ancient Rome were no exception. The Roman game harpastum is described as follows: “Players are divided into two teams. A ball is placed on a line in the middle of the playground. On each edge of the playground they draw a line behind the players standing on the places assigned to them (these lines might be compared with the gate line in modern football). One is supposed to carry a ball beyond this line forcing his way through the players of the opposite team”. Based on this description we can conclude that harpastum was the forerunner of both rugby and football.

In Britain a ball game originally was an entertainment during the Carnival week. Usually the competition started on the market square. Two teams consisting of unlimited number of players tried to shoot a ball into the gates of the competing team, “the goal” being a previously agreed place not far from downtown.

The game was played in a rude and brutal manner and often dangerous for the players’ lives. When a crowd of excided men rushed along the town streets crushing everything on their way, the owners of shops and houses had to close the windows of the ground floor with shutters or wood panels. A lucky man that finally succeeded to carry a ball into the gates was considered to be a winner. The gap between the two goals in football games could be several miles. The ball used in football was made from an inflated animal bladder. Though later the blood-thirsty players were satisfies with an ordinary leather ball. Large football games often took place on Shrovetide.

There were numerous attempts to abolish football. In 1349 the king Edward III tried to forbid the game because he was worried that young men spent too much time and effort for this wild entertainment instead of exercising in archery and javelin throwing. Richard II, Henry IV and James III also tried to forbid football and golf within the kingdom’s territory and announced the participation in “football games, golf and other foul amazements” a crime.

Though during the period of Tudors and Stuarts football was going ahead and gaining popularity despite its reputation of “ungodly and foul amusement”. Afterwards Cromwell managed to exterminate football so that it could revive only in the Restoration age. But the hot-tempered English guys were not going to refuse from their brave amusement. In the time of Elizabeth I football became wide-spread. As there were no rules and referees the matches often ended with severe injures and sometimes deaths of the players.

In the 18th century football was played by most of Britain's leading public schools. There is documentary evidence that football was played at Eton as early as 1747. In 1862 a new set of rules were established at Cambridge University. The Football Association was established in October, 1863. The aim of the FA was to establish a single unifying code for football. The eleven-a-side game was introduced with the addition of a goalkeeper. In the middle of 19^th the so-called football renaissance gave birth to the modern football.

Tasks:

I. Practise the pronunciation of the proper nouns:

Renaissance, Eton, Crowell, Shrovetide, Tudors, Stuarts, Carnival, Restoration.

II. 1). Learn the active vocabulary on the text:

· to shoot a ball,

· the competing team,

· to gain popularity,

· to establish a code,

· to exercise in,

· to be similar with,

· to be satisfied with,

· to injure,

· to rush,

· to crush.

Дата добавления: 2015-08-03