The origins of soccer AKA football are very interesting. Historians can not directly trace football back to anyone. Historic artifacts say that football dates way back to 4,500 years ago. Balls made of linen have been discovered in Egypt. 2,000 years later a football - like game was played in China. Between 476 BC to 221 BC a game called cuju was played in China. It was VERY popular. Even women played the sport! Similar to today’s soccer, cuju players could not touch the ball with their arms and hands. Unlike today’s football,  cuju player numbers were very versatile. During the mid 17th century cuju wasn’t as popular, but the codes of playing football still remained. Around the same time, Rome was also playing a similar version of football. Most say that we have the English to thank for keeping football alive during the middle ages. Medieval football lead to riots. A lot of the time players kept on playing until it lead to manslaughter. In England, the sport was banned in schools. Because of the lack of rules, it often resulted in injury. In the 19th century Football clubs gathered together to create rules and the football association. The one problem was that each town had different rules and got into fights about it. After the Football Association was started the rules came right into play and that’s how you score a goal!

https://www.football-bible.com/soccer-info/who-invented-football.html

I asked a couple students what their first memory of football was. Here’s what they said.

During middle school the balls would go over the fence and one time they went over and my shorts and underwear got caught on the fence and they ripped. I had to stay like that for the rest of practice. - Janessa Davis