24 October: Football (soccer)

On this date in 1857 a football club was formed by a group of Cambridge University Old Boys in Sheffield. Sheffield F C still exists today and is the oldest football club still around. 10 interesting facts about football.

1. It's easy to assume that football is so called because it involves kicking a ball with the foot. That may not be the case. It may be so called because it was played on foot, as opposed to on horseback – aristocratic sports would be played on Horses while the peasants played on foot.
2. The earliest football type game was played in China around 500BC. It was called Cuju, and is recognised by FIFA as the first game similar to football with rules. In Britain, the first football was a game called “mob football” played in the Middle Ages. This game was usually played between two villages with the object of the game being to get the ball into the centre of the other village. Mob football didn't have much in the way of rules. The only rule was that players mustn't kill each other.
3. The largest largest football stadium in the world is the North Korean Rungrado May Day Stadium.
4. The football club with the longest name in the world is a Dutch side called Nooit opgeven altijd doorgan, Aangenaam door vermaak en nuttig door ontspanning, Combinatie Breda. Luckily, the team is generally known as NAC Breda. The full name means Never give up always keep going pleasant through entertainment and useful through relaxation combination Breda.
5. There is only one professional football team in Britain with a J in its name: St. Johnstone.
6. In the course of a football match, a player will run 9.65 km on average.
7. Greenland cannot join FIFA because nowhere in that country does grass grow in a big enough area to make a football pitch.
8. The national football team of Brazil has beaten every other national football team in the world except for one. Norway.
9. Football can be a dangerous game. In 1964, a referee's call in Peru caused a riot in which over 300 people died. It may also be ill advised to play during a thunderstorm. In Congo in 1998 the pitch was struck by lightning killing all eleven members of one team. The other team was unscathed.
10. The fastest red card ever was awarded to Lee Todd, two seconds into a game. The moment the starting whistle blew, Todd made the comment, “f**k me that was loud” and was sent off for using foul language.

More details about my books. Follow this link if you like Superheroes, Psychics and/or quirky short stories. 

I've listed the themes each novel touches on here for easy reference.

Like my author page on Facebook for news on new books and blog posts.

Follow me on Twitter and Pinterest