What is less clear is which nation actually invented the game.
There are numerous theories. In 2004 FIFA President Sepp Blatter
officially acknowledged China as football’s birthplace. “Tsu
chu” – meaning literally “to kick the ball”– was a game played
by soldiers during the Han Dynasty between 206BC and 220AD. The
recently-revived Japanese game “kemari” was played around 600AD.
Kemari is best described as an ancient form of “keepy uppy” with
players standing in a circle kicking the ball to one another
without letting it fall. Probably the most important early
advance was made by the Romans. Their game Harpastum can be seen
as a crude forerunner of both football and rugby. It was a team
game played within a defined area with a small ball being kicked
or thrown in an effort to get it past the other team's line.
Tales abound in the centuries after the Romans left Britain of
triumphant Anglo-Saxons kicking the heads of conquered Danes
around the streets. But it was only in the Middle Ages that
primitive modes of