Soccer
Before 1800
2500 B.C.- In Ancient China, a game called tsu chu was played as part of the emperor's birthday celebration. In this game, balls made of animal skins were kicked through a hole in a net that was stretched between two poles thirty feet in the air.
25-220- During the Donghan Dynasty, there are records of women playing
football.
200- In Italy, a game called harpastum was played.
217- The British play a similar game to harpastum with the skulls of defeated
Roman Soldiers.
600-1600- The rubber ball was created in Mexico and Central America, where
they played on a recessed court with vertical walls. The object was to
get the ball through a hoop in the middle of the court.
1100’s- The game was a mob sport with no rules throughout
England.
1314- In England, King Edward prohibited citizens from playing football.
1500- The Italians played a game known as calico with large teams of 27
people in which they carried, kicked or passed a ball across a goal line.
1580- In Italy, Giovanni Bardi published a set of rules for calico.
1609- In the original Jamestown Settlement, Native Americans played pasuckuakhowog.
This simply meant “they gather to play ball with the foot.” Playing
fields were half a mile wide and a mile long, allowing up to a thousand people
to play. The games were very rough and could carry over from one day to the
next.
1800's
1830’s- The modern form of soccer originated in England.
1848- The Cambridge Rules for Soccer were drawn up.
1862- In Boston, the Oneida Football Club was the first soccer club anywhere
outside of England.
1895- The first recorded match between women in “football” occurred
in England.
1900's
1908- Soccer, then known as football was an Olympic event for men.
1917- Separate rules for women’s collegiate field hockey, swimming,
track and field and soccer were drafted by the American Physical Education
Association.
1920- Kerr’s Ladies of Preston England played the first international
match against a team from France.
1921- The Football Association in England outlawed women playing the game
because it was distasteful. Nonetheless, the popularity of women’s
football continued to increase.
1951- In North St. Louis, a small women’s league was established and
known as the Craig Club Girls Soccer league.
1969- The English Women’s Football Association was formed.
1970’s- Organized women’s teams played in the
United States.
1970’s- Italy became the first country with professional women’s
football players.
1971- The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded
in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and
to administer national championships.
1972- The Educational Amendments included the Title IX legislation which
prohibited sex discrimination in any school that received federal funding.
1977- At Brown University, the first varsity women’s soccer program
was started.
1980- An informal National Soccer Championship was won by Cortland State.
1980- The first official National Soccer Championship was won by the North
Carolina Youngs. As a result of Men’s Soccer being established at
colleges throughout the U.S, soccer evolved all across the country almost
immediately for women.
1981- There were almost 100 varsity programs established in the NCAA women’s
soccer as a result of Title IX.
1982- The NCAA began to sponsor women’s sports and the AIAW ceased
to exist.
1985- The first national team was formed.
1991- The FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association)
began the Women’s World Cup, which was won by the US Women’s
Soccer Team.
1995- The W-league was started and was the first national league.
1996- The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team wins Gold at the Atlanta Olympics.
1997- Mia Hamm won the ESPY award for the Most Outstanding Female Athlete
and the Women’s Sports Foundation Athlete of the Year Award.
1998- April Heinrich was the first woman to be named to
the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
1998- Mia Hamm scored her 100th international goal.
1999- Mia Hamm was the world record holder of both male
and female players for the most international goals scored in a career
with 108 career goals.
1999- At the Women’s World Cup of Soccer, 78,972
fans watched, setting a new world record for the number of fans to attend
a women’s sporting
event. The U.S. pulled off a win over China with penalty kicks.
2000's
2000- Kristine Lilly, an American was the first soccer layer in the history of international soccer to play in 200 fames for their country.
2001- The professional league, WUSA was formed.
2003- Mia Hamm scored her 137th international goal for Team USA.
2004- The U.S. Soccer team won the Olympics and Abby Wamback
wins the U.S. Soccer National player for scoring thirty-one goals in thirty
matches.