This thesis is to introduce the culture of the British football so that we can learn it specifically and systematically. It is also a supplement of the entire British culture. Through this thesis, we can learn about the relationship between the British football and the British culture. The author expounds the history, development, and the present condition of the British foot, and discusses the influence on the British people and their culture made by the British football. In addition, this thesis provides a reference the research of the British football culture and enriches the study of this field.
II. The History of British Soccer
2.1 The Beginning of British Soccer
There are countless sayings about how the British soccer came into being in the soccer museum of England, some pictures about Chinese in Song Dynasty and ancient Japanese playing Soccer-like games manifests that human beings played games in the way of using their legs and feet in an extremely ancient time. In the modern history, we can find the record about the soccer-like sport in British countryside in the 14th century, which is called the old soccer. Two neighboring villages take part in the game and fight against each other for the spoils of war. There is no special rule in the game. Both sides can kick and grab the ball, and they even can beat up bodies of the opposite side. It had become a traditional pubic game among English villages until the early 19th century. Nevertheless, when history stepped into the industrial revolutionary time, the population of the countryside descended sharply and rapidly, so that the old soccer game was almost extinct in the history of mankind.
The sprout age of British modern soccer nearly coincide with the age of English industrial revolution. In this time, as the coming of industrial revolution, people’s life standard improved greatly. So did all sorts of sport equipments, which got advanced and perfected gradually. All of those supplied a superb material foundation for the development of British soccer. Along side the industrialization was the large spread of the machines. However, there is one evident negative aspect that the improvement of the labor productivity led to the tight restrictions of people’s mind and body. People desperately needed to remit their huge pressure by means of outdoor exercises. Consequently, soccer became the main choice of all classes of the masses of the people in England in their leisure-time recreation.
2.2 The Progress of British Soccer
In 1848, there was a rule called Cambridge Rule, which is the first soccer rule formulated in the Cambridge University. After that, the enthusiasm for soccer sport of the modern universities headed by the Oxford University and Cambridge University contributed to the cultivation and education of the professionalism of British soccer. In 1863, the first set of formal rules of the soccer competition marked the birth of the modern soccer game. Then twenty years later, the professional soccer came into the world. In addition, the commercialized organizational form took shape by degrees. The prosperous of media added fuel to the fire of the evolution of soccer. It has been 150 years, since the foundation of the Football Conference in 1863. During this time, numerous achievement have been made, such as the unification of soccer rules, the creation of the Football Cup, the emergence of Football League Cup, the birth of Professional Football League, the host of the World Cup, and so on. From the institution setting, rule perfection to the foundation of leagues system, it has been through a lengthy time. After 1990s, with the establishment of the FA Premier League, it has evolved into a league system by the Premier League, in the form of step, consisting of the top class that is made up by players whose social status are worth millions pounds, and the bottom class that is composed of all walks of people in various communities.
One of the reasons that the British soccer can keep its flag flying for decades is the British populace’s ardently love for sports. From a cultural point of view, the Britainic nation’s deep love for soccer is known to the entire world. In England, soccer has been popularized widely. In every playground of rural and urban areas at weekends, all sorts of football games are held, including formal club competitions and a great many grassroots competitions organized by communities. Soccer culture has transformed into certain kind of gene, flowing in everyone’s blood. 英文论文英国足球文化(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_5537.html