Soccer History
Ball-kicking and ball-hitting games have existed for a long, long time. Records exist from ancient China, medieval Europe and Rome. And more than records 
exist in Florence, where a game called Calcio Storico—dating back to the 16th century—is still played annually. Guys run around in the basic structure of two teams, plus a ball, plus brute force. It’s a far cry from modern day soccer—the no-holds-barred Calcio Storico uses wrestling, shoving and pounding with big fists to drive the ball into the opposing goal, whereas soccer does without—yet it is an integral piece of its genesis.
The football of 19th-Century England wasn’t so different from Calcio Storico. It was still a violent and mobbish game that included handling the ball and intentional hacking (kicking shins). And out of that rough tradition, the English public schools managed to carve out the game of soccer, or association football. And the game they created has since taken over the world.
In 1863 the different public schools met (Cambridge, Rugby, Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Shrewsbury), bringing with them their varied codes of conduct, to form the Football Association. The Rugby School walked out of that meeting, refusing to give up their use of hands, and went on to make its own game. The rest of the schools were able to reach an agreement on the first Laws of the Game. Finally, the schools would be able to challenge one another to a game of football without arguing about which code to abide. And that’s all it took to get the game spreading like wildfire.
The same Football Association from 1863 exists today, joined by hundreds of other national organizations, including the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF), as an integral part of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association—commonly known as FIFA.
FIFA puts on the premier event in all of soccer—and you’ve probably heard of it—the World Cup. It is established as the largest event of all time and all space, happening since 1930. By the 1992 FIFA World Cup, soccer had saturated the world completely enough to prove itself as “The People’s Game” by drawing twice the viewing audience of the Summer Olympics.
In 1994, the USA hosted the World Cup, and the USSF made a promise to FIFA that they would again bring Division I soccer to U.S. citizens. Now in 2007, Major League Soccer is preparing for its 12th season. “The Beautiful Game” is swelling in the U.S. as it has done in every other country, and the MLS represents a stage for the greatest displays of soccer in the United States.
The young and hungry Real Salt Lake team is ready to start its 3rd season in the MLS, ready to play its finest football yet, ready to compete for the MLS Cup, and ready to proudly display XanGo across the front of their jerseys.
