Moderate speed, please. Thanks!
Sports like tennis, basketball and football are multi-billion pound industries today, but what are their origins and how did they become the sports we play today?
It’s difficult to say exactly when football started, but there is scientific evidence of a game in the 2nd and 3rd
centuries BC in China called ‘Tsu' Chu’, where the players had to kick a leather ball through a 30–40 cm hole into a small net. But the major development of football was in the Middle Ages. At that time, there was no limit on the number of players and very few rules, and matches were often very noisy and violent. In fact, between 1314 and 1667 the authorities tried to ban football more than 30 times. The rules of football date back to 1660 in a book of sports where it talked about a pitch, goals and the basic positions for players.
The game of tennis probably started with French monks as a form of entertainment in the 11th or 12th century. At first, players hit the ball with their hands, then later with a glove until finally they used a racquet. The first ball was wooden, followed by a leather ball and later the bouncy rubber ball used today. Tennis was very popular in Europe in the 14th century, especially in France. The name tennis probably comes from the French word tenez, meaning ‘take’. At one time in England, tennis was so popular that the Pope tried to ban it. The modern rules of tennis date back to 1882.
Basketball started in the USA in 1891 when a teacher, James Naismith, had to invent a game for his school’s athletes in winter. He used two fruit baskets, which he hung 10 feet up, and a football. As there was no hole in the basket, every time a player put the ball in the basket they had to climb up and get it out. Later they used a net with a metal ring and in 1906 they started opening the net to let the ball fall through. Because of its simple equipment, indoor play and simple rules, basketball became popular very quickly. Probably the most famous basketball team is the Harlem Globetrotters, who are famous for their basketball acrobatics and funny
routines.
These three games are some of the most popular games in the world today, with football as the most popular with over three billion fans.
