why I am supporting England

Who invented football?

we Scotland fans are being told consistently that football is coming home, potentially this could change soon to the message that football has come home. (But surely that claim could only be made if it was the world cup not the European cup as this implies some sort of European domination of the game) I would say that anyone who has a degree of objectivity and knowledge of the history of football, knows that England has only a slight claim to be the "home" of football. It was probably the ancient Chinese that invented football, there are also records of football-type games being played in many other countries around the globe, for centuries before the English claimed to be the inventors of football or soccer as the sport is also known. Yes, England had various forms of football from the Middle Ages onwards and Ireland developed its own version called caid, but the problem was that nobody had written down rules that could be observed by all players. Scotland’s own versions of that ancient football was the first to be written into history, with the Scottish Parliament banning it in 1457 – "And [th]at ye futebawe and ye golf be uterly cryt done and not usyt" said the Act, brought in because King James II feared the Scots were not practising archery enough. To me its ironic that this Scottish king worried his soldiers were losing fighting skills require to stem of English invaders. when The modern game is now where the battle field for our nationality holds its own As a side note the oldest football in the world dates from the 16th century and it was found in Stirling Castle. Intriguingly, in 1636 a Latin primer, Vocabula, was published by teacher David Wedderburn in Aberdeen. Translated, one passage reads: “Start the game by kicking the ball. Strike it here. You guard the goal. If you can, seize the ball from him. Come on, block him. Retrieve the ball. Kick it back.” Scholars still argue about that passage and what it described. Could it be claimed to be the first written rules of the modern game not the Cambridge rules? There’s no doubt that the original rules of Association Football were conceived and written in England, with these rules that were drawn up at Cambridge University being influential before the Football Association was founded in 1863, largely to formulate 13 rules or laws for the sport The rival Sheffield association had its own rules at the time, gradually the laws of the game were agreed upon, but it took the involvement of the other associations in these islands to finalise these rules. Which is why to this day the laws of football are decided by the International Football Association Board which consists of representatives from the four Home Associations of England Scotland Ireland and Wales and four from the world governing body FIFA. Scotland’s footballers adopted the laws but were already developing their own way of playing football, the scottish way of playing emphasised passing rather than the dribbling game preferred by the English. SO AM I SAYING SCOTLAND INVENTED MODERN FOOTBALL? Yes. Football as we know it is a passing game, and Ged O’Brien, former curator of the Scottish Football Museum, has proven categorically that the passing game was developed here in Scotland and exported to England and elsewhere. Glasgow and what is now West Dunbartonshire – Dumbarton, Renton, Alexandria Athletic and Vale of Leven were all top clubs – these were the cradles of the sort of football which is now played worldwide. Scotland saw football as a team game and practised it, England viewed training as cheating, and of course professionalism was not allowed at first. England’s FA Cup was the first national tournament of any kind, but the Scottish Cup remains the oldest football trophy in the world. WHO WERE THE FIRST DOMINANT INTERNATIONAL SIDE? Scotland, no question about it. The first international fixture was a 0-0 draw between Scotland and England in Glasgow in 1872. For the next 14 years, Scotland lost only twice to England. Wales were regularly hammered, and in 1881, Scotland beat England 6-1 at the Oval – still England’s heaviest defeat on home turf. The Scots for that match were captained by Andrew Watson, the world’s first black international player and administrator, the result was no fluke – Scotland beat England 5-1 the following year in Glasgow. In 1884, Scotland won the first International Championship beating the other three countries by a total of ten goals to one. Scotland won three of the first four championships outright and shared the other with England. (could we claim this as world cup victories England probably would lol) WHO WERE THE FIRST WORLD CLUB CHAMPIONS? Hibs and Renton. The latter side were first to be formally declared the world club champions as they were the Scottish Cup holders who beat the English cup winners West Bromwich Albion 4-1 at Hampden Park – the stadium which at one time held all the world attendance records and still holds most European attendance records – on May 19, 1888. That was the year that Celtic signed Renton’s captain James Kelly, with the advent of professionalism the Parkhead club became the world’s most successful team in the 1890s in terms of revenue earned. HOW DID SCOTLAND INFLUENCE FOOTBALL WORLDWIDE?

Once the Scottish advent of professionalism was allowed from 1885 onwards, Scots flooded south to play for English clubs and it was a Scottish draper, William McGregor, who in 1888 largely founded the Football League, the first such league anywhere. The Scottish immigrants with their superior skills and passing play, were at that time known as the Scotch Professors and hugely influenced the development of football worldwide Scottish teams such as Celtic were in great demand for visits south in the 1890s, and Scottish footballers were seen as simply the best! In his book Being a Scot, written with Murray Grigor, no less a person than the late Sir Sean Connery told how three Scots, Charles Miller, Archie McLean and Jock Hamilton introduced the Scottish game to Brazil in the early 20th century. John Harley, a Glasgow engineer, did the same for Uruguay, the first World Cup winners, and Glasgow teacher Alexander Watson is still revered as the Father of Argentinian Soccer John Madden of Celtic was the first coach of teams in Czechoslovakia, the German Bundesliga is derived from a league founded by George Smith MacGregor. Yes, England sent out many missionaries to spread the football gospel, but Scots played an inordinate role in the development of football globally At the very least the claim should be made that the UK as a whole is the home of football, but you won’t hear many English people saying that, not even the most devout Unionists among them.

SO WHO SHOULD INDEPENDANCE SUPPORTERS ROOT FOR ON SUNDAY NIGHT? England, obviously. For the subsequent outpouring of English, sorry, British nationalism might yet sicken the "mebbes" into becoming solid Yessers. With even the UK`s American prime minister showing his devout support of England. It must be obvious England and Scotland are ready for a divorce, the union is a sham on English nationalism alone!