Gruesome Origins of Soccer

A recent article that I stumbled upon during my daily boredom induced exploration of publicized current events covered a story about a group of Russian teens, who allegedly murdered and decapitated a homeless man and proceeded to play soccer with the severed head. Although the reports claim that the true nature of the incident has not yet been established. The teens did murder, decapitate, and scalp the homeless man, however there is doubt surrounding whether the teens actually used the head as a soccer ball.

Upon reading this, a vague memory of reading about severed head football, specifically having roots in the origin of the sport, a while ago egged me to research my query. Not much to my surprise, I found out that severed head football was responsible for the worldwide phenomenon. Although the origins of soccer can be traced back as far as 5000 BC, evidence suggests that it in China, military forces around 2nd and 3rd century BC (Han Dynasty) played a game, originally named "Tsu Chu", that involved kicking a leather ball stuffed with fur into a small hole. However, the game that is played today is an adaptation of a game that was played in Britain in the 700s, which involved two teams kicking around a human head, with the aim of scoring points by kicking the head into goals. The game made its debut in England after a 'legendary' game that involved kicking around the severed head of a Danish prince that they have defeated in a war. These games were violent, where injury and death were not uncommon. Despite the brutality of these games; they were still popular. The game was eventually outlawed by King Edward III of England, who passed a law in 1331 that prohibited the game. The game was still played illegitimately and illegally, however, the severed head was substituted by a ball. In 1605, soccer became legal and the game was re-adapted by Eton college in 1805, which established the rules that apply to modern soccer.