The First Football League

It is generally accepted that the first officially organised league competition in the world was the (English) Football League formed in 1888. Then, it consisted of 12 clubs all of whom were based in the North and the Midlands of England. The very first winners of the Football League Championship were Preston North End.

In 1992 with the influx of megabucks from BSkyB (now called Sky TV), the top teams broke away to form their own league called the FA Premier League.

Today, the original Football League has 3 divisions called; the Championship, Division 1 and Division 2.

So that England today has a total of 4 professional football leagues, with teams moving up (promotion) or down (relegation) through the leagues depending on their points tally at the end of each season.

The First Football Association Cup (FA Cup)

The first FA Cup final was played in England in 1872 between Royal Engineers and Wanderers in front of 2,000 spectators. Wanderers ran out 1-0 winners partly because Royal Engineers — who were the favourites — lost a player through injury, early in the match, and had to play on with only 10 men since substitutes were not allowed then. The “Challenge Cup”, as it was known originally, was the brainchild of Mr. C. W. Alcock of Sunderland who proposed only the year before that “A challenge cup should be established in connection with the Association”; the “Association” being the Football Association, hence the FA Cup.

The Oldest Football Club in the World

There have always been many arguments over the oldest football club in the world. Here are some facts to consider though…

The oldest, continuously documented, “football” club in the world is Dublin University Football Club, in the Republic of Ireland, which was founded in 1854. However, the club now plays Rugby Union, not Association Football. For this reason it is not officially recognized as the oldest football club in the world.

Sheffield Football Club — Sheffield FC — founded in England in 1857, is recognised by both the English FA and FIFA as being the oldest, continuously documented football club in the world still playing Association Football. They play in the Northern Premier League Division 1 South in England. So they are generally now recognised as being the oldest football club in the world.

But, there is documentation of a “football club” in Edinburgh, Scotland between 1824 and 1841. Several documents still exist today which refer to the “Foot Ball Club” and it’s rules. It worked rather like a golf club where members selected teams from their membership to play one another. The club has been now been reconstituted and plays under the name of “The Foot Ball Club of Edinburgh” in an amateur capacity.

The First International Football Match

The first international football match was played between Scotland and England in Glasgow, Scotland on 30th November 1872, in front of 4,000 spectators. The result was a hard-fought 0-0 draw. And of the 110 games played between 1872 and 1999 when the fixture was disbanded, Scotland had won 41, England 45, and 24 games had ended in a draw.

The First Trainer’s Dugout

The first ever recorded use of a sunken covered enclosure at the side of the pitch (the dugout) was in the early 1920s at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland. The trainer at the time, Donald Coleman, had it built to protect himself while he took detailed notes of his players during matches, as was his practice, and, was partly sunken into the ground so as not to block spectators’ views of the game. Visiting teams were so impressed that the idea soon spread throughout the UK and then the rest of the world.

By: John Salter

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It is that time of year again. It is time for all of the soccer (european football) freaks to come out of hiding. I am so excited about this year’s european football championship. The bad thing is that most of us will be either working or away from the TV to catch all of the games. I am going to show you how you can watch the EUFA European Football Championship Online!

The first thing that you need to watch the championship online is a computer. You work computer should work just fine, or a laptop that you bring with you on a trip or to work. Any computer that is capable of getting on the Internet should work just fine.

The next thing that you are going to need is an Internet connection. I recommend a broadband connection. Any connection at most businesses will be just fine, as well as any connection from a hotel or wireless hotspot in coffee shops, resturaunts, etc. As long as it is not dial-up, you are good to go.

The only other thing that you are going to need to watch the european football championship online is a piece of software that will give you access to each game LIVE. Yes, you will be able to watch each game live just as you would if you were watching it on cable or satellite. But the best part is that you get access to thousands of other stations that you can watch at any time. The best thing is that there is only a small one-time fee that you have to pay. No recurring costs or hidden costs ever.

Well, enough talk. It is time that you get in on the action. Don’t get left behind this season. Watch all of the games live online.

By: Anthony Fugate

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The great excitement that online soccer games provide is simply satisfying. If you still don’t know where to get these kinds of games you can easily search them through the various search engines on the web. There are actually tons of online games on football in the internet. All that is required is your resourcefulness and patience in downloading them. A lot of websites these days are riding the soccer bandwagon in order to benefit from the sport as it is the most popular sport activity in the entire planet.

The various football games online are simply amazing. They can provide real entertainment and make you feel like you are the one playing the actual game. As the latest technological advancements conquer the world, these football games online just keep getting better. While playing the game on your personal computer you can not help but shout and be carried away by the features that it offers. There are basically two types of online soccer games. The games that belong to the first category are those which can be downloaded from the internet for free while those that belong to the second category are those that require you to sign up and pay a certain amount. This however is not a cause for concern as the online football games that are sold through downloading are easy on the pocket.

The only downside of these downloadable soccer games online is that they may have viruses with them. The best solution for this is to do a research on the most trusted websites or providers. A good suggestion is to ask your friends about these games.

By: John Escribar

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Youth Football Coaching Facts

When coaching youth football we have all heard the adage “It’s not about the X’s and the O’s it’s about the Jimmys and the Joes. In essence what that saying is trying to tell you is; Youth Football is all about talent levels, it has nothing to do with coaching or schemes. The next time you hear that saying, please consider the source. Is he a youth football coach that consistently has poor performing teams? How convenient to put the onus solely on the players for the teams success. By doing this the coach can avoid any personal responsibility for his teams failure or success. He might as well be playing lotto, because what he is saying is the success or failure of his team rests solely on who is living in his area, is of age and has signed up for the team.

Lack of Consistency In the “Talent” Crowd

Let’s take a few steps back and start at the base of this irresponsible premise:

According to these guys ALL youth football players are created uniquely different, some are very good, some are average and some are poor. The premise states that because of these wide variations in player talent levels, the productivity of the teams they play on varies in direct proportions to these players unique abilities.

Now how about the coaches? Since it is 100% about the Jimmies and the Joes, coaching and schemes don’t matter much at all, I guess all coaches and schemes MUST be equal.

So God created all these football players uniquely different with various amounts of athletic ability, intelligence, drive, determination and decision making ability BUT when it comes to football coaches God decided nope, I’m going to make all these guys EXACTLY alike. If that is correct, what happens when a football player who the “Jimmys and Joes” crowd says is so uniquely different than anyone else becomes a coach? Does this unique person all of a sudden changed into a clone of all other coaches? Does God say “You are different when you have that helmet on, but once I see you with the helmet off and a whistle around your neck, I’m going to change you into a clone of all the other coaches out there?”

Of course not, this is some silly premise made up by coaches whose teams don’t do well to make themselves feel better about themselves.

Does talent matter? Sure it does, but so does coaching and so do schemes. We have all seen very athletic and physically imposing teams lose to less talented teams, it happens every week in youth football. There are coaches in our league both mine and with our opponents whose teams win no matter the level, age group or talent levels of the teams they have. In my youth football organization I knew that any team I gave to Stacy B to or Jay S would do very well and they always did. The talent levels varied greatly on these guys teams every year, but their results varied only slightly. The same can be said of coaches like Monte O, Bill, Rich D and Scott P who coach against us. They win year in and year out, no matter the age group, division or talent levels.

Just like players, coaches can get better and all’s it takes is a commitment and some time to educate and prepare yourself to be a better coach. Obviously you are on right path if you are taking the time to be on this site and read this article.

What to Do

When your youth football team plays well, give the players all the credit, when they play poorly accept the blame yourself and learn from the experience.

By: Dave Cisar

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As a Personal Trainer and Soccer Coach, there are a number of important points that you should be aware of when training your kids to be fit for soccer. Your first consideration should be the age and current fitness levels of your players. It is very important to realise with your training that kids are not just little adults, and as such adult fitness and conditioning drills are largely inappropriate. Second consideration should be the types of soccer drills that you are going to use. For children, I always like to make sure that a ball is involved in all of my soccer fitness and conditioning drills. For this reason I use a lot of small sided games for training my kids, as small sided games keep them involved and moving at all times, incorporating both fitness and ballwork together.

When considering fitness drills for your kids, your first realisation should be that kids are not just small adults. Adult fitness drills are generally inappropriate for kids. For the kids that I coach I tend not worry about any kind of fitness drills at training up until about the age of eleven. Up to the age of eleven I try to coach them so that they are active throughout the whole of the training session and I find this sufficient in terms of soccer fitness After this age you should take into consideration the current fitness levels of your players when considering fitness drills. You must then decide which elements of fitness you want your players to work on and formulate your drills accordingly. The various elements include speed, agility, and endurance.

At all training sessions, my primary aim is to maximise the number of ball touches that each player gets during the session. For this reason in most instances I incorporate a ball into the fitness drills that I use with my players. If you devote a significant amount of time to fitness training then you will significantly reduce the amount of ballwork that you are able to do with your players. The best way to avoid this is to incorporate a ball into your fitness drills. Another method that I have used with older children ad with representative teams is to give players a preseason fitness routine. This ensures that your players have a base fitness level when you begin training and will mean that you can spend more training time on ballwork and skills and less on fitness and conditioning.

There are many elements of soccer fitness that players require when they play a game. Factors like speed, agility and endurance are important elements that players require on the soccer field. I find that using a variety of small sided games is an effective way of training these different elements of fitness whilst not having to make the players do fitness drills. In an ideal world the players will not even realise that they are doing fitness drills. There are many different small sided games that I use to simulate the different elements of soccer fitness I find that these are a great way to incorporate both fitness and ballwork into my soccer training sessions so that the players have fun, and learn the different elements of soccer fitness that they require to enjoy the game.

In terms of soccer fitness and conditioning your first thought should always be that kids are not just little adults. If you try to use adult fitness drills with kids they will usually lose interest very quickly and become discouraged. Use a ball as often as possible in your fitness drills in order to maximise the number of ball touches that each player receives during the training session. I find that the best way to do this is to use a variety of small sided games with players so as to teach them the different elements of soccer fitness that they require. The most important elements of soccer fitness for kids are speed, agility and endurance, and the soccer drills and small sided games that you use should focus on developing these elements in each of your players.

By: Stephen K Hall

About the Author:

Some of you may be in a position where you have to or maybe even want to help coach multiple teams during the same season. It can be done using some planning, scheduling and organizing techniques. Be warned however, it is not recommended for most and certainly not for those who don’t feel very confident in your time management or coaching abilities.

I’ve head coached more than one youth football team in three seasons, more about that later. What is important is I have done it in real life, this isn’t theory. Coaching Youth football is one thing, coaching multiple teams is a whole new equation.

Coaching more than one team may involve organizing your football practices in a way that is much different than what you are used to. In order to make it work, you have to get creative. Here are some of the things I did:

I started my football practices 30 minutes early for my younger team, My older team practiced 30 minutes later than the younger team. This allowed me 30 minutes of time alone with each team.

Early on we had a few practices alone, we varied the days each team practiced to allow each team one day per week alone with me.

We combined some of the skill building and technique work within age groups. Some of the more advanced and mature kids on the younger team practiced with the older team and some of the weaker older kids were grouped with the younger kids. This allowed our weaker older kids to rep and get better against kids of their own abilities while allowing the more mature younger kids to be challenged by the older kids. The groups worked side by side with both groups doing the same exact drills.

Most of the special teams work and dynamic warm ups including angle form tackling were supervised by my assistants, which gave me segmented “alone time” with one team.

Team Defensive segments were often done by the defensive coordinators after the first few weeks. In the first few weeks it was important to show the defensive coordinators and players how to run a proper team defensive and defensive recognition segment. After that it was just making sure the written practice plan covered what they needed to work on that segment and what football plays and formations they needed to concentrate on defending that week

You must delegate all the logistics responsibilities to other coaches and parents when coaching multiple youth football teams at once. When the parents pressured me into doing this, I responded by putting all the blocking dummies, and equipment on the field and requiring that they be responsible for it. I did the same for the team “books” and whatever else I could farm out to others. If you have a life, you have to.

Other key factors:

Most of my assistants were second or third year coached with me.The assistant coaches were believers in the system. I had full control of both teams. The parents wanted me to head coach both teams.You MUST have written minute-by-minute practice plans when having multiple teams or even one for that matter when coaching youth football.

My first year coaching two teams was simply because there were not enough coaches. We had plenty of coaches for our “A” and “B” teams but we were real short in our “In House” age 6-8 teams. Since it was “In House” and not very competitive I was able to add this team to my regular coaching duties that year, our age 8-10 “Select” team.

Another year I had to fire an entire age 13-14 coaching staff one week before their first game for not meeting the terms of the agreed upon coaches contract. In addition to that they were “stacking” a “B” team, a very unsportsmanlike and unfair thing to do which by the way is common with very weak coaches who feel the only way their youth football teams can do well is to have overwhelming talent. In this case this “B” team was coached by me and another coach that was also coaching another team at the same time. We couldn’t practice all these teams on the same field so we went to a Tuesday/Saturday schedule. Fortunately the league scheduled so there were no game day conflicts. Funny how that works out when you try to do the right thing. By the way, we kicked the 4 best players up to the “A” team and ended up with a second place team in a very satisfying season.

In 2007 I head coached an age 7-9 and 10-11 team, due to pressure from parents to continue coaching their older children. My preference is to coach a new younger kids team every year and send players on to the next age group rather than stay with the team as they age through the system. In 2008 I’m head coaching 3 teams but we have put in place a set mentoring/apprenticeship program for head coaches that will allow me to go back to coaching just one team in 2009.

If you decide to do this, make sure all your coaches are on board. Make sure to consult with the parents and for safety reasons, do not put kids of dissimilar abilities with huge age gaps against one another.

By: Dave Cisar

About the Author:

Brazil soccer girls are known to be sexy and beautiful.. They usually wear sexy clothes that really catch attention. They are this phenomenal game’s die hard fans too that support the Brazil team. Watching the game in a stadium is much more exciting and you can really feel the intense. There are actually different types of crowds young and old.

It is known that Brazil team has the most fans. Soccer is a part of the Brazilian’s lives. They are very passionate and do everything they can to support on their team. Brazil soccer girls on the other hand are always there to add joy to the crowd. They want to show the world how they love the sport and how they support the Brazil national team.

They represent Brazilians as sexy and pretty ladies. As we can see on online soccer shops there are even intimate apparels like women’s beach attire or sexy tops that have a Brazil logo on it or a Brazil flag. This has been inspired by girls who wore sexy clothing when watching the game. The apparels has reached all over the world, and through this too Brazil has gain more fans and supporters.

Well, not only Brazil has pretty girls. Girls from other countries too, only Brazil has got our attentions because of the way they patronize the sport. How they whole heartedly support the Brazil team and the way they helped Brazil be known to the world. Indeed, Brazil soccer girls are also a part of Brazil soccer history with their looks and sexy bodies they bring up the spirit as well.

By: John Escribar

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The Indianapolis Glazier Clinic was a medium sized clinic with a small but enthusiastic contingent of youth football coaches. It was great to see guys from all the way from Cincinnatti there that ran my system last year for the first time.

I got to the clinic just in time to see some excellent speakers including a Special Teams guru that had sent a number of kickers to Division I and NFL teams. I got the chance to listen to an Illinois Hall of Fame High School coach, Mike Rude talk about the nuances of his famous Shotgun ‘T’ Series as well as hear a former 11 year NFL vet speak about connecting to players. I had breakfast one on one with a High School head coach from El Paso whose team set numerous Texas Passing Records. I had the pleasure of sharing a ride with fellow speaker David Tennison, the Defensive Coordinator from Jenks High School in Oklahoma and got a chance to talk with him on the 40 minute trip to the airport as well as when we waited for our flights. Jenks as many of you know is a perennial USA Today Top 10 Program. It was non stop football for 3 days and 2 nights and as usual I came away the better for the experience. We don’t go to these things with the idea we are looking for new football plays or new schemes, just better ways to accomplish our goals and to see how other successful coaches and programs do things.

Kickoff Coverage

One area I thought we needed improvement on was our kickoff coverage. We onside kick with a mob or pooch kick until we are leading by 3 touchdowns, then we kick deep. Our onside and pooch kick coverage has been very good. In the last 8 seasons, we have yet to have a return for a touchdown and our recovery rates have ranged from about 5 %-30 %. Our theory is, why put the ball in the hands of the other teams best player “in space”, when no one is holding a gun to your head to do so? They want the ball in that guys hands, so why do I want to give the other team exactly what they want?

Deep Kicks

What hasn’t looked so good for us has been our deep kickoff coverage. We just haven’t bothered to put a descent coverage scheme in place or even practice covering deep kicks. Part of my lack of coaching effort in this area comes from priorities and part comes from the fact that when we are up by 3 or more scores and kick deep we really don’t care if there is a descent return or not. But if part of our charge as youth football coaches is to pursue excellence in every aspect of the game, our deep kick coverage was in need of a lot of work.

High School Legend and His Kick Coverage Concepts

Phil Acton is a High School coach with a tremendous track record of success, especially in the special teams arena. His kick off coverage team had not had a kickoff return for a touchdown in over 20 years and last season had just 2 returns go past the 30 yard line. Phil is firmly convinced the “lane theory” that most kick-off coverage teams use doesn’t make much sense. He drew up a number of returns that showed the sheer silliness of this concept. If the opposing team were to receive the kick on the right hash and the returner ran the ball straight up the right hash, the kicking teams players on the left hash and to the left of the left hash would be wasted players if they stayed in their lanes. These left hash defenders could even be left unblocked, allowing the return team to use double teams and numbers to overwhelm the coverage team where the return team wanted to focus its return.

Phil had a very simple concept imparted to all his kick coverage players: keep the returner in front of and inside of you. So if you are on the left side of the returner, you would adjust your pursuit path to insure the ball carrier was in front of but also inside your right shoulder. The defenders would continue to adjust their pursuit paths to insure they were not being outflanked. Now the ball carrier instead of just having to beat 2-3 players that are in or nearby the ‘lane’ he chose to run in, he has to beat 8-10 defenders. Phil also suggested directional kicking so his teams had to only defend a portion of rather than the entire field. He always wanted to kick away from the most dangerous return man and make that returner run to field the football.

Kick Coverage for Youth Football

When coaching youth football it is important that you understand the importance of special teams. Your kick coverage team is not the one you load up all your non-starters on, that is a recipe for disaster. Open space tackling is something most of your non-starters don’t do very well in most cases. In my book “Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan” we give you much safer and player development friendly methods of getting those kids playing time, but it surely isn’t on the kickoff team.

Youth Football Coaching Adjustment

In youth football it may make sense to add a small adjustment to this strategy. A simple way to force the ball carrier to the inside would be to position your boxing ends in positions that would force the ballcarrier to the middle of the field or better yet to one side of the field, so you have less field to defend. You could also assign your best open field tacklers to the side you are forcing to. As most of you know, I don’t like to recommend anything we have not heavily field tested with a variety of teams, ages, skill sets and competition, so I’m not advocating this method just yet. But this is an area we will be looking at very closely for next season. I’ve never been a fan of lanes and the simple “in front of inside” method, seems to make sense and worth a hard look for next fall.

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Youth Football Coaching Copyright 2007 Cisar Management. Republishing this article is allowed if this paragraph and links are included.

By: Dave Cisar

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Soccer mom score during election and greatly contributes in any supported party or candidate. The term “soccer mom” commonly refers to women belonging to the middle class family who have sons or daughters playing soccer.

The primary duty of a traditional mom is to parent their children, prepare them for school and drive them to school with their minivans and joins PTA meetings. She is in charge of dropping their kids to different activities like soccer. They are the number one fans of the children during sports competitions. Many of these moms work at home and some have full time jobs. Those are the most common jobs associated with these moms.

But in politics, these moms are no ordinary mothers. These moms are usually active in different NGO work or in many organizational activities. This group is also considered by politicians as one of the voting force which largely influence the election in favor of the candidate they support. The soccer mom score can give a candidate the winning seat. This has been proven during the election of past President Clinton. From then on, politicians value the support of this group and do their best to get the support from them.

We cannot deny the fact that these moms contribute so much in the society. With their devotion and hard work in taking care of a family and participating in social, cultural and political activities is a great ordeal which needs to be recognized and respected. They uphold the discipline and moral of their children in as much as they can.

By: John Escribar

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Flag football drills are essential for helping players understand the fundamentals of the sport in order to prepare for their opponents in game situations. Offense drills are a wonderful way to practice plays and built a strong offense. Here are a few drills that are ideal for quarterback, running backs, and wide receivers.

Open Area:

Open area is a flag football drill for quarterbacks and wide receivers. The purpose of the drill is for a wide receiver to find an open area on the field in order to catch a pass. Like many other offensive flag football drills, this drill illustrates how quarterbacks and wide receivers communicate. The defense should focus on the hips of the ball carrier rather than the shoulders because that is where the flag is.

Setting Up the Open Area Drill:

Designate an area that is ten yards by ten yards, and then divide the players into groups of six, with five players on offense and one player on defense. Next, station four players in the four corners of the area and place a lone receiver and lone defender in the inside of the area. This drill can be used by the whole team by dividing the players into groups of six and performing the drill in separate areas. Each group needs one football.

Outline of the Open Area Drill:

The object of the open area drill is for the quarterback to pass the football around the area until he is able to find an opportunity to make a pass to the wide receiver. The length of the drill is thirty seconds, with six points being awarded for each successful reception, and three points awarded for each interception. Alternating the positions of the players enables the defender and receiver to get some rest and experience the other elements of the drill.

Progression of the Open Area Drill:

As the open area drill progresses you will want to lower the drill time to twenty seconds in length. Then try adding a second defensive back to the area. If the football is intercepted, try putting the quarterback who threw the interception on defense.

Quarterback Toss Drill:

The purpose of the quarterback toss drill is to practice tossing the ball to the running back and to develop proper tosses or pitch techniques. Designate an area twenty yards by twenty yards, and divide teams into even groups. Then line up players opposite one another about five yards apart. One team is the quarterbacks and the other is running backs, and the teams will be alternating.

Outline of the Quarterback Toss Drill:

The quarterbacks will have their backs to the running backs, and the coach will yell out, “SET GO!” Each quarterback then holds the ball in front of them with knees bent and feet apart, as the running back moves right to take the pitch from the quarterback at a distance of three to six yards. Alternate running left and right. It’s a good idea to have players move in slow motion the first time you do these flag football drills so they have a clear understanding of the concept.

By: S. R. Tucker

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