Association Football (known as 'football' or 'soccer') is the world's most popular sport, watched and played by countless millions around the globe. But how well do you know its history? Scroll on to put your soccer knowledge to the test.
Time for kick-off. In what year was the sport of Association Football officially invented?
Forms of soccer were played long, long before it was codified as a sport, but the first official rules were written at the Freemasons’ Tavern in Blackheath, England, 1863. Some of these rules still exist but many have been heavily modified or removed over the years.
Spot quiz: in what year were penalty kicks first added to the rules of the game?
A penalty kick is when an attacking side is awarded a free shot at goal from a marked distance (these days 12 yards) if a foul is committed by the defending team in the penalty area. They were originally called ‘kicks of death’. It’s shame that name didn’t catch on!
Soccer is now the world's most popular sport, but when and where was the first World Cup tournament held?
These days the World Cup is one of the world’s great sporting occasions. Every national team enters and plays through a system of qualifying rounds to reach the final tournament, held every four years in a different host nation. Uruguay hosted, and won, the first.
The referee's whistle blows! When was the dreaded Red Card first introduced to the game?
Players can be sent from the field for committing a variety of offences, such as dangerous play, preventing a goal-scoring opportunity, or accumulating two yellow cards for less serious offences. The ref will show a Red Card to the offending player.
These days international football has a busy calendar with the World Cup and individual continental tournaments, but the idea didn't take off immediately. Can you name the year the first ever international football match was played and by which two nations?
These two still contest a very heated rivalry!
If you would like to discover more about Association Football, or soccer as it is commonly known, then you can click here.
The most important elements of the food of Mayan families at the community level are: corn, beans, pumpkin and chili, as well as various products used to complement the different dishes.
At present, communities have access to a wide variety of food products offered on the market, but food made from local flora and fauna products obtained from the local environment still persists.
The onsikil bi buul or bean pipián (seed salsa) is one of many foods typical of the communities of the central Mayan area.
Products such as pumpkin seeds, beans and plums are the main ingredients required to prepare them.
• 250g ground pumpkin seeds
• 1 kg beans
• 1 kg green courtyard plum
• ½ cup corn masa dough
• 3 red tomatoes
• 1 bunch oregano
• 1 garlic clove
• 6 grains of allspice
• 15g of normal pepper
• 1 purple onion
• 200g of achiote (annatto)
• 1 habanero courtyard chili
First, the achiote (annatto) is left to soak in a bowl to release its color. The bean is also cleaned.
Then the bean is placed in the pot with 3 cups water over a low heat.
Then, the pumpkin seeds are prepared in the comal (griddle) until they are toasted.
When the beans are half-cooked, add salt to taste, then leave it to boil for 10 minutes and in the meantime grind the seeds along with the garlic, peppers and oregano.
Once finished mixing, leave it to soak for later straining and adding to the beans.
Strain the achiote (annatto). Add the chopped onion, tomato and plum to the beans. Leave it to boil 30 minutes
Finally, add water to the masa dough to break it down and cook it inside the pot. Keep it moving with a wooden stick (juuyub) so that the food keeps cooking.
Leave the dish to boil until it absorbs the seasoning. In the meantime, toast the habanero chili in the comal (griddle) to spice up the food.
It is commonplace for families to accompany theonsikil bi bu'ul with handmade tortillas or tortillas toasted on the stove.
Enjoy your meal!
In many Mesoamerican sites you can find ballcourts and Chichén Itzá is no exception. This site has several ballgame courts.
This ballcourt is not only the most important in the city, but also the biggest one in Mesoamerica, measuring 120 m x 30 m.
It has been created in the shape of the letter 'I', with a temple on the north side and another temple on the south side.
The stone rings, where a rubber ball would have gone through during a game, were decorated with intertwined feathered serpents.
The ballgame played here was quite different to those we are familiar with today – hands and feet could not touch the ball, so the ball was played back and forth between the teams with their hips, and maybe even their knees and elbows.
The rules of the game also changed depending on when and where it was played. The size of the ballcourts differed too!