READING COMPREHENSION PASSAGE (CLASS 9 AND 10)

worksheet 23 

FOOTBALL

Football is the world’s most popular ball game in numbers of participants and spectators. Simple in its principal rules and essential equipment, the sport can be played almost anywhere, from official football playing fields (pitches) to gymnasiums, streets, school playgrounds, parks, or beaches.

Football, also known as Association Football or Soccer, is a field sport where two teams of 11 players each, try to manoeuvre the ball into the opposition’s goal using any part of their bodies except for the hands and arms.Only the goalkeeper of the teams are permitted to handle the ball, albeit(although) within the penalty area around the goal only. The team that scores the most goals is the winner of the contest.

Football’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de football association (FIFA), estimated that at the turn of the 21st century there were approximately 250 million football players and over 1.3 billion people “interested” in football; in 2010 a combined television audience of more than 1.5 billion watched football’s premier tournaments, the quadrennial (occurring every four years)month-long world-cup finals.

Historically, football was played in some form or the other in at least half a dozen different games in varying to different degrees. It can be safely said that people have been kicking the humble ball about for thousands of years.

The earliest traces of the game can be dated back in the second and third centuries BC in the Han Dynasty China in an exercise from a military manual. Back then, football was called as Tsu’ Chu and involved kicking a leather ball that was filled with feathers and hair. The posts were made of long bamboo canes.

Another variation of the game can be found in neighbouring Japan – the Japanese Kemari. The sport that began roughly 500-600 years later is still being played today.

The only major difference between Tsu Chu and Kemari is that the latter lacks the competitive element of former with the least struggle for possession involved. The sport involves a group of players standing in a circle and passing the ball to each other without letting it touch the ground.

The third major variation of football, and much closer to the modern sport, was the Roman game called ‘Harpastum’. Harpastum was played out with a relatively smaller ball between two teams on a rectangular field marked by boundary lines and a center line.

The objective of the game was to get the ball past the opposition’s boundary lines. It involved players passing the ball between themselves with trickery being the order of the day. The game enjoyed popularity for 700-800 years before the Romans took it to Britain.

It was there that the modern sport of Football evolved. The modern history of the football game, however, spans over a century. It all started in 1863 in England, as the ‘rugby football’ and ‘association football’ split and the Football Association (F.A.) was born, becoming the sport’s first official governing body.

What are benefits of football/soccer?
There are various benefits of playing football game or soccer and they are:
Increases stamina.
Maintain cardiovascular health.
Improve coordination in the body
Weight loss and maintain body fat
Tone body with muscle strength
Keeps bone healthy

Which country invented football?
The modern form of football game originated in Britain in the 19th century.

What are red cards for in football?

The yellow card in football is used by the referee to communicate that a player has been cautioned. Two yellow cards make for a red card.

A red card will be awarded to a player who commits a serious offense on the football field such as violent behaviour and deliberate obstruction of a goal scoring opportunity against the opposition team.

What is the size of football field?
In the game of football or soccer, the rectangular field of play measures 100 yards or 360 feet long between the goal lines, and 53 yards or 160 feet wide. (approximately)