Book suggests Scots invented football
A book published in the 17th century suggests the modern game of football was invented in Scotland, it has emerged.
Vocabula was penned by an Aberdeen schoolmaster in 1633, more than 200 years before the Football Association was formed in England.
The pocket-sized book, which is written in Latin, describes players passing the ball and scoring goals.
A 1711 edition of the manuscript was stored for years at the the National Library of Scotland but is now on display at the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Hamburg, Germany, as part of a World Cup football exhibition.
The book was written by Aberdeen Grammar School teacher David Wedderburn.
He wrote: "Let's pick sides. Those who are on the outside, come over here. Kick off, so that we can begin the match...Pass it here."
Richard McBrearty, curator of the Scottish Football Museum, said: "The book is the first evidence we have come across of a passing game with goalkeepers and players passing the ball to score goals.
"The other interesting thing is that the FA was not formed until 1863.
"In the first FA rule book there is no mention of goalkeepers and the game is based more on a rugby-type structure, where players could not pass the ball forward.
"Scotland has a fantastic claim to have developed the modern game
"It is frankly an amazing discovery and one which is hard to dispute."
Professor Wulf Koepke of the Museum fur Volkerkunde, said: "The influence of this book is quite tremendous - it rewrites part of football history."
Source - Teamtalk.com
|
