The editor-in-chief of the magazine "Football" Artem Frankov about the man who first created and described the concept of football as an organized game.
I warn - mnogabukaff chetatapastno. And cleverness is present. But then it will be possible to accidentally screw up at a table in a cheerful company - about someone who showed the world an immense evil called "football referee"!.
So, on April 15 there is a reason to remember a good, very good, and not only the football of his character essence, the Man with the big letter "Ч". His name was Richard Mulcaster (Mulcaster). Well, raise your hands-who is that? Otozh-bogo vno ... Of course, as an excuse for a story about someone more joyous looks and more suits the anniversary of his birth. But the exact date of birth of Mulkaster was not remembered and conveyed to our days - we only know that he appeared in the world in Carlisle in 1531 in a very wealthy and respectable family (in England, they were called "gentry"),. Date of death - April 15, 1611, as you know, is much better known, and I just have to push off from it. Of course, it's a pity for six lost years - the article looked more relevant to the 400th anniversary ... Forgive me for that - I did not know it myself!.
So it was Mulcaster who granitiously entered the history of football not only as one of the most ardent lawyers of the Game, at that time quite strictly forbidden, but also as an inventor or "confirmer" of terms such as football itself (then - footebal or fotebal) Arm (handbal or armebal), teams (sides or parties, now - teams), a trainer (training mayster, now a manager or coach) and a judge (judge, now referee).
It was Malcaster, regardless of the father of sports medicine, the Italian Girolamo Mercuriale (1530-1606, and how many sports doctors know about the existence of such a man and his magnum opus, that is, the labor of life of De Arte Gimnastica?!), Came to the conclusion that the benefits of physical education and training Sports - benefits, including, and especially for children.
It was Mulcaster who first created and described the concept of football as an organized game with a limited number of participants and limited physical contact, preferential use of the feet and in this form useful for implementation in educational institutions!.
Richard Mulcaster received a brilliant education, studying at Eton, Cambridge and Oxford and rightly regarded as one of the most educated people of his time. It's no coincidence that Sir Thomas White, the founder of the Merchant Taylors School in London (she still exists, still has 872 male students at the age of three to 18), in 1561 invited Mulcaster to take the post of director - High Master. Actually, the director of Malcaster and worked all his long enough life, later moving to the school of St. Paul. And this one, also successfully training boys in our days from 13 to 19, does its history from 1103, being re-founded in 1509! Yes, and, probably, studying in an institution with such a rich tradition and history, you feel special pride ... He was a Teacher and the Illuminator. Educated and organized training. By the way, the idea that teachers should be trained and taught, too, belongs to Mulcaster.
In the beginning of the 16th century, schools in England, as, indeed, everywhere, mainly operated under monasteries. When Henry VIII, the loving and not objectionable objector (by the way, a big fan of football, documented the presence in the wardrobe of His Majesty's several pairs of shoes for playing this), the Pope began to insert sticks into the wheels for divorce, the king simply abolished the leadership role of the Vatican and founded An independent Anglican church. Of course, monasteries got thoroughly, and with them - schools. The second half of the century, already under Queen Elizabeth the Virgin, is also the Good Queen Bess (son of Henry, King Edward the Sixth, famous for Mark Twain's novel The Prince and the Pauper, ruled for a short time and died at age 16), was marked by the rapid appearance and growth of public Private schools. Merchant Taylors, founded by the eponymous company (tailor-merchants? In general, the meaning is clear - the de facto guild of those who somehow was associated with clothing, gradually turned from a business organization to a charitable foundation that worked hard in the field of enlightenment of British society) , At that time was the largest in England. In principle, this is not too important for our topic, but, in my opinion, informative.
Of course, the interests of Mulcaster were far from being limited to a deadly game, in those years much more reminiscent of a fight wall against the wall, rather than some fun for rest and entertainment or to strengthen the body. In the history textbooks of such people it is customary to call humanists, and among sane descendants - with gratitude to erect numerous monuments and republish the works. Mulcaster was convinced, and most importantly, he actively and weightfully defended the view that at least elementary education should receive ALL - aristocrats, bourgeois and peasants, rich and poor, boys and girls. For the 16th century these were truly revolutionary views!.
He believed that soon the English language would supplant the deadening teaching in Latin and Greek, accepted everywhere in Europe, and made every effort to celebrate his native speech (having brilliantly mastered both Latin, Greek, and Jewish) - and this also struck with terrible force Immature minds with novelty and freshness, because Latin was considered the language of communication between educated people and scientists!.
He actively introduced painting to the teaching - because it "develops observation". His students studied music, sang and danced - because it increases the attractiveness of learning and is simply useful, including for breadth of horizons.
Finally, he defended the need for physical exercises - including quite acceptable and even very desirable was the game of football. Undoubtedly, changed in comparison with the street, organized, carried out according to certain rules and equipped with a leader-arbiter.
Yes, the football lesson in the school was introduced many, many years ago ... Richard Mulster wrote two books in which he outlined his views - Positions and Elementarie; Although why two - he is also the author of the first dictionary of the English language, for which he is honored by the father of English lexicography! But before that, in 1581, he saw the work of Positions Wherein Those Primitive Circumstances Be Examined, Which Are Necessarie for the Training up of Children (let me translate as "Necessary for training children in the simplest situation"), and in it - Such words: "A slightly reduced amount under supervision, divided into teams so that their bodies do not collide so fiercely; So that they do not beat or push each other so barbaric ... then you can use football for the benefit of the body, using primarily the feet ".
... Mulcaster outstripped not only his time, but, if I may say so, someone else's. Nearly three centuries later, in 1863, which is considered the date of the true birth of football as an organized game with certain rules (although in fact at the time there were at least two equivalent codes, Cambridge and Sheffield), there will be no judges. In fact, why - after all, if a gentleman breaks the rules, he will do it by accident and then immediately confess his guilt! So the first arbitrators still arising from, I emphasize, football fields, actually played the role of timekeepers - the gentlemen should have known when it was time to refresh yourself with a glass of whiskey and a cigar (though some, first of all, goalkeepers, had time to do it and during the game). Then the teams began to allocate from their composition the so-called umpires, and referee (from the word refer) entered the case only when umpires could not come to an agreement. And only in 1891, five years after the establishment of IFAB, the rules committees, umpires legislatively turned into modern assistants to the chief arbitrator (line men, if you like, although this is the jargon of clean water), and the referee - in a formidable chief arbiter, located in the field and Fully responsible for compliance with the rules during the match.
Well, the first coaches - it's already, sorry, and quite a stormy 20th century!.