Sports are good examples of popular culture; many sports have originated as folk customs, diffused like any other folk culture trait, through the migration of people. The diffusion of sports nowadays is a characteristic of current popular culture anyway.
Soccer is the word used in North America and Oceania to name what the rest of the world call “Football”, a very popular sport played by approximately 270 million people worldwide;
• Establishment: officially during the 19th century in England, but similar games were played as far as 2.000 years ago.
• Origin & Diffusion: it has been said it started in East Asia (although uncertain) during the 2nd and 3rd century B.C., in China with “<em>cu ju</em>” meaning (<em>kick ball</em>) which is the earliest form of the sport; then jumped to Europe through Rome, Greece, France and England and finally worldwide.
• The World Cup: the first World Cup held in South America (Uruguay 1930) was a keystone to spread the sport and make it more popular around the world, sparkling the passion of new fans since this event is the most prestigious football tournament among nations currently, and the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world.
Soccer/Football then was forged in England as a folk custom during the 11th century and became part of the global popular culture around the 19th and 20th centuries. It has been documented that early Soccer/Football games resembled mob scenes, a large crowd from 2 villages used to gather to kick a ball; the winner was the group kicking the ball into the center of the rival village.
The transformation from English folk to global popular culture started in the 1800s; recreation clubs were created in England to provide factory workers an organized recreation during leisure hours, thus it started to be taught in schools.
The word soccer was determined around 1863, when the Football Association was created, Association was shortened to assoc, and lastly was twisted around into soccer.
In the late 1800s Football Association was exported first to Europe, and in the 20th century to the rest of the world mainly with the 1rst World Cup in South America.
The sport was further diffuse with the rise of the radio and television; and the new mass media and telecommunications completed the journey to make the sport part of the popular culture as it is today.
