Fall Into Action

1. What American city is recognized as the cradle of modern professional football?

A. Canton, Ohio
B. Chicago, Illinois
C. Muncie, Indiana
D. Rochester, New York

A. Canton, Ohio
QQ: Today, Canton is recognized as the cradle of modern professional football. The Pro Football Hall of Fame, dedicated in 1963, is located there, but the real reason is that a 1920 meeting led to the formation of the American Professional Football Association.

2. The English organized the game, which they called hockie and the French called hoquet, and instituted most of the modern rules. However, the stick and ball game called Field Hockey can trace its routes back to three ancient civilizations. Which of these is NOT one of them?

A. Egypt
B. Greece
C. Persia
D. Rome

D. Rome
QQ: Field hockey, a stick and ball game related to ice hockey and lacrosse,
originated in ancient Egypt, Persia, and Greece and assumed its present form
after its spread to Europe.

3. Lacrosse, an outdoor game in which two teams using netted sticks compete to throw a ball into the opponents' goal, is similar in tactics to ice hockey and soccer. A national sport of Canada, lacrosse has grown in popularity in the United States, Australia, England, and Ireland. Who invented the game?

A. Canadians
B. English
C. Huron Indians
D. Irish

C. Huron Indians
QQ: In 1636 a Jesuit missionary in North America observed Huron Indians playing a game with a hide-covered ball carried and hurled from a curved stick with a pouch at the top. The Indians called the game bagataway, but the curved stick resembled a bishop's crosier, or la crosse in French, from which the sport takes its name.

4. Where did the sport of rugby originate in 1823?

A. The Rugby School in England
B. The Rugby School in Australia
C. A Scottish parochial school in the parish of Rugby
D. No one knows for sure, but rugby is much older than 1823

A. The Rugby School in England
QQ: Whether in legend or in fact, rugby is said to have originated in 1823 at the Rugby School in England. A stone marker at the gates of the school commemorates the event when "William Webb Ellis with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time, first took the ball in his arms and ran with it." The game being played was soccer, the ancestor of both rugby and American football.

5. Soccer evolved from centuries of different ball games, but the modern-day version of soccer is known to have started in England, and the first ball reportedly was the head of a dead Danish brigand. The game was already incredibly popular in the 14th century despite being prohibited by King Edward

III. Why did he ban it?
A. He preferred golf and wanted it to be more popular
B. It interfered with military preparedness
C. They would never let him play
D. The Danish brigands lodged a formal protest

B. It interfered with military preparedness
QQ: King Edward III prohibited soccer in 1365 because of its excessive violence and for military reasons playing took time away from archery practice. However, the game had become too popular to be curtailed.

6. How often would typical lacrosse matches last among the Indians?

A. A few hours
B. A few days
C. A few weeks
D. A few months

B. A few days
QQ: Lacrosse among the Indians had few rules. Training was rigorous, and the contests between tribes often lasted two or three days with scores of players on each side.

7. Rugby is played in more than 80 countries. Which country has the most players?

A. Japan
B. Britain
C. New Zealand
D. Argentina

A. Japan
QQ: Just another demonstration of the sport's widespread popularity. Japan has more rugby players than any other country, and the game is as popular in Argentina as in Britain or New Zealand.

8. American football slowly evolved in the 19th century. What sport, which was a prelude to this popular pastime, was banned at Harvard in 1860?

A. Field hockey
B. Lacrosse
C. Rugby
D. Soccer

C. Rugby
QQ: Any number of theories exist about the evolution of American football, but most historians agree that it is a modification of the English game of rugby and of soccer. Football made its first appearance at the intercollegiate level. As a prelude to what would become an American game, collegians played rugby, but the sport was so grueling that it was barred at Harvard in 1860.

9. How far back can we trace soccer's roots?

A. 500 B.C.
B. 200 B.C.
C. 200 A.D.
D. 500 A.D.

B. 200 B.C.
QQ: The earliest evidence of soccer dates from about 200 B.C. in China, where a
form of the game was played that emphasized the ability of players to dribble a
leather ball. The Greeks and Romans also participated in a variation of soccer
that permitted ball carrying.

10. When the American Professional Football Association (APFA) was formed in
1920. How much did franchises sell for?
A. $100
B. $500
C. $1000
D. $5000

A. $100
QQ: Franchises at $100 each went to Canton, Cleveland, Dayton, Akron, and Massillon in Ohio; Rock Island, Decatur (George Halas's Staleys moved to Chicago to become the Chicago Bears before the APFA changed its name in 1922), and Chicago (Cardinals) in Illinois; Hammond and Muncie in Indiana; Wisconsin; and Rochester, N.Y.

11. Introduced to the game by the British Army, India later adopted it as its national sport?

A. Rugby
B. Soccer
C. Polo
D. Field hockey

D. Field hockey

QQ: In the 19th century, the British Army introduced the game to the Commonwealth countries, and India later adopted the game as its national sport.

12. In 1869, two New Jersey universities, Rutgers and Princeton, played what is considered the first intercollegiate game in the United States of what sport?

A. Football
B. Soccer
C. Rugby
D. Field hockey

A. Football
QQ: However, the game they played hardly resembled modern-day football, or even the football that was played at the turn of the 20th century. There were 25 players on each side, and the scoring was decided by goals, not touchdowns, conversions, and field goals. Rutgers won that first game, and Princeton won a rematch a week later. Before long, other universities began taking up the game Columbia in 1870, followed by Yale 2 years later.

13. In what century did formal rules and distinctions among players of the game of soccer emerge?

A. 17th century
B. 18th century
C. 19th century
D. 20th century

C. 19th century
QQ: Soccer, which evolved from centuries of different ball games, did not always allow only the goalkeepers, or goalies, to use their hands to touch the ball. Formal rules and distinctions among players of the game did not emerge until the late 19th century. Rugby and U.S.-style football developed out of the division that came with decisions to prohibit certain actions in soccer, such as handling the ball, tackling with the arms, and hacking.

14. Which state hosted the first professional football game?

A. Ohio
B. Pennsylvania
C. New York
D. New Jersey

B. Pennsylvania
QQ: The game was first played with paid players in 1895, when a team from Latrobe, Pa., hosted a game with a team from nearby Jeannette.

15. Where did the name “soccer” come from?

A. So many football matches result in fisticuffs where people are “socked” out
B. Slang for ball in Italian
C. Association football
D. Saxon word for “head”

C. Association football
QQ: Oct. 26, 1863, in London, 11 clubs met to form the Football Association, which laid the foundations for the nearly 140 modern national associations. With the advent of a national association in England, any soccer played under its jurisdiction was called association football. As time passed the word association was abbreviated to assoc., which eventually gave way to the word soccer, the game's common name in North America.