What to post about
I have it!! Moonlit rock climbing, that's what I'll post about today. Ah no... So, I was scratching my head, wondering what i might post about this time. I've posted across many different sports to date here on Sports Talk Social.
I've posted about superstars like Ronnie O'Sullivan in snooker, Marco Van Basten in soccer and everything in between. I was thinking about another superstar post and then it hit me, what about posting about the history of sport. Where did sport come from? Where did it all begin?
When did it all begin
Sports are not new, for centuries, they have formed part of the very fabric of life and togetherness. They allow humans innate competitiveness to be harnessed and offer a spectacle for the onlookers. People have been participating in sports for enjoyment and health for centuries.
Are we talking five centuries? Are we going back ten centuries? Are we going back to the time of Christ? Nope. Keeping going. Double that timespan, the double it again and double it once more. Now you are there - 15,300 years ago during the Last Stone Age, our pre historic ancestors drew artistic depictions on the walls of their caves in Lascaux, France and other places. Carbon dating and other dating techniques allowed archaeologists to date these paintings.
There is something amazing about that. As our ancient ancestor found suitable materials and pigments to use, in order to paint what they saw around them or at least their interpretation of it, little did they know that 15 millennia later their great great great (insert anoter 379 greats) grandsons would be studying their scrawls and brush strokes to try to understand their lives, habits and pastimes. Incredible, truly incredible.
So we know that wrestling is one of the oldest sports in the world. Further evidence was found in a papyrus fragment that was found. It had wrestling instructions on it, dating somewhere between 100 and 200 AD. Even some two thousand years later, wrestling is still one of the most popular sports in the world and is hugely popular in places like USA and Russia.
Ancient Sports
So what other sports were happening back then or near enough. Well running is one that shouldn't really shock us. It was actually the only sport at the first Olympics in 776 BC and in my opinion it probably pre dates the wrestling, though I have no proof.
You see early humans developed into endurance runners from hunting animals to survive. They would follow and chase an animal to the point of exhaustion and developed such things as plentiful sweat glands, achilles tendons and large knee joints to assist in such activities. This excerpt from wikipedia tells us that competitive running pre dates Jesus Christ by almost two thousand years, but in all likelihood it goes much further back.
Competitive running grew out of religious festivals in various areas such as Greece, Egypt, Asia, and the East African Rift in Africa. The Tailteann Games, an Irish sporting festival in honor of the goddess Tailtiu, dates back to 1829 BCE, and is one of the earliest records of competitions. The origins of the Olympics and Marathon running are shrouded by myth and legend, though the first recorded games took place in 776 BCE. Running in Ancient Greece can be traced back to these games of 776 BCE.
I like that there is an Irish connection with the Tailteann Games. Many of the earliest sports seem to be those we associate with the Olympics - Wrestling, Running and now the Javelin.
The javelin is another sport that was part of the early Olympics, and had been a part of the modern day Olympic games since 1906. It is a track and field sport in which a javelin is thrown as far as possible. Other throwing disciplines have been added since then like the hammer and the shot put.
Ball sports
What genius came up with the first ball sport? I guess we'll never know for sure. Historians will tell us that it was likely to have been people from Mesoamerican cultures over 3,000 years ago. The Aztecs had a game called Tchatali, which i believe used a ball shaped stone, although it may have been rubber. I have read that in some rituals, the ball would symbolize the sun and the captain of the losing team would be sacrificed to the gods. A unique feature of the Mesoamerican ball game versions was a bouncing ball made of rubber – no other early culture had access to rubber.
More reading tells me that the first known ball game to involve a kicking motion happened in China. Around 200 years BC, the game known as Cuju came into being. Cuju was played with a round ball (stitched leather with fur or feathers inside).
Perhaps even older Cuju was Marn Gook, played by the native Aboriginal people in Australia. This ball was made out of leaves and roots. The rules are mostly unknown, but as with many other early versions of the game keeping the ball in the air was probably a chief feature. That intrigues me, as when i was a boy keepy uppies would keep me entertained for hours on end, i think my record was 500 or 600 and something. Fun times, but little did I know that others around the world had been doing something similar for years and years and years.
Built upon the shoulders of these sporting giants came all other ball sports - soccer, football, rugby, tennis, hurling, hockey and so many more. I don my hat to my ancestors for starting of a tradition that changed, adapted, morphed and transitioned into the diversity of sports we have today which bring joy and happiness to so many of us.
