The savage nature of this form of football was not much appreciated by rulers and Royalty took all possible steps to stop these games. King Edward III of England, passed laws in 1331 to stop game, he was followed by King James I of Scotland in 1424. The Queens were not far behind, rather, had a more strict approach. Queen Elizabeth I of England, enacted laws that could sentence a football player to jail for a week followed by penancing in a church.

However, in spite of all their best efforts and intentions they could not stop game. It was too popular among masses and they loved game.

The first approach to regularize and give a civilized form to this game was taken by famous Eton College of England in 1815 when they established a set of rules for games. These rules were accepted by other schools, colleges and universities. Later, in 1848, these rules were further standardized and a new version was adopted by all schools, college and universities. This new set of rules was known as Cambridge Rules.

At this stage, there were actually two set of rules that were being followed in this game. Some organizations preferred to follow rules of Rugby School, that allowed tripping, kicking and carrying ball, whereas Cambridge rules prohibited all this methods.

In October, 1863, The Football Association was formed, when eleven London schools and clubs came together to establish a single set of rules to administer any football match that were to be played among them. On 8 December 1863, Association Football and Rugby Football finally split onto two different organizations.

In 1869, these rules were further amended to exclude any handling of ball beyond scope of acceptability and that created foundation for modern day sports mania—SOCCER !

Goals (pronounced 'gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!!!' in actual soccer matches) in soccer are scored by kicking ball through a rectangle shape appropriately called goal. Though rectangle is standard, goals can be made by placing any two objects a few steps apart. I have personally played in neighborhood games where goal posts were chairs, barrels, younger siblings, and shoes (if you're playing barefoot, make sure no one is wearing cleats). Kicking ball below head height and more or less between makeshift goal posts constitutes a goal, though you will find each goal will be heavily debated.

Competitive leagues almost always require shin guards, and you can usually pick up a decent pair for pretty cheap. Even in a friendly park setting, players can get pretty passionate, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to wear them during game.

The rules are simple and easy to learn. The basics you need to know are that you should try to avoid kicking people, you can't tackle people like in American football, and you can't use your hands. In that sense, except for hands restriction, soccer is a lot like life. Other rules apply more in competition, but it wouldn't hurt to read up on them at www.fifa.com.

As with any sport, most important thing is to look good, so go out and buy yourself some silky soccer shorts and jerseys. Long hair and an Italian accent certainly won't hurt your chances of going pro - but if neither of those is an option for you, just remember to have fun and play fair.