Sports Betting

The Cambridge Rules in football

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

In 1848 at Cambridge University, Mr. H. de Winton and Mr. J.C. Thring, who were both formerly at Shrewsbury School, called a meeting at Trinity College, Cambridge with 12 other representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury. An eight-hour meeting produced what amounted to the first set of modern rules, known as the Cambridge [...]

Laws of the Soccer

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

There are seventeen Laws in the official Laws of the Game. The same Laws are designed to apply to all levels of football, although certain modifications for groups such as juniors, seniors or women are permitted. The Laws are often framed in broad terms, which allow flexibility in their application depending on the nature of [...]

Establishment of modern codes of football – English public schools

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Statue at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia commemorating the earliest known football match between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. Tom Wills umpires as two schoolboy players contesting the ball. The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools — mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes [...]

Rugby history

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Rugby School The legendary story/myth about the origin of Rugby football—whereby a young man named William Webb Ellis “took the ball in his arms [i.e. caught it] and ran,” showing “a fine disregard,” while playing Rugby School’s already distinctive version of football (not to be confused with association football, which was codified much later) in [...]

History and development of soccer

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Map showing the popularity of association football around the world. Countries where association football is the most popular sport are coloured green, while countries where it is not are coloured red. The various shades of green and red indicate the number of players per 1,000 inhabitants. Games revolving around the kicking of a ball have [...]

Official disapproval and attempts to ban football

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Numerous attempts have been made to ban football games, particularly the most rowdy and disruptive forms. This was especially the case in England and in other parts of Europe, during the Middle Ages and early modern period. Between 1324 and 1667, football was banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws. [...]

Nature of the football game

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

A goalkeeper dives to stop the ball from entering his goal. Football is played in accordance with a set of rules, known as the Laws of the Game. The game is played using a single round ball (the football), and two teams of eleven players each compete to get the ball into the other team’s [...]

Mediæval football – Calcio Fiorentino

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

An illustration of so-called “mob football”. The Middle Ages saw a huge rise in popularity of annual Shrovetide football matches throughout Europe, particularly in England. The game played in England at this time may have arrived with the Roman occupation, but there is little evidence to indicate this. Reports of a game played in Brittany, [...]

Rugby

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

Rugby football refers to sports descended from a common form of football developed at Rugby School in England. The two major sports are rugby league and rugby union. American football and Canadian football also originated from Rugby football. Rugby league and rugby union Rugby league is played both as a professional and amateur sport in [...]

American football

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Soccer

Monday, March 16th, 2009

The striker (wearing the red shirt) is past the defence (in the white shirts) and is about to take a shot at the goal. The goalkeeper will attempt to stop the ball from entering the goal. Association football, soccer, or simply football, is a team sport played between two teams each consisting of 11 players and [...]

Ancient football games

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

A revived version of Kemari being played at the Tanzan Shrine. Documented evidence of what is possibly the oldest organized activity resembling football can be found in a Chinese military manual written during the Han Dynasty in about 2nd century BC. It describes a practice known as cuju (Traditional Chinese: 蹴鞠; Simplified Chinese: 蹴踘; Pinyin: [...]

Spread betting

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

Spread betting is a form of gambling on the outcome of any event where the more accurate the gamble, the more is won and conversely the less accurate the more is lost. A bet is made against a ‘spread’ (or index), on whether the outcome will be above or below the spread. The amount won [...]

Football

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

Football is the name given to a number of different, but related, team sports. By far the most popular of these worldwide is Association football, which also goes by the name of soccer. The English language word football is also applied to Rugby football (Rugby union and Rugby league), North American football (American and Canadian), [...]

Types of bets

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

Aside from simple wagers–betting a friend that one’s favorite baseball team will win its division, for instance, or buying a football “square” for the Super Bowl–sports betting is commonly done through a bookmaker. Legal sports bookmakers exist throughout the world (perhaps most notably in Las Vegas). In areas where sports betting is illegal, bettors usually [...]

Sportsbook

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

A sportsbook (sometimes abbreviated as book) or a race and sports book is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, horse racing and boxing. The method of betting varies with the sport and the type of game. The more prominent the event, the more wagering [...]