text: খেলার ইতিহাস প্রাচীন পৃথিবীর ইতিহাসেও খুঁজে পাওয়া যায়। যে শারীরিক ক্রিয়াকলাপগুলি ক্রমশ খেলাধুলায় পরিণত হয়েছিল, সেগুলি  প্রাথমিকভাবে অনুষ্ঠান, যুদ্ধ এবং বিনোদন সম্পর্কিত ছিল।
  
  খেলাধুলার ইতিহাস অধ্যয়নের মাধ্যমে সামাজিক পরিবর্তন এবং ক্রীড়ার প্রকৃতি সম্পর্কে শিক্ষা পাওয়া যেতে পারে, কারণ খেলাধুলা প্রাথমিকভাবে মানবিক দক্ষতার বিকাশে জড়িত বলে মনে হয় (তুলনা খেলা)| কেউ যদি ইতিহাসকে গভীরভাবে অনুসন্ধান করে, তার ক্রমহ্রাসমান প্রমাণ থেকে খেলাধুলার উৎস এবং উদ্দেশ্যের তত্ত্বগুলি আরও বেশি করেই সমর্থন করা অসম্ভব হয়ে পড়ে।
  
  খেলাধুলার সূচনা যখন হয়েছিল তখন থেকে দেখলে, এটি সামরিক প্রশিক্ষণ সম্পর্কিত ছিল। উদাহরণ স্বরূপ, ব্যক্তিরা পরিষেবা দানের জন্য উপযুক্ত এবং যোগ্য কিনা তা নির্ধারণের জন্য প্রতিযোগিতার মাধ্যম হিসাবে খেলাধূলা ব্যবহৃত হয়েছিল। দলগত ক্রীড়াগুলি প্রশিক্ষণ এবং সামরিক বাহিনীতে লড়াইয়ের দক্ষতা প্রমাণ করার জন্য এবং একটি দল হিসাবে একসাথে কাজ করার (সামরিক সংস্থা) জন্য ব্যবহৃত হয়েছিল।
  
  প্রাগৈতিহাসিক খেলাধূলা
  
  ফ্রান্সে ল্যাসকক্স গুহাগুলিতে পাওয়া গুহাচিত্রগুলি প্রায় ১৫,৩০০ বছর পূর্বের নব্য প্রস্তর যুগের স্প্রিন্ট এবং কুস্তির চিত্র পাওয়া গেছে।মঙ্গোলিয়ার বয়ানখঙ্গোর প্রদেশে পাওয়া নব্য প্রস্তর যুগের ( গুহা চিত্রগুলি থেকে দেখা গেছে ভিড়ে ঠাসা দর্শকের সামনে কুস্তি প্রতিদ্বন্দিতা।  মিশরের গিল্ফ কেবিরেরর এর কাছে ওয়াডি সুরার সাঁতারু গুহায় নব্য প্রস্তর যুগের গুহাচিত্র পাওয়া গেছে যেখান থেকে প্রায় ১০,০০০ খ্রিস্টপূর্বাব্দে সাঁতার এবং ধনুর্বিদ্যা অনুশীলন করার প্রমাণ পাওয়া গেছে। প্রাগৈতিহাসিক জাপানের গুহা চিত্রগুলিতে সুমো কুস্তির মতো একটি খেলা চিত্রিত হয়েছে।
  
  সম্ভবত শিকার সংগ্রহের বদলে কৃষিকার্য খাদ্য সংগ্রহের প্রাথমিক মাধ্যম হিসাবে প্রভাবশালী হয়ে ওঠার পরে, যাদের আগে শিকারীরর ভূমিকায় দেখা যেত – এবং সম্ভবত এই কারণে তারা প্রাকৃতিকভাবে বেশি শক্তিশালী ছিল – তাদের ব্যবহারিক দক্ষতায় প্রকাশের আর কোন উপায় ছিলনা। সুতরাং পরিবর্তে শিকারের জন্য প্রয়োজনীয় দক্ষতা অনুশীলনের অবিরাম প্রস্তুতির একটি পরিবেশ তৈরি হয়ে গিয়েছিল। সেটি এরপরে প্রতিযোগিতামূলক খেলায় পরিণত হয়েছিল, যে খেলার উদ্দেশ্য ছিল দেখে নেওয়া যে শিকারের বিভিন্ন পর্যায়ের জন্য কে সবচেয়ে "উপযুক্ত"; উদাহরণস্বরূপ, তাড়া করে ধরার গতি, কুস্তি করার শক্তি বা নির্ভুলভাবে দ্রুত শিকারটির প্রাণবধ করা এবং প্রতিযোগিতার ফলাফল কি হবে তাই নিয়ে বাজি ধরা। আজকের দিনে এই জিনিসটিকেই আমরা খেলাধুলা হিসাবে স্বীকৃতি দিয়েছি।
  
  প্রাচীন সুমের
  
  সুমেরীয় সভ্যতা থেকে প্রাপ্ত পাথরের ফলকগুলিতে কুস্তিগীরদের বিভিন্ন উপস্থাপনা পাওয়া গেছে। একটি ফলকে তিনজন কুস্তিগীরকে দেখানো হয়েছে যেটি খ্রিস্টপূর্ব ৩০০০ খ্রিস্টাব্দের।  একটি ঢালাই ব্রোঞ্জ মূর্তি (সম্ভবত একটি ফুলদানির) নিম্নদেশ), যেটি ইরাকের খাফাজি থেকে পাওয়া গেছে, যেখানে দেখা যাচ্ছে দুজন কুস্তিগীর আঁকড়ে ধরে আছে। এটি সম্ভবত খ্রিস্টপূর্ব ২৬০০ অব্দের। মূর্তিটি খেলাধুলার প্রথম দিককার চিত্রগুলির মধ্যে একটি এবং এটি ইরাকের জাতীয় যাদুঘরে রাখা হয়েছে। প্রাচীন সুমেরে মুষ্টিযুদ্ধের উৎসের সন্ধান পাওয়া গেছে। গিলগামেশের মহাকাব্যে খেলাধুলার প্রথম ঐতিহাসিক নথির সন্ধান পাওয়া গেছে, যেখানে গিলগামেশ এনকিদুর সাথে কটিবন্ধ কুস্তি লড়ছে। কিউনিফর্ম ফলকগুলি  খ্রিস্টপূর্ব ২০০০ অব্দের; তবে ঐতিহাসিক গিলগামেশ খ্রিস্টপূর্ব ২৮০০ থেকে ২৬০০ এর মধ্যে বেঁচে ছিল বলে মনে করা হয়। সুমেরীয় রাজা শুলগি খেলাধুলায় তাঁর দক্ষতা নিয়ে গর্ব করেছেন শুলগির এ এর স্ব-প্রশংসা, বি এবং সি।উরে খননের সময় মাছধরার বঁড়শি (এখন যেমন হয় তেমনটি নয়) পাওয়া গেছে, যার থেকে প্রমাণ হয়েছে ২৬০০ খ্রিস্টপূর্বাব্দের দিকে সুমেরে ছিপের ব্যবহার ছিল।
  
  প্রাচীন মিশর
  
  খ্রিস্টপূর্ব ২০০০ অব্দে বেনি হাসানে পাওয়া ফারাওদের স্মৃতিচিহ্নগুলি ইঙ্গিত দেয় যে কুস্তি, ভারোত্তোলন, লম্বা লাফ, সাঁতার, নৌচালন, তীরন্দাজী, মাছধরা সহ বেশ কয়েকটি খেলাধুলা এবং মল্লক্রীড়া, পাশাপাশি বিভিন্ন ধরনের বল ক্রীড়া, প্রাচীন মিশরে বিকশিত হয়েছিল এবং চর্চা হত। মিশরীয় অন্যান্য খেলাধুলার মধ্যে জ্যাভেলিন নিক্ষেপ এবং উচ্চ লম্ফ অন্তর্ভুক্ত ছিল। আগেকার দিনের কুস্তির বর্ণনার চিত্র পাওয়া গেছে সাক্কারার  খুমোটেপ ও নিয়ানখখনুমের সমাধিতে, যেটি প্রায় ২৪০০ খ্রিস্টপূর্বাব্দের।
  
  Ancient Greece
  
  The Minoan art of Bronze Age Crete depict ritual sporting events - thus a fresco dating to 1500 BCE records gymnastics in the form of religious bull-leaping and possibly bullfighting. The origins of Greek sporting festivals may date to funeral games of the Mycenean period, between 1600 BCE and  1100 BCE.
  The Iliad includes extensive descriptions of funeral games held in honour of deceased warriors, such as those held for Patroclus by Achilles.  Engaging in sport is described as the occupation of the noble and wealthy, who have no need to do manual labour themselves.  In the Odyssey, king Odysseus of Ithaca proves his royal status to king Alkinoös of the Phaiakes by showing his proficiency in throwing the javelin.  It was predictably in Greece that sports were first instituted formally, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BCE in Olympia, where they were celebrated until 393 CE.  These games took place every four years, or Olympiad, which became a unit of time in historical chronologies. Initially a single sprinting event, the Olympics gradually expanded to include several footraces, run in the nude or in armor, boxing, wrestling, pankration, chariot racing, long jump, javelin throw, and discus throw.  During the celebration of the games, an Olympic Truce was enacted so that athletes could travel from their countries to the games in safety. The prizes for the victors were wreaths of laurel leaves. Other important sporting events in ancient Greece included the Isthmian games, the Nemean Games, and the Pythian Games. Together with the Olympics, these were the most prestigious games, and formed the Panhellenic Games.  Some games, e.g. the Panathenaia of Athens, included musical, reading and other non-athletic contests in addition to regular sports-events.  The Heraean Games, held in Olympia as early as the 6th century BCE, were the first recorded sporting competition for women.
  
  Ancient sports elsewhere
  Sports that are at least two and a half thousand years old include hurling in Ancient Ireland, shinty in Scotland, harpastum (similar to rugby) in Rome, cuju (similar to association football) in China, and polo in Persia. The Mesoamerican ballgame originated over three thousand years ago. The Mayan ballgame of Pitz is believed to be the first ball sport, as it was first played around 2500 BCE.There are artifacts and structures that suggest that the Chinese engaged in sporting activities as early as 2000 BCE. Gymnastics appears to have been a popular sport in China's ancient past. Ancient Persian sports include the traditional Iranian martial art of Zourkhaneh. Among other sports that originated in Persia are polo and jousting. A polished bone implement found at Eva in Tennessee, United States and dated to around 5000 BCE has been construed as a possible sporting device used in a "ring and pin" game.
  
  Middle Ages
  
  For at least one hundred years, entire villages have competed with each other in rough, and sometimes violent, ballgames in England (Shrovetide football) and Ireland (caid). In comparison, the game of calcio Fiorentino, in Florence, Italy, was originally reserved for combat sports such as fencing and jousting being popular. Horse racing, in particular, was a favourite of the upper class in Great Britain, with Queen Anne founding the Ascot Racecourse.
  
  Development of modern sports
  
  Some historians – most notably Bernard Lewis – claim that team sports as we know them today are primarily an invention of Western culture. British Prime Minister John Major was more explicit in 1995:
  We invented the majority of the world's great sports.... 19th century Britain was the cradle of a leisure revolution every bit as significant as the agricultural and industrial revolutions we launched in the century before.
  
  The traditional team sports are seen as springing primarily from Britain, and subsequently exported across the vast British Empire. European colonialism helped spread particular games around the world, especially cricket (not directly related to baseball), football of various sorts, bowling in a number of forms, cue sports (like snooker, carom billiards, and pool), hockey and its derivatives, equestrian, and tennis, and many winter sports. The originally European-dominated modern Olympic Games generally also ensured standardization in particularly European, especially British, directions when rules for similar games around the world were merged.
  
  Regardless of game origins, the Industrial Revolution and mass production brought increased leisure which allowed more time to engage in playing or observing (and gambling upon) spectator sports, as well as less elitism in and greater accessibility of sports of many kinds. With the advent of mass media and global communication, professionalism became prevalent in sports, and this furthered sports popularity in general.
  
  With the increasing values placed on those who won also came the increased desire to cheat. Some of the most common ways of cheating today involve the use of performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids. The use of these drugs has always been frowned on but in recent history there have also been agencies set up to monitor professional athletes and ensure fair play in the sport.
  
  England
  
  Writing about cricket in particular, John Leech has explained the role of Puritan power, the English Civil War, and the Restoration of the monarchy in England. The Long Parliament in 1642 "banned theatres, which had met with Puritan disapproval. Although similar action would be taken against certain sports, it is not clear if cricket was in any way prohibited, except that players must not break the Sabbath". In 1660, "the Restoration of the monarchy in England was immediately followed by the reopening of the theatres and so any sanctions that had been imposed by the Puritans on cricket would also have been lifted." He goes on to make the key point that political, social and economic conditions in the aftermath of the Restoration encouraged excessive gambling, so much so that a Gambling Act was deemed necessary in 1664. It is certain that cricket, horse racing and boxing (i.e., prizefighting) were financed by gambling interests. Leech explains that it was the habit of cricket patrons, all of whom were gamblers, to form strong teams through the 18th century to represent their interests. He defines a strong team as one representative of more than one parish and he is certain that such teams were first assembled in or immediately after 1660. Prior to the English Civil War and the Commonwealth, all available evidence concludes that cricket had evolved to the level of village cricket only where teams that are strictly representative of individual parishes compete. The "strong teams" of the post-Restoration mark the evolution of cricket (and, indeed of professional team sport, for cricket is the oldest professional team sport) from the parish standard to the county standard. This was the point of origin for major, or first-class, cricket. The year 1660 also marks the origin of professional team sport.
  
  A number of the public schools such as Winchester and Eton, introduced variants of football and other sports for their pupils. These were described at the time as "innocent and lawful", certainly in comparison with the rougher rural games. With urbanization in the 19th century, the rural games moved to the new urban centres and came under the influence of the middle and upper classes. The rules and regulations devised at English institutions began to be applied to the wider game, with governing bodies in England being set up for a number of sports by the end of the 19th century. The rising influence of the upper class also produced an emphasis on the amateur, and the spirit of "fair play". The industrial revolution also brought with it increasing mobility, and created the opportunity for universities in Britain and elsewhere to compete with one another. This sparked increasing attempts to unify and reconcile various games in England, leading to the establishment of the Football Association in London, the first official governing body in football.
  
  For sports to become professionalized, coaching had to come first. d in the Victorian era and the role was well established by 1914.  In the First World War, military units sought out the coaches to supervise physical conditioning and develop morale-building teams. Sport became an important part of military life for British servicemen serving around the world.
  
  The British Empire and post-colonial sports
  The influence of British sports and their codified rules began to spread across the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly association football. A number of major teams elsewhere in the world still show these British origins in their names, such as A.C. Milan in Italy, Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense in Brazil, and Athletic Bilbao in Spain. Cricket became popular in several of the nations of the then British Empire, such as Australia, South Africa, India and Pakistan, and remain popular in and beyond today's Commonwealth of Nations. The revival of the Olympic Games by Baron Pierre de Coubertin was also heavily influenced by the amateur ethos of the English public schools.  The British played a major role in defining amateurism, professionalism, the tournament system and the concept of fair play. Some sports developed in England, spread to other countries and then lost its popularity in England while remaining actively played in other countries, a notable example being bandy which remains popular in Finland, Kazakhstan, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
  
  Baseball (closely related to English rounders and French la soule, and less clearly connected to cricket) became established in the urban Northeastern United States, with the first rules being codified in the 1840s, while American football was very popular in the south-east, with baseball spreading to the south, and American football spreading to the north after the Civil War. There is documented evidence of baseball in England. An extract from an 18th-century diary containing the oldest known reference to baseball is among the items on display in a new exhibition in London exploring the English origins and cricketing connections of America's national sport.
  
  While baseball was once claimed to have been invented in the U.S. in the mid-19th century, recent findings suggest a sport of the same name may have evolved decades earlier alongside cricket, crossing the Atlantic with English settlers to the American colonies. One notable discovery found in a shed in a village in Surrey, southern England, in 2008 was a handwritten 18th-century diary belonging to a local lawyer, William Bray. "Went to Stoke church this morn.," wrote Bray on Easter Monday in 1755. "After dinner, went to Miss Jeale's to play at base ball with her the 3 Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr. Chandler, Mr. Ford and H. Parsons. Drank tea and stayed til 8." In the 1870s the game split between the professionals and amateurs; the professional game rapidly gained dominance, and marked a shift in the focus from the player to the club. The rise of baseball also helped squeeze out other sports such as cricket, which had been popular in Philadelphia prior to the rise of baseball.
  
  American football (and gridiron football more generally) also has its origins in the English variants of the game, with the first set of intercollegiate football rules based directly on the rules of the Football Association in London. However, Harvard chose to play a game based on the rules of Rugby football. Walter Camp would then heavily modify this variant in the 1880s, with the modifications also heavily influencing the rules of Canadian football.
  
  Worldwide, the British influence includes many different football codes, lawn bowls, lawn tennis and other sports. The major impetus for this was the patenting of the world's first lawn mower in 1830. This allowed for the preparation of modern ovals, playing fields, pitches, grass courts, etc.
  
  United States
  
  Most sports in the United States evolved out of European practices. However, volleyball, skateboarding, and snowboarding are American inventions, some of which have become popular in other countries. However, Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate Western contact.
  
  Around the world 
  The 21st century has seen a move towards adventure sports as a form of individual escapism, transcending the routines of life. Examples include white water rafting, paragliding, canyoning, base jumping and more genteelly, orienteering.
  
  Women's sport history
  
  Women's competition in sports has been frowned upon by many societies in the past. The English public-school background of organized sport in the 19th and early 20th century led to a paternalism that tended to discourage women's involvement in sports, with, for example, no women officially competing in the 1896 Olympic Games. The 20th century saw major advances in the participation of women in sports due to a growing women's sports movement in Europe and North America. This led to the initiation of the Women's Olympiad (held three times 1921, 1922 and 1923) and the Women's World Games (held four times (1922, 1926, 1930 and 1934. In 1924 the 1924 Women's Olympiad was held in London. The increase in girls' and women's participation in sport has been partly influenced by the women's rights and feminist movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively. In the United States, female students’ participation in sports was significantly boosted by the Title IX Act in 1972, which forbade gender discrimination in all aspects of any educational environment that uses federal financial aid, leading to increased funding and support to develop female athletes.
  
  Pressure from sports funding bodies has also improved gender equality in sports. For example, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Leander Club (for rowing) in England had both been male-only establishments since their founding in 1787 and 1818, respectively, but both opened their doors to female members at the end of the 20th century at least partially due to the requirements of the United Kingdom Lottery Sports Fund.
  
  The 21st century has seen women’s participation in sport at its all-time highest. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, women competed in 27 sports over 137 events, compared to 28 men’s sports in 175 events. Several national women's professional sports leagues have been founded and are in competition, and women’s international sporting events such as the FIFA Women's World Cup, Women's Rugby World Cup, and Women's Hockey World Cup continue to grow.
  
  Stadia through the ages
  
  আরো দেখুন
  
   Sport in the United Kingdom § History
   Sport in England
  History of physical training and fitness
   History of sport in Australia
   History of sports in Canada
   History of sport in the United States
   Nationalism and sport
   Sociology of sport
  
  References
  
  আরো পড়ুন
   Day, Dave. Professionals, Amateurs and Performance: Sports Coaching in England, 1789–1914 (2012)
   Gorn, Elliott J. A Brief History of American Sports (2004)
   . Women's Sports: A History, Columbia University Press 1992
   Guttmann, Allen. Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism, Columbia Univ Press, 1996
   Guttmann, Allen. The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (2002)
   Holt, Richard. Sport and Society in Modern France (1981).
   Holt, Richard. Sport and the British: A Modern History (1990) excerpt
   Howell, Colin. Blood, Sweat, and Cheers: Sport and the Making of Modern Canada (2001)
  
   Maurer, Michael. "Vom Mutterland des Sports zum Kontinent: Der Transfer des englischen Sports im 19. Jahrhundert", European History Online, Mainz, 2011, retrieved: 25 February 2012.
   Morrow, Don and Kevin B. Wamsley. Sport in Canada: A History (2009)
   Murray, Bill. The World's Game: A History of Soccer (1998)
   Polley, Martin. Sports History: a practical guide, Palgrave, 2007.
   Scott A.G.M. Crawford (Hrg.), Serious sport: J.A. Mangan's contribution to the history of sport, Portland, OR : Frank Cass, 2004
   Pope, S.W. ed. The new American sport history : recent approaches and perspectives, Univ. of Illinois Press, 1997
  
  Journals
   online article from The Sports Historian 1993-2001
   European Studies in Sport History 
   The International Journal of the History of Sport
   Journal of Sport History
   Sport History Journal
   Sport in History
   STADION International Journal of Sport History
   Sport History Review
  
  বহিঃসংযোগ
    European Committee for Sports History (CESH)
  
  বিষয়শ্রেণী:ক্রীড়া
  বিষয়শ্রেণী:বিষয় অনুযায়ী ইতিহাস
  বিষয়শ্রেণী:শাখা অনুযায়ী বিজ্ঞানের ইতিহাস
title: খেলার ইতিহাস