Especially in the Song Dynasty, cuju became more and more popular. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Cuju had an unprecedented development compared with the previous dynasties, and became an urban social sports. In the palace, the emperor's ministers all like cuju, and there are also special male and female cuju teams in the palace. Judging from the situation at that time, Cuju first rose from the court and gradually expanded to the civic community, with a wide range of mass. Kicking style gradually replaced the competitive multi-goal and double-goal kicking style with entertaining and fitness single-goal kicking style, and the rules and techniques became more and more mature. There is also a non-competitive goal-a free kick for entertainment purposes. Can be carried out individually or by many people. When playing football, you can touch the ball with your head, shoulders, back, abdomen, knees, feet and other parts, which is flexible and arbitrary. This method is based on the number of piers kicked to judge the outcome. Song people called it "beating in vain" (now people usually call it "fancy football"), which includes both single performance and * * * performance by two or three people or even more than ten people. Emperors and dignitaries in the Song Dynasty were especially good at this.
Professor Zhou of Henan University included a picture of cuju in the Study of Tokyo in Song Dynasty (the original painting was lost, the original author was the Northern Song Dynasty, and the copy of the Yuan Dynasty is now in the Palace Museum in Beijing), depicting the scene of playing cuju in vain with his brother and prime minister Zhao Pu. It can be seen that Zhao Kuangyin was famous for playing football at that time, which was consistent with his status as an emperor immediately.
The most famous star in history is probably Gao Qiu's classmate in the Song Dynasty. "Water Margin" records that Gao Qiu, a street thug, was appreciated by Duan Wang (later Song Huizong) because of his superb skills, and later became the emperor's favorite. When Duan Wang was playing cuju, the ball landed in front of Gao Qiu. I saw that Gao Qiu was full of energy and made a beautiful "mandarin duck turn" (the scorpion wagged its tail or the dragon wagged its tail) to kick the ball back to Duan Wang. When an expert takes action, he knows whether there is one. This mandarin duck turned around, and Gao Ting suddenly stunned the audience. Another Wang Mingqing's "After the Dust Recorded" records that Gao Qiu's skills are superb, and he was promoted to be the commander-in-chief before the temple because he played football with Song Huizong. There are some records in Gaoling's history books, but they are not detailed.
The other two stars, Zuo Jun Marukou Su Shu and Youjun Marukou Meng Xuan, were famous at home and abroad in the then capital Bianjing (Kaifeng Prefecture) and were highly valued by the emperor. Their performance on the field is described in detail in Dream of China in Tokyo. The story of the Old Wulin in the Southern Song Dynasty also lists the names of some star players-"Thirty-two people who made the ball". At that time, the number of participants increased by four to sixteen compared with twelve in each team in the Han Dynasty. Names and positions of the two teams in the competition: sixteen people: Zhang Jun with the ball head, Wang Lian with the rocking ball, Oceane zhu with Zheng, Ishizawa with the head, Zhang Lin with the left net and the right net, etc. ; Sixteen members of the right army: Li Zheng, Zhu Zhen, Zhu Xuan, Zhang Ning, Bin Xu, Wang Yong and Jun Chen. It is estimated that this should be the first football "starting list" in history.
There was also a famous star in the Song Dynasty named Ding Wei, who served as prime minister in Korea. He liked cuju since he was a child, and he also wrote some poems about cuju. Sima Guang recorded Ding Wei's Cuju poem in Song Dynasty in Sima Wengong's Poem: "The eagle stork wins the eye, and the dragon snake crawls around its limbs, stumbling and standing for a long time." It can be seen that he is a star who is good at poetry and "both civil and military". No wonder he became prime minister. He should also be a gold medal coach after retiring. With the record of Ding Wei, Song Dynasty poet Liu Yi's Poem of Zhongshan tells another story. A scholar Liu Sanfu is famous for playing football. He knew that Ding Wei, the prime minister of the Song Dynasty, liked playing football. In order to be promoted, he waits outside the wall of the Prime Minister's House every day. One day, he finally waited until the ball flew over the wall. Liu Sanfu picked up the ball and entered the Prime Minister's office in the name of returning it. And with the head, shoulders, back and other parts of the ball, the ball never landed (such skills are quite amazing even now). Ding Wei of the Song Dynasty saw this great joy and gave Liu Sanfu an official position.
In Meng Yuan's Dream of Tokyo, many places have recorded that there are cuju activities on spring outing, emperor's birthday, official's birthday and folk festivals, especially for young people. On the Tianning Festival of Song Huizong's birthday, a grand single-goal cuju exhibition game was held in the Imperial City. Each team has its own captain, and each team has more than ten players. The colors of the athletes' clothes are different. The club is 3 feet high, with a Fiona Fang "Eye of the Wind" goal. It won a few points by shooting at each other, and the scene was spectacular. There are also drum bands and cheerleaders cheering for it, and the competition is fierce. Bianjing, the capital at that time, was definitely the birthplace of ancient football. Cuju can be seen everywhere in Bianjing City on holidays. Cuju has several fixed places. Qiongyuan Linnan Hengjie has become a special venue for cuju, with many fans and constant competitions.
At that time, the ball was close to modern football in appearance. According to the fact garden in Song Dynasty, the ball is inflated with animal placenta, plus six or eight balloons sewn with pointed leather, which should be very close to modern basketball in appearance.