Local football

Looks like handball from this angle

Football? : Soccer, Rugby League, Rugby Union; Australian Rules; Canadian; Gaelic; American Grid-iron, Five a side. It all depends on the shape of their balls, I am told; Harrow football is so called because the players are used as harrows to plough the field A sporting mystique has arisen, where the observers discuss foot joints and the breaking thereof, how to hold a knee whilst grimacing for the referee's benefit having been hit by a passing feather, as well as the ultimate existentialist physiology of the offside rule.

I did mean the technical infringement handball and not the separate sport of that nomenclature

When did soccer become known as 'football', my grandfather used to say .. all donkeys are animals but not all animals are donkeys; he was a stickler for using the right word. Netball always amuses me, I have thoughts of a ball made of fishnet
Then basketball .... 'osier Daddy?'

As I understand it, the word soccer came from public school / university slang, derived from Association (similarly, rugger deriving from Rugby ).

I see, and are the balls still stitched leather and laced? Or has it all gone plastic? Was it 18 panels?

Apparently the Football Association first drew up the rules in London in 1863. Federation Internationale de Football Association was drawn up in 1930; Football League formed in 1888.
Began in Britain as organised amusement c200AD. Became a part of Schools diversions. Banned 14th to 16th centuries.
Around 1800, sets of rules were devised, such as limiting the numbers per side.