Provide a 8 pages analysis while answering the following question: Integrating Football, Physical Education and Children with Special Needs. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. An abstract is required. A few centuries later another monk wrote that football was a game “in which young men… propel a huge ball not by throwing it into the air, but by striking and rolling it along the ground, and that not with their hands but with their feet.” This monk strongly disapproved of the game claiming it was “undignified and worthless” and that it often resulted in “some loss, accident or disadvantage to the players themselves.” Later on, football has gained much controversy due to its nature of being an aggressive sport. Players are always at high risk of injury. Time and again, it has been banned as a sport and blamed for hurting several players who attempted to play the sport. Over the centuries, it has gained prominence as a skilled sport, even introduced to schools for children to play (Spartacus Educational, 2010).

George Owen distinguished Welsh football from English football. According to him, in Wales, the ball, called knapping, is made of wood and boiled in tallow to make it slippery and hard to hold. It is hurled into the air and whoever catches it hurls it towards the goal. This ball gets tossed back and forth, causing several injuries along the way, yet the players end the game with fun and laughter (Spartacus Educational, 2010).

Football was introduced to public schools in the 18th century. Renowned educator Thomas Arnold emphasized the importance of sport in young men’s education. As a headmaster of a public school, he believed that sport was a good method for “encouraging senior boys to exercise responsible authority on behalf of the staff”. He also argued that games like football provided a “formidable vehicle for character building”.

In the National Curriculum, PE and Sports are included to ensure that children learn ways and means to care for their bodies through exercise, and Sports is one way to achieve fitness and health (QCDA, 2010). For each Key Stage, there are different goals for PE.