Yeah, Armstrong's article is surprisingly good.
But to respond to AllWhiteBelievr, football (the kind we like) was not first. There were all manner of different local variations of playing with an inflated pig's bladder in pre-19th century England, out of which all the modern forms of football evolved at different times. The first club to play by what we know as "the Laws of the Game" was Cambridge University in 1848 - five years after the oldest known club which played by Rugby rules (Guy's Hospital, 1843). Amazing as it seems, not being allowed to handle the ball was quite a late variation.