Small businesses continued turning to the U.S. Small Business Administration for commercial credit in record numbers through the first three quarters of FY 2005, reflecting their confidence in the U.S. economy and the stability of the SBAloan program that backs their loans.

Small businesses secured SBA backing under the agency's flagship 7(a) program for 71,131 loans through the first nine months of the fiscal year, a 21 percent increase over the same period a year ago and a 49 percent increase over the same period two years ago.

The loans made so far this year amount to $11.1 billion, 19.5 percent more than in the same period last year, and on a clear pace for a record-setting year for the program.

As you are reading this on the World Wide Web, far be it from me to deny claims that soccer was invented by the Chinese, Soccer Tickets Greeks or Romans. However, the fact is that the rules of the game of soccer we use today are due to the young men at England's schools and universities in the mid nineteenth century. They produced the codes of law that were necessary before two teams could compete on equal terms.

If you were transported back to the 1860s, you could be forgiven for assuming that the group of young men playing with a large muddy object in open fields were engaged in a game of rugby (or American football) rather than soccer, or maybe just a general brawl! If a player caught the ball, he could run with it until tripped or hacked to the ground; "hacking" was a sharp kick to the shins. If the ball was on the ground, both sets of players would form a scrum round the ball and attempt to move it forwards. A participant admitted that "frequently, rough play was engaged in" and you can imagine that tempers were short in the general melee. Another account described the players "as a set of harmless lunatics, who amused themselves by kicking one another's shins, but did no great harm to the public at large".

The public schools took the lead in writing down the rules of the game for others to follow. However, each school had different ideas on the size of the pitch, the size and shape of the ball, how much handling was allowed, and whether or not hacking was permitted. The early soccer clubs would have adopted whatever practices suited them best. The first "club" (as distinct from a school or university ) was the Sheffield club, formed in 1857. Sheffield adopted a set of eleven rules. These were based, we believe, on the laws in use in the public schools and at Cambridge. Pushing with the hands was allowed, but not hacking or tripping. Running with the ball in the hands (as practised at Rugby school) was not allowed. However, the ball could be caught, provided it had not touched the ground; a free kick then followed (similar to the "mark" in today's rugby football). The ball could also be pushed on with the hand. There were no off-side rules, so players known as "kick-throughs" were positioned permanently in the opponents' half. There was no limit on team size, and whatever size or shape of ball that happened to be handy was used. Referees were unnecessary, as the two captains would settle any dispute.

"We had a record year for this loan program a year ago, and we're going to set another record in 2005," said SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto. "It tells us that the critics are wrong, that small businesses are confident enough to invest in the future of the American economy, and that this program is here to help them do it. It also demonstrates the effectiveness of the self-funded footing on which the President has placed the loan program, and the confidence that lenders have in its stability. I am very pleased with this performance so far this year."

The gains are also reflected in the SBA's Certified Development Company, or 504, loan program. Through the first nine months of the fiscal year, the 504 program had issued 6,434 loans worth $3.44 billion, more than 6 percent ahead of the same period a year ago, when the program had produced 6,058 loans for $2.88 billion.

The budget for the current year makes more than $21 billion available to small businesses through the two loan programs, including $16 billion in small business lending under the 7(a) program and $5 billion under the 504 program.

For information on applying for an SBA loan, visit the SBA's extensive Web site