Encyclopedia of British Football
~ Football Rules ~
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In the 18th century football
was played by most of Britain's leading public schools. There is
documentary evidence that football was played at Eton as early as 1747.
Westminster started two years later. Harrow, Shrewsbury, Winchester and
Charterhouse had all taken up football by the 1750s.
Thomas Arnold was appointed headmaster of Rugby in 1828. He had a
profound and lasting effect on the development of public school
education in England. Arnold introduced mathematics, modern history and
modern languages and instituted the form system and introduced the
prefect system to keep discipline. He modernized the teaching of
Classics by directing attention to literary, moral or historical
questions. Although Arnold held strong views, he made it clear to his
students they were not expected to accept those views, but to examine
the evidence and to think for themselves.
Arnold also emphasized the importance of sport in young men's education.
Like most head teachers in public schools, Arnold 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".
Each school had its own set of rules and style of game. In some schools
the ball could be caught, if kicked below the hand or knee. If the ball
was caught near the opposing goal, the catcher had the opportunity of
scoring, by carrying it through the goal in three standing jumps.
Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham developed games that used both hands
and feet. The football played at Shrewsbury and Winchester placed an
emphasis on kicking and running with the ball (dribbling). School
facilities also influenced the rules of these games. Students at
Charterhouse played football within the cloisters of the old Carthusian
monastery. As space was limited the players depended on dribbling
skills. Whereas schools like Eton and Harrow had such large playing
fields available that they developed a game that involved kicking the
ball long distances.
According to one student at Westminster, the football played at his
school was very rough and involved a great deal of physical violence:
"When running... the enemy tripped, shinned, charged with the shoulder,
got down and sat upon you... in fact did anything short of murder to get
the ball from you."
Football games often led to social disorder. As Dave Russell pointed out
in Football and the English (1997), football had a "habit of bringing
the younger element of the lower orders into public spaces in large
numbers were increasingly seen as inappropriate and, indeed, positively
dangerous in an age of mass political radicalism and subsequent fear for
public order."
Action was taken to stop men playing football in the street. The 1835
Highways Act provided for a fine of 40s for playing "football or any
other game on any part of the said highways, to the annoyance of any
passenger."
In 1840 soldiers had to be used to stop men playing football in
Richmond. Six years later the Riot Act had to be read in Derby and a
troop of cavalry was used to disperse the players. There were also
serious football disturbances in East Molesey, Hampton and
Kingston-upon-Thames.
Although the government disapproved of the working-classes playing
football, it continued to be a popular sport in public schools. In 1848
a meeting took place at Cambridge University to lay down the rules of
football. As Philip Gibbons points out in Association Football in
Victorian England (2001): "The varying rules of the game meant that the
public schools were unable to compete against each other." Teachers
representing Shrewsbury, Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Marlborough and
Westminster, produced what became known as the Cambridge Rules. One
participant explained what happened: "I cleared the tables and provided
pens and paper... Every man brought a copy of his school rules, or knew
them by heart, and our progress in framing new rules was slow."
It was eventually decided that goals would be awarded for balls kicked
between the flag posts (uprights) and under the string (crossbar). All
players were allowed to catch the ball direct from the foot, provided
the catcher kicked it immediately. However, they were forbidden to catch
the ball and run with it. Only the goalkeeper was allowed to hold the
ball. He could also punch it from anywhere in his own half. Goal kicks
and throw-ins took place when the ball went out of play. It was
specified that throw-ins were taken with one hand only. It was also
decided that players in the same team should wear the same colour cap
(red and dark blue).
Sometimes public schools played football against boys from the local
town. Although these games often ended in fights, it did help to spread
knowledge of Cambridge Rules football. Former public school boys also
played football at university. Many continued to play after finishing
their education. Some joined clubs like the Old Etonians, Old Harrovians
and the Wanderers (a side only open to men who had attended the leading
public schools), whereas others formed their own clubs. For example,
former pupils of the Sheffield Collegiate School established the
Sheffield Football Club at Bramall Lane. In 1857 they published their
own set of rules for football. These new rules allowed for more physical
contact than those established in Cambridge. Players were allowed to
push opponents off the ball with their hands. It was also within the
rules to shoulder charge players, with or without the ball. If a
goalkeeper caught the ball, he could be barged over the line.
In 1862 a new set of rules were established at Cambridge University.
These specified 11-a-side, an umpire from each side plus a neutral
referee, goals 12ft across and up to 20ft high. An offside rule was
added. A man could play a ball passed to him from behind, so long as
there were three opponents between him and the goal. It was also decided
that each game should only last one hour and a quarter. The first game
under these rules took place between the Old Etonians and Old Harrovians
in November, 1862.
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A photograph of the Uppingham team. At that time the team played 15-a-side. |
Some public schools refused to accept the Cambridge Rules. At Uppingham
School in Rutland, the students played with an enormously wide goal. In
1862, one of the teachers at Uppingham, John Charles Thring, published
his own set of rules:
1. A goal is scored whenever the ball is forced through the goal and
under the bar, except it be thrown by hand.
2. Hands may be used only to stop a ball and place it on the ground
before the feet.
3. Kicks must be aimed only at the ball.
4. A player may not kick the ball whilst in the air.
5. No tripping up or heel kicking allowed.
6. Whenever a ball is kicked beyond the side flags, it must be returned
by the player who kicked it, from the spot it passed the flag line, in a
straight line towards the middle of the ground.
7. When a ball is kicked behind the line of goal, it shall be kicked off
from that line by one of the side whose goal it is.
8. No player may stand within six paces of the kicker when he is kicking
off.
9. A player is ‘out of play’ immediately he is in front of the ball and
must return behind the ball as soon as possible. If the ball is kicked
by his own side past a player, he may not touch or kick it, or advance,
until one of the other side has first kicked it, or one of his own side
has been able to kick it on a level with, or in front of him.
10. No charging allowed when a player is ‘out of play’; that is,
immediately the ball is behind him.
Thring published his rules under the title, The Simplest Game. Some
teachers liked this non-violent approach and several schools adopted
Thring's rules.
The Football Association was established in October, 1863. The aim of
the FA was to establish a single unifying code for football. The first
meeting took place at the Freeman's Tavern in London. The clubs
represented at the meeting included Barnes, Blackheath, Perceval House,
Kensington School, the War Office, Crystal Palace, Forest (later known
as the Wanderers), the Crusaders and No Names of Kilburn. Charterhouse
also sent an observer to the meeting.
Ebenezer Cobb Morley was elected as the secretary of the FA. At a
meeting on 24th November, 1863, Morley presented a draft set of 23
rules. These were based on an amalgamation of rules played by public
schools, universities and football clubs. This included provision for
running with the ball in the hands if a catch had been taken "on the
full" or on the first bounce. Players were allowed to "hack the front of
the leg" of the opponent when they were running with the ball. Two of
the proposed rules caused heated debate:
IX. A player shall be entitled to run with the ball towards his
adversaries' goal if he makes a fair catch, or catches the ball on the
first bound; but in case of a fair catch, if he makes his mark (to take
a free kick) he shall not run.
X. If any player shall run with the ball towards his adversaries' goal,
any player on the opposite side shall be at liberty to charge, hold,
trip or hack him, or to wrest the ball from him, but no player shall be
held and hacked at the same time.
Some members objected to these two rules as they considered them to be
"uncivilized". Others believed that charging, hacking and tripping were
important ingredients of the game. One supporter of hacking argued that
without it "you will do away with the courage and pluck of the game, and
it will be bound to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you
with a week's practice." The main defender of hacking was F. W.
Campbell, the representative from Blackheath, who considered this aspect
of the game was vital in developing "masculine toughness". Campbell
added that "hacking is the true football" and he resigned from the FA
when the vote went against him (13-4). He later helped to form the rival
Rugby Football Union. On 8th December, 1863, the FA published the Laws
of Football.
1. The maximum length of the ground shall be 200 yards, the maximum
breadth shall be 100 yards, the length and breadth shall be marked off
with flags; and the goal shall be defined by two upright posts, eight
yards apart, without any tape or bar across them.
2. A toss for goals shall take place, and the game shall be commenced by
a place kick from the centre of the ground by the side losing the toss
for goals; the other side shall not approach within 10 yards of the ball
until it is kicked off.
3. After a goal is won, the losing side shall be entitled to kick off,
and the two sides shall change goals after each goal is won.
4. A goal shall be won when the ball passes between the goal-posts or
over the space between the goal-posts (at whatever height), not being
thrown, knocked on, or carried.
5. When the ball is in touch, the first player who touches it shall
throw it from the point on the boundary line where it left the ground in
a direction at right angles with the boundary line, and the ball shall
not be in play until it has touched the ground.
6. When a player has kicked the ball, any one of the same side who is
nearer to the opponent's goal line is out of play, and may not touch the
ball himself, nor in any way whatever prevent any other player from
doing so, until he is in play; but no player is out of play when the
ball is kicked off from behind the goal line.
7. In case the ball goes behind the goal line, if a player on the side
to whom the goal belongs first touches the ball, one of his side shall
he entitled to a free kick from the goal line at the point opposite the
place where the ball shall be touched. If a player of the opposite side
first touches the ball, one of his side shall be entitled to a free kick
at the goal only from a point 15 yards outside the goal line, opposite
the place where the ball is touched, the opposing side standing within
their goal line until he has had his kick.
8. If a player makes a fair catch, he shall be entitled to a free kick,
providing he claims it by making a mark with his heel at once; and in
order to take such kick he may go back as far as he pleases, and no
player on the opposite side shall advance beyond his mark until he has
kicked.
9. No player shall run with the ball.
10. Neither tripping nor hacking shall be allowed, and no player shall
use his hands to hold or push his adversary.
11. A player shall not be allowed to throw the ball or pass it to
another with his hands.
12. No player shall be allowed to take the ball from the ground with his
hands under any pretence whatever while it is in play.
13. No player shall be allowed to wear projecting nails, iron plates, or
gutta-percha on the soles or heels of his boots.
In 1866 the offside rule was altered to allow a player to be onside when
three of opposing team are nearer their own goal-line. Three years later
the kick-out rule was altered and goal-kicks were introduced.
In 1871, Charles W. Alcock, the FA Secretary, announced the introduction
of the Football Association Challenge Cup. It was the first knockout
competition of its type in the world. Only 15 clubs took part in the
first staging of the tournament. It included two clubs based in
Scotland, Donington School and Queen's Park. In the 1872 final, the
Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1-0 at the Kennington Oval.
The 1870s saw several changes to Football Association rules. In 1870
eleven-a-side games were introduced with the addition of a goalkeeper.
1871 also saw the introduction of umpires and a neutral referee. Both
sides were allowed to appoint an umpire to whom players could appeal to
about incidents that took place on the pitch. However, the FA rule now
stated: "Any point on which the umpires cannot agree shall be decided by
the referee".
In 1872 the FA published an updated set of laws. This made it clear that
"a goal shall be won when the ball passes between the goal posts under
the tape, not being thrown, knocked on, or carried." The new rules
clearly distinguished between goalkeepers and other players: "A player
shall not throw the ball nor pass it to another except in the case of
the goalkeeper, who shall be allowed to use his hands for the protection
of his goal... No player shall carry or knock on the ball; nor shall any
player handle the ball under any pretence whatever."
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England against Scotland in 1877. Note the lack of crossbars and nets. |
The FA Cup helped to popularize the game of football. Up until this
competition only fifty clubs were members of the Football Association
and played by their rules. This included teams who played as far away as
Lincoln, Oxford and York. The main rival to the FA was the 26-member
Sheffield Association. Other football clubs were totally independent and
played by their own set of rules. In 1877 the clubs in Sheffield decided
to join the FA and by 1881 its membership had risen to 128.
The FA continued to adapt the rules of the game. In 1882 all clubs had
to provide crossbars. Ten years later goal nets became compulsory. This
reduced the number of disputes as to whether the ball had crossed the
goal-line or passed between the posts.
In 1885 it was decided by the Football Association that clubs could play
professionals in the FA Cup competition. It was not long before football
clubs had large wage bills to play. It was therefore necessary to
arrange more matches that could be played in front of large crowds. In
March, 1888 it was suggested that "ten or twelve of the most prominent
clubs in England combine to arrange home and away fixtures each season."
The following month the Football League was formed. It consisted of six
clubs from Lancashire (Accrington, Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Everton
and Preston North End) and six from the Midlands (Aston Villa, Derby
County, Notts County, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton
Wanders).
In the 1880s football was introduced into most state schools. It could
be played on any hard surface and that was especially attractive to
those schools that did not have access to playing fields. As a high
percentage of the children were physically underdeveloped and
undernourished, soccer was considered to be more suitable than rugby.
The role of the referee changed in 1891. He moved onto the pitch from
the touchline and took complete control of the game. The umpires now
became linesmen. 1891 also saw the introduction of the penalty kick. As
Dave Russell has pointed out in Football and the English (1997) that
this new rule "bitterly upset many amateurs, who argued that the new
legislation assumed that footballers could be capable of cheating."
The shoulder charge remained an important part of the game. This could
be used against players even if they did not have the ball. If a
goalkeeper caught the ball, he could be barged over the line. As a
result, goalkeepers tended to punch the ball a great deal. In 1894 the
Football Association introduced a new law which stated that a goalkeeper
could only be charged when playing the ball or obstructing an opponent.
In September, 1898, the South Essex Gazette reported that in a game
against Brentford, two West Ham United players, George Gresham and Sam
Hay, "bundled the goalkeeper into the net whilst he had the ball in his
hands". The goal stood because this action was within the rules at the
time.
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Goalkeeper being legally barged over the goal line in a game in 1904. |
Goalkeepers were allowed to handle, but not carry, the ball anywhere in
their own half of the field. For example, Tommy Moore, who played for
West Ham United, between 1898 to 1901, often moved up field and started
an attack by punching the ball into the opposition half. In a game
against Chesham, the game was so one-sided that Moore spent most of the
game on the offensive. As the local newspaper reported: "Moore had so
little to do that he often left his goal unprotected and played up with
the forwards."
The strategy of using an attacking goalkeeper came to and end in 1912
when the Football Association introduced a new rule that stated that
they could only handle the ball inside the penalty area.
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