Page:EB1911 - Volume 10.djvu/642

] ggame; but in any case the game is always a hard and exciting struggle, frequently with the balance of fortune swaying very rapidly from one side to the other, so that it is a matter of no surprise to find the British public so ardently attached to it.

2. Association.—It is generally supposed that the English game of Association football is the outcome of the game of football as played at Cambridge University about the middle of the 19th century. In October 1863 a committee, consisting of representatives of the schools of Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Marlborough, Shrewsbury and Westminster, drew up a code of laws which settled the fundamental principle of the “Association” game, as distinguished from other forms of the game which permitted of handling and carrying the ball. In Association football the use of the hands or arms, either for the purpose of playing the ball or impeding or holding an opponent, is absolutely prohibited; “dribbling” or kicking the ball with the feet, and propelling it by the head or body, are the methods to be adopted. The Cambridge laws specially provided for “kicking” the ball. Laws 13 and 14 provided that “the ball, when in play, may be stopped by any part of the body, but may not be held or hit by the hands, arms or shoulders. All charging is fair, but holding, pushing with the hands, tripping up and shinning are forbidden.”

The laws of Association football first took practical shape as the outcome of a meeting held on the 26th of October 1863 at the Freemasons’ Tavern, London. The clubs which sent delegates were representative of all classes of football then played. The meeting was a momentous one, for not only was the foundation laid of the Football Association, the national association which has since then controlled the game in England, but as the outcome of the differences of opinion which existed as to “hacking” being permissible under the laws, the representatives who favoured the inclusion of the practice, which is now so roundly condemned in both the Association and Rugby games, withdrew and formed the Rugby Union.

The Cambridge laws were considered by the committee of the Football Association at their meeting on the 24th of November 1863. They took the view that those laws “embraced the true principles of the game with the greatest simplicity”; the laws were “officially” passed on the 1st of December 1863, and the first publication was made in Bell’s Life four days later. These laws have from time to time been modified, but the principles as laid down in 1863 have been adhered to; and the Association game itself has altered very little since 1880. The usual dimensions for a ground are 120 yds. long by 80 yds. wide, and the goals are 8 yds. in width with a cross-bar from post to post 8 ft. from the ground. The ball is about 14 oz. in weight, and must be a perfect sphere from 27 to 28 in. in circumference, as distinguished from the elliptical or egg-shaped Rugby ball. A rectangular space extending to 18 yds. in front of the goals, and marked with lines on the ground, constitutes the “penalty area”; within which, at a distance of 12 yds. opposite the centre of the goal, is the “penalty kick mark.” The boundary lines at the sides of the field are called the “touch-lines”; those at the ends (in the centre of which are the goals) being the “goal-lines.” The game is started by a place kick from the centre of the field of play, and none of the opposite side is allowed to approach within 10 yds. of the ball when it is kicked off. When the ball passes over the touch line it has to be thrown in by one of the opposite side, and can be returned into the field of play in any direction. If it passes over the goal-line at any time without touching one of the defending side, it has to be kicked out by the goalkeeper or one of the backs from a line marked in front of goal, the spot selected being in front of the post nearest the point where the ball left the field of play. But should it touch one of the defending side in its transit over the goal-line the attacking side has the privilege of a free kick from the corner flag (a “corner kick”). This is often a great advantage, but such free kick does not produce a goal unless the ball touches one of the other players on its way to the post. Ordinarily a goal is scored when the ball goes between the goal-posts and under the cross-bar, not being thrown, knocked on or carried. The regulation duration of a game is an hour and a half, and ends are changed at forty-five minutes. The side winning the toss has the choice of ends or kick-off, and the one obtaining the majority of goals wins. A goal cannot be scored from a free kick except when the free kick has been allowed by the referee as a penalty for certain infringements of the rules by the opposite side; and if such infringement take place within the penalty area on the part of a player on the side then defending the goal, and in the judgment of the referee be intentional, a “penalty kick&rdrdquo; is awarded to the attacking side. The penalty kick is a free kick from the penalty kick mark, all the players of the defending side being excluded from the penalty area, except the goalkeeper, who is confined to the goal-line; the result, therefore, being an almost certain goal.

A player is always in play as long as there are three of the opposite side between him and the opposite goal at the time the ball is kicked. This “offside” rule gives much trouble to the young player, though why it should do so it is not easy to say. The rule is simple if the words in italics are remembered. The ball must not be carried, knocked or wilfully handled under any pretence whatever, save by the goalkeeper, who is allowed to use his hands in defence of his goal, either by knocking on or throwing, within his own half of the field of play. Thus far he is entitled to go in maintaining his goal, but if he carry the ball the penalty is a free kick. There are other infringements of the rules which also involve the penalty of a free kick, among them the serious offences of tripping, hacking and jumping at a player. Players are not allowed to wear nails in their boots (except such as have their heads driven in flush with the leather), or metal plates or gutta-percha, and any player discovered infringing this rule is liable to be prohibited from taking further part in a match.

In the early ’sixties of the 19th century there were probably not more than twenty-five organized clubs playing Association football in the United Kingdom, and these were chiefly confined in the south of England to the universities and public schools. But whilst the game was being established in the south it was making steady progress in the north, particularly in Yorkshire, where the Sheffield Club had been formed as early as 1854. In 1867 the game had become so well established that it was decided to play an inter-county match. The match, which was played “in the wilds of Battersea Park,” terminated in a draw, neither side having obtained a goal; and it did much to stimulate the growing popularity of the game. During the season 1870–1871, only three years later, two matches of an international character were played between Englishmen and Scotsmen in membership with the Football Association; they were not, however, recognized as “international” matches. The first real international match, England v. Scotland, was played on the 30th of November 1872 at Partick, Glasgow; the first international match between England and Wales was played at Kennington Oval in 1879; and that between England and Ireland at Belfast in 1882. In 1896 amateur international matches were inaugurated with Germany, Austria and Bohemia; and games are now annually played with Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Austria and other continental countries. As the outcome of the international relations with Scotland, Wales and Ireland, an International Football Association Board was formed in 1882, when a universal code of laws was agreed upon. Two representatives from each of the four national associations constitute the board, whose laws are accepted and observed not only by the clubs and players of the United Kingdom but in all countries where the Association game is played. At a meeting held at Paris on the 21st of May 1904 the “International Federation of Association Football” was instituted. It consists of the recognized national associations in the respective countries: and its objects are to develop and control Association international football. The countries in federation are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.

The small number of clubs taking part in the game in the early days becomes of interest when compared with the magnitude of