Page:Football, The Association Game.djvu/49

 one of the modern school of football. Dribbling had been chiefly encouraged at the schools, from which the game sprang, and purely individual play remained for a long time one of the chief features of an Association match. There was some little attempt at passing, of course, but a good dribbler stuck to the ball as long as he could, especially if he saw a reasonably good chance of outrunning the three backs, who formed the only obstacles he had to overcome. Long runs were frequent, and as a consequence individual skill was in a great measure the source of a football reputation.

To be a good dribbler was the Alpha and Omega of the forward's creed in the early days of Association football. At the same time it must not be understood that he was unprovided with support in case of any obstruction in the course of a run. There was the provision, of course, of backing up, i.e. of a player who followed up the ball ready either to receive the ball if it were passed to him, or to hustle or ward off any interference by the opposite forwards or backs. Still, at the best, backing-up existed more in theory than practice. The dribbler, indeed, lingered long on the football field; in fact, some time after he had ceased to be a potential factor in the game. Even as late as the commencement of the eighties—though some years before the forwards had been reduced to admit of an addition to the defence in the shape of a second full back—the advantages of dribbling were still represented in forcible terms by one of the earliest instructors in the art of football. This is a part of the advice he gave to forwards in the winter of 1878:—

"A really first-class player—I am now addressing myself solely to those who play up—will never lose sight of the ball, at the same time keeping his attention employed in