Page:Football, the Rugby game.djvu/20

10 of over fifty a side, and very poor fun they were! We also remember a curious school rule whereby the boys could play two for every one over the number of twenty brought down for the old boys' match—a privilege which would be laughed at by any respectable school fifteen of the present day.

The change from twenty to fifteen a side, which was started by club secretaries because of the difficulty of putting twenty men into the field, was officially adopted by the Union in 1877, at the request of Scotland. A more open style of play naturally followed, which was so much appreciated that the laws were soon altered to suit it by insisting on the ball being put down immediately it was held; and this led to the increase in the number of three-quarter-backs, first from one to two, with two full-backs, and then to three, with one full-back—in other words, three-quarter-back became the main line of defence against the rush of opposing forwards. Meanwhile the advantages of passing the ball were becoming apparent, and a system of short passing, amongst the forwards only, was brought to a considerable pitch of perfection by Blackheath and a few other clubs; but it was not until 1882 that the Oxford team took up a suggestion made by Mr. A. Budd in a magazine article, and developed the modern system of long, low passing to the open by both backs and forwards alike with such success that they kept an unbeaten record for nearly three seasons against the best clubs in the country.

This system, which we will explain fully in a later chapter, was so universally adopted, that for some time there was a distinct danger of its being carried too far—if, indeed, that danger has yet been averted.

Many clubs adopted the passing game without fully understanding the principles of it, and certainly without