Association football

“ Incidental reference to Preston North End's double first in 1889 recalls the formation of the Football League, the creation of a life long worker in Association football, Mr. W. McGregor, early that season. What an important part the League system has played in the economy of modern football can hardly be fully discussed in what is primarily a practical treatise on the game. It certainly came originally to supply a general and obvious want in the shape of a competition of continuous interest, and not like the F. A. Cup, with a glorious uncertainty to all the clubs concerned. ”

“ A record of Association football without some attempt to revive the memories of those who worked so hard to assure the early success of the Football Association Cup, and thereby to lay the foundation of the prosperity of the Association, would be utterly incomplete. The events which led to the inception of the trophy have been already referred to, the names of the clubs to whom its institution was practically due have been given. At that time the Wanderers monopolized the cream of the public school and University players for some years. ”

“ How far the quality of Association football in general has been improved by the, as many think, grandmotherly legislation of late years must be a matter of opinion. The great competition among the richer clubs to secure a strong side regardless of all expense, has been naturally a distribution of the better players over a wider area, and a consequent levelling up of the game all over the country. ”

“ So many clubs fail because they have no confidence in their leaders. Ernest Needham, the great leader of the Sheffield United side, has said that when a team is in a winning mood how proud the captain may be, but what a difficult post he has to fill when a team is on the downward grade and losing match after match. The man you choose should have a thorough knowledge of the game, and also enthusiasm and keenness, which should be a standing rebuke to that subtle spirit of slackness which is so characteristic of our men to-day. ”

“ The modern Association football player is a man of some ability. As a rule he is temperate in his habits, with a good appetite, and sound in limb. Long before he knew what football was, he was blessed with a large share of health. When a boy at school he used to be remarkable for punctuality, but occasionally got into trouble from neglected lessons, in consequence of a weakness for indulging in out-door sports. He loved the rude style of football, then played, dearly (he knew of nothing better) , although goal-posts, touch-lines, corner-flags, and other modern appliances were totally unknown. ”

“ The Association shall consist of such Clubs and Associations playing Association Football and being otherwise qualified according to the Laws, Rules, Regulations, and Bye-laws of the Association as the Council may approve. ”

“ None hated unfair or rough play more. He could not endure it in a club companion, and this was particularly so if his team were playing a comparatively junior combination. Taught in the early school of Association football, when the rules were much more exacting than they are now, he had, along with his colleagues in the Queen's Park, to fight their preliminary battles, and overcome the prejudices consequent on introducing the "reformation," so to speak, in football. ”

“ But the paid player, by reason of the leisure he has, shows the highest skill, and in that way has inspired the unpaid with a higher ideal of play, and it is a favourite contention of many that the best game is that played by the professional clubs. The junior who goes to see Aston Villa, Chelsea, Manchester United, or Newcastle is impressed by the play, and makes up his mind to try and put into practice what he has seen. It is good for the boy to go and see players of the highest skill, and if the ordinary club member would do this occasionally the average standard of play would be higher. ”

“ The Clubs playing Association Football at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge shall collectively be deemed to be Associations within these Rules, and each University Association shall be entitled annually to appoint a Representative to the Council, but such Representative may not be changed during the year, except with the previous consent of the Council. ”

“ What did they care about the ball being fifty yards off? Not a straw, so long as they tackled and kept each other away from it. "That's not football," says one, "it is horse play." "Never mind about football in a Cup Tie," says another, "let the heaviest team win; go into the fellow." "Oh! gentlemen, gentlemen, fie, fie, Association Football is an amateur game, and as long as I play it," said the captain, "there shall be no cruelty done on either side."
Little did the spectators know the real cause of the inordinate tackling done by Bob and Charlie, but the secret soon came out. ”

“ In those days the athletic associations of several of the large cities maintained football teams of giant gladiators to entertain the multitude. Young Beach had seen just one game of football, but when he presented himself, his physical architecture was so imposing that he was engaged without hesitation, as tackle, by the athletic association football manager. The college teams used to play an annual series with these huge professionals. ”

“ In this respect clubs must be above suspicion, if they want the delightful game to hold its own and prosper. As a quid pro quo for this vicious practice, however, there is no game whose players are so charitable as those connected with Association Football. There is not a club in the Association that is not ready to play a "Charity Match," and far more has been given to the funds of charitable institutions by the actions of Association football clubs than all the other games in Scotland put together.{73}
VII.—THE GREAT INTERNATIONAL ”

“ The small number of clubs taking part in the game in the early days becomes of interest when compared with the magnitude of the game in the 20th century. Association football has become one of the most popular of all national sports in the United Kingdom. ”

“ No doubt the organisation of school games has had a great deal to do with turning the attention of promising lads at school to football as a career. It is true that one out of a thousand schoolboy players may get signed on, but I hardly know of half a dozen. Hundreds of young men apply to clubs for a trial, and are soon convinced that they have not skill enough, but those few who are lucky should weigh the matter seriously. I know there are many who may argue that they can, after their playing days are over, get a position as trainer or manager to some club. ”

“ The league system also found favour in Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and has extended to most of the colonies where Association football is played. In the season of 1893–1894 the Amateur Cup Competition, restricted to amateur clubs in membership with the Football Association, was inaugurated. In the first season 32 clubs entered, and the growing popularity of the competition is shown by the fact that in the season of 1908–1909 there were 229 entries. ”

“ Be loyal to your club and clubmates, and do not forget that enthusiasm is the great thing that will carry you to the front in football as well as in other spheres in life. Unselfishness is also another great point. Should your captain or committee choose another man as your superior, do not grumble, but turn out for the second eleven, and play with all your heart and soul, and if you have the merit you will soon regain your old position in the first team. Above all, play the game fairly and squarely, and you will succeed either as a professional, senior, junior, or amateur. ”

“ If they could speak they would tell you many a strange episode in the life of an Association football player, and how he kept his place in a leading club for nearly a dozen years. They have been old and dear friends, those well-worn boots, and although now somewhat curled up at the toes, have kicked many a good goal out of a hot and exciting scrummage in front of an opponent's upright posts, and even in an International tussle ”

“ The schoolboys who played cricket and rounders in the summertime came out on a wintry afternoon to see their seniors engaged in Association football, and soon felt the desire creep over them to be members of a club containing lads like themselves. The young men engaged in the city all day thought on the health-imparting exercise it afforded, and had the necessary funds raised to form a club. ”

“ Still, the Sheffield players were not easily persuaded to yield the few points in which their game differed from that of the central and administrative body of Association football. It was not, in fact, till the year 1876 that the rules of the Sheffield Association were brought into complete agreement with those of the original foundation, and the last obstacle in the way of a universal code for the regulation of Association players was removed. ”

“ Again, to show how pure professional clubs are, directors, whether they be five or fifteen, are not entitled to draw any money from the club, and this shows that the real sportsmanlike spirit prevails at the helm of professional football, and certainly no reform in this way is desired or required. ”

“ A member shall not be allowed to play for more than one competing club, but the players of each representative team may be changed during the series of matches. In the Qualifying Competition each player must have been a playing member of the Club for which he proposes to compete at least twenty-eight days previous to the day fixed for playing the match, except as hereinafter provided. ”

“ If from any cause during the progress of the game the bar is displaced, the Referee shall have power to award a goal if in his opinion the ball would have passed under the bar if it had not been displaced. The ball is in play if it rebounds from a goal-post, cross-bar, or a corner flag-staff, into the field of play. The ball is in play if it touches the Referee or a Linesman when in the field of play. The ball is out of play when it has crossed the goal-line or touch-line, either on the ground or in the air. ”

“ Any player unable to agree upon terms of re-engagement or transfer with the Club by which he is registered, shall have a right of, and must, in the first instance, appeal to the Committee of Management of the League or Combination to which such Club is attached. ”

“ The whole secret of success in football lies, it is almost superfluous to add, in the measure of a team's combination. A club eleven composed of entirely mediocre players will generally make a good show against, if it does not actually beat, a coalition of members of different bodies of vastly superior capacity individually. ”

“ A playing member is one who has either actually played for his Club in the current season, or who has, in writing, intimated to the Secretary of the Association that he is a playing member of that Club. The Secretary shall, in writing, acknowledge the receipt of every such intimation. A player qualified to play in any round, shall be deemed qualified to play in any subsequent round by virtue of his original qualification. ”

“ Whether after a time Cups do not outlive the good they originally did, is a point outside the scope of the general argument that they have a material effect in encouraging the game, and stimulating the players when encouragement and stimulant are needed. If you seek the measure of the good the Football Association Cup has done to disseminate as well as to consolidate the game, you have only to look around. Nor, as far as one can see, is there the smallest evidence to show that either those who play or the public which support football are suffering from a surfeit in this particular direction. ”

“ Each club must take every precaution to keep its ground in playing condition, and if necessary, either Club may apply to the Association, and the Secretary shall require the Referee or some other person to examine the ground and decide as to its fitness for play in sufficient time to save expenses being incurred by the Clubs of unnecessary journeys. Clubs shall not mutually arrange to play a match in lieu of a Cup Tie. If a match is played to a conclusion, it must be a Cup Tie, but if from any cause a match is not completed it must be replayed the full time of one hour and a half. ”

“ It is one of the painful duties of a secretary's life to have to hear of appeals for help from veterans who have neglected to acquire some trade before taking up football. No club ought to be allowed, for the credit of the game, to sign on any players until they have given evidence that they have a marketable knowledge of some trade or profession. ”

“ Of the winners in the middle ages of the cup, though comparisons are proverbially odious, the Preston North End team of 1889 stand out perhaps most conspicuously by reason of their all-round football. Like Aston Villa eight winters later, they won the League Championship, then just instituted, without losing a match, in 1889, and also the Football Association Cup without having a goal scored against them. ”

“ Of these twelve Clubs shall be selected by the Council from those which competed in the previous season (provided they have again entered) , and these shall be exempted until the last round of the Qualifying Competition. The other Clubs shall be divided into twenty-four Divisions geographically convenient and as nearly equal in number of Clubs as possible, and these shall compete until only one is left in each Division. The winners in the twenty-four Divisions shall be divided into twelve Divisions geographically convenient, and these shall flay one round. ”