Home of football statistics and historyFrom its inception in 1863, Association football was a game for gentlemen, its rules formulated by men of some social standing, and its regulations administered by them; and most of the players in the early days of the game had, through the schools, been brought up from the cradle to appreciate the ethos of football. No matter what code they played, they understood the customs and usage of football so thoroughly as to know by instinct what was right and what was not right. Consequently when the laws of the Association game were written down, it was only the variations between one form of football and another which needed to be spelled out, things such as the ball in and out of play, offside, use of the hands, method of scoring, etc.
It took more than a decade for the artisan classes to become interested in playing association football in any numbers, — rugger was a more attractive proposition for factory workers, mill hands, and the like; in Yorkshire the handling game reigned supreme for many, many years, almost to the exclusion of the other code. But once it had caught on, the “working classes” of the Midlands, the North, and Scotland took to it with a frenzied enthusiasm. Birmingham, Bolton, Blackburn, Glasgow, large towns and small towns, all saw a mushroom growth of new football clubs until it might have seemed that every able-bodied man in the place was kicking a round ball. The ex-schoolboys had lived with football all their lives, it had always been possible to get a game; they considered they had done all “the basics”, learned the skills, and shaped their bodies when young boys, that all they had to do now was to go on improving, keep reasonably fit, avoid excesses, go easy on the wine, woman and song before a game, and that was that. The factory hands, however, had all the childhood years, when sports and games of a football nature were not readily to hand, to make up for. So they bust upon the scene with explosive energy, fining their physical powers, exercising, and kicking footballs day in and day out, and practice, practice, practice.
They read the laws of the game, as any footballer ought to do, but there would be no great compulsion to go deeply into the matter. You did not have to pass an examination on the rules to be a good footballer, for here was one case where deep enjoyment and keen satisfaction came without the hard work of acquiring knowledge. Just the same, one should know something about it, so there arose the classical “crammer’s” solution: if you haven’t got time to learn or the capacity for solid study, then memorise a few catch-phrases. Thus there came about the teaching of “football by slogan”, which is fashionable even in the present day. They looked at the book and came up with such fatuous expressions as, “you can’t be offside from a square pass”, “a fair charge must be shoulder to shoulder”, “two on to one must be a foul”, and many more, damaging precepts, each containing its grain of truth, but every one, when analysed, plain nonsense.
As we have seen, the laws, as formulated, did not need to catalogue and itemise everything that was lawful or illegal because that was generally known. It was not necessary to have a law written down prohibiting time-wasting during play since footballers knew it was wrong to waste time. It was only when men who were not gentlemen came to dominate the game that the words “ungentlemanly conduct” were brought into use.
The new breed of footballer, not having had the benefit of a football education, not understanding either the words or the meaning of “The Unwritten Laws” assumed that what was not specifically prohibited must be allowed. There were laws against tripping, holding, and pushing, but nowhere did it way that you could not leap upon an opponent’s back, — so leaping on his back must be all right. The result was that the FA had to make another rule to the effect that “you can’t leap upon on opponent’s back.”
It was not so bad while the New Men were in a minority, and maybe, given time, they would learn. But one day they would rule association football. And what if they never learned?